How Community Groups Work
Last Monday I explored what community groups do. Today, how do they work? First, some terminology. It is easy to be self-deceiving.
What is the difference between neighbourhood and community? Neighbourhood is a geographical area and the people who live there are residents, not “the community”. “The community” is a fiction; nobody represents “the community” because it does not exist.
One example of how this can impact an organisation is the idea every resident belongs to your community group because they live in the neighbourhood. This implies the group represents the views of people who don’t take part and may not even know it exists!
Residents must have a right not to be a member and to refuse to be co-opted to the community group’s plans. With a constitution this can be easily covered by defining a member. Groups can charge for membership but it is often someone who signs up to a mailing list. These days this should be an email list. If people sign up at meetings it is essential they understand their email address will be added to an email list, if they declare it.
Using an Email List
An email list is a good way to penetrate a neighbourhood. People on the list can forward a link to the group’s website, so recruiting more members. A big list can remind people of forum meetings and may be more effective than leaflets through the door, so long as you design an effective sequence of emails.
- Early so that people get it into their diaries, with request for agenda items.
- Maybe one reminder about a week before the meeting, with the final agenda.
- Final reminder 24 hours before the meeting.
- Not too many reminders overall.
Link your list to a Facebook page and you have a simple online forum that can support the group’s meetings. Quarterly meetings supported by online media plus specialist groups meeting between them can work well. Remember though the strength of community groups is meetings where issues can be debated and consensus sought. You can’t do this properly online, although I’d be delighted to hear of examples where an online forum has worked. (A free lunch is particularly helpful but can’t be delivered online.)
These are foundations for good practice and if you want to meet one or more of the three objectives in my last post, you must get these basics right.
Do you have examples of local groups using online media?