HOW TO CONDUCT A COMMUNITY SERVICE

Step 1: Find Out What Is Needed in Your Community

There are many ways to do this. Start out by asking your friends and family members if there are things
that they have seen that need a solution. Talk to neighbors. Talk to community officials (local government)
and police officers, and speak with non-profit groups in the area.

Once you have an idea of the issues present in your area, spend some time researching them. What is
the history of the issue? Is it a new thing or has it been around a long time? What realistic steps can be
taken to address it? What, if anything, have other groups done in the past to fix the issue?

It’s also a good idea to research what kind of events have taken place in your community in the
past. What projects were successful? What sort of activities had nobody show up? You can do this by
talking to your local city government or local non-profit groups that have held events. You may also know
from personal experience of events that you have attended. Which were the most engaging and
resonated with your community?

Step 2: See What You Have the Ability to Do

It's time to start asking yourself the tough, specific questions. Remember to be honest and realistic as you
answer them:

 What skills and talents do you have?

 How many people do you realistically think you will be able to get to help you?
 What skills and talents will they have?
 How many hours per week can you devote to the project?
 How soon do you want to do the project?
 What is a realistic amount of money you will be able to raise for the project?
 Do you have any materials at hand that will be helpful?
Step 3: Choose a Project

List your activity ideas. If you have a group of people you're going to work with, allow them to help
you rank the ideas from most to least important. Vote on or decide which activity you want to do. Make
sure it is reasonable, within your means, and that you can actually make an impact.

Be honest with yourself and your group when assessing how to make the most impact. For example,
imagine that you have decided to build a home for a homeless family. Would the experience of building
the home yourselves add any value for the homeless family? On the flip side, could it cause any harm?
Would it be more efficient and beneficial for the family if you simply raised the money for the home and
allowed professionals to do the work?

Be realistic with your expectations and honest about the best way to reach your end goal.

Step 4: Develop a Plan

To start, write down exactly what you are hoping to accomplish. This will include a big-picture goal as
well as the specific smaller tasks that you will need to do in order to get to that main goal.
You also need to go into the practicalities of the project. How much equipment will you need? How many
people will you need to successfully complete each part of the project? How much time can each person
commit to the project? How will you organize different volunteers?

Remember that you're responsible for the success of the project and one large part of that is that it takes
place safely and legally. Do some background work to check out your liabilities and research the
potential complications that can arise from the project you're planning.

Step 5: Recruit Your Volunteers

If you don’t already have a group of people helping you, now is the time to get some people involved.
You can advertise in local newspapers, online forums, or websites like VolunteerMatch.org.

Also, ask friends and family if they know people who would like to be involved.

For each person, make sure that you have their contact information (email and phone number), as well as
what areas they are best able to help in (making food, publicity, etc.).

Get specific time commitments from your members. How much time can they contribute every week?
How much time can they contribute on the day of the event? Make sure they are realistic and don’t
commit more than their schedules will allow.

Step 6: Make a Budget

Now that you know your goals, you have to get specific with how much money is going to be needed to
make your plan come to life.

There are several programs out there that can help you make organized, detailed budgets. You can
also do this in Excel or Word.

Make sure you list the type of items that you need – be specific! How many will you need of each item?
What is the cost per item? What is the total cost?

Don’t forget that your budget has to include more than just the physical items involved in your project. If
you need a license to have an event or if you are going to pay someone to make an appearance, that will
need to be factored into the budget as well.

Finally, be sure to consider practical needs, like the cost of transportation and food on the day of the
event for your volunteers.

Step 7: Make a Timeline

You should already have a rough idea of how long your project will take, but now
you need to narrow it down to the specifics.

Pick an end date for your project that will give you enough time to put it together. Make sure that the date
is approved by all necessary authorities.

Make specific schedules for each of your volunteers based on how much time each can contribute. This
is important – you don’t want to end up having to do everything yourself at the last minute because
you assumed that people would be putting in more hours than they actually can! Try to be realistic with
your expectations of what can be accomplished every hour.

Mark specific goals on your timeline. By a certain date, a certain amount of the project should be
completed, etc.

Make note of specific things that are critical to success. What are the dates of fundraising events? When
will you send press releases to the media? 

Step 8: Raise Money

There are a number of ways to raise money: street collection, organized events like raffles or an
auction, direct mail donations, asking for contributions through church newsletters, and more.

Increasingly, people are raising money through crowdfunding websites, such as GoFundMe, CrowdRise,
DonorsChoose, or Kickstarter. See if any of these are viable options for your plan.

You can also contact local businesses for sponsorship. Offer them some sort of advertisement in
return.

Whatever you choose to do, you will need to develop a strategy. Decide what your plan of attack will be to
raise the amount needed.

Top Tips for Raising Money:

1. Get in touch with local officials to see if they have any tips, advice, or restrictions on how you can
raise money
2. Check into grants. Many charities will give money to projects that benefit their causes.
3. Try to get money from a variety of sources so that you're not too reliant on just one if it happens
to fail. Always have a backup plan.
Step 9: Get Publicity

Make a list of contacts at TV stations, newspapers, blogs, magazines, and radio stations. You are
generally looking for journalists and editors. There are a number of ways you can get in touch with people
who might be interested in covering your story. Start by looking for journalists who have written
about similar causes or events in the past. You may be able to find an email address or other contact
information by looking at previously-published articles. You should also check local papers to see if there
is information about whom to contact for local stories. Finally, you can search websites such as LinkedIn,
much of which can be accessed even if you don't have an account.

Initial contact can be made through social media (such as Twitter), or you can try to call or email the right
people.

You'll want to talk with them both about the specifics of the project, and why you're doing it. Make
sure you let them know who is going to benefit from your project.

Once you have your contacts and they're on board with advertising your project, make sure you stick to
your schedule. Send out press releases at the appropriate time. Also, keep your contacts updated with
any exciting milestones or achievements (such as reaching your fundraising goal).
You can also easily advertise on your own. Set up a social media account (Facebook and/or Twitter)
for the event. Make up a catchy hashtag you can use when talking about the event, and try to get others
to use it as well.

Step 10: Do the Project

Now it's time to execute all of your planning!

On the Day of Your Event

It may seem like the hard work is done at this point, but the actual event needs to go off without a hitch!

The first step is to make sure that as much as possible is done and set up the day before the
event. Don’t stress yourself out more than you need to on the day of! It’s also good to send out lots of
reminders the day before to volunteers, participants, media, and anyone else who is important.

Make sure you have a detailed schedule for what you will do the day of the event. Also, make a list of
volunteer contact info, vendor contact info, and who will help in emergencies. Keep this with you at all
times.

Try to enjoy yourself, but stay on top of how things are progressing!

Don’t forget to take pictures and stay active on social media during the event.

Congrats on finishing your project!