Step 2 – Involve others

Once you’ve decided that your idea is unique and you want to get started, it’s time to get others on board.

There are two distinct groups of people you might want to think about engaging:

1. Involving people to help out on your project (volunteers)
2. Involving people from the wider community to support and promote your project (local residents)

Volunteers

If you’ve been discussing your idea with people for a while, chances are you already have interest from individuals who want to get involved. If this isn’t the case, you could advertise for volunteers – either formally through your local volunteer centre or informally through leaflet drops, online volunteer forums or word of mouth.

Once you have found people who want to get involved, the main thing to do is look at the skills and time these people can give.

Ask people how much time they’d be able to offer to the project – are they looking for something they can regularly help out on every week, or are they keen to just get involved on the day if it’s an event or activity?

It’s a good idea to get people interested in your project together – whether it’s a drop-in session over a cup of tea, or a more structured meeting (we find the word ‘meeting’ can be a bit off-putting).

Local residents

If your idea is to provide a greater number of activities for young people, make sure you’ve asked local young people (and the wider community) if this is what they want. Most community projects and improvements will be welcomed by local residents, but it’s always good to give other people from the community a chance to have their say – they may even want to get involved themselves to provide advice, donations or expertise.

Depending on your audience, there are a number of ways you could go about this: school and community noticeboards will attract the attention of parents, whilst social media is a great way to interact with young people.

Below are some links to free guides, software and websites that can help you involve others, build relationships and organise meetings.