Community Engagement Toolkit: Creating a Campaign Plan

Community Engagement Toolkit: Creating a Campaign Plan

Building Demand through Community Engagement This toolkit is designed for individuals and organizations implementing local community engagement campaigns. These resources provide a framework for organizing community demand for energy services. These successful tactics emerged from our experience implementing a local community engagement program in Washington, D.C. Over the past two years, we have tested and refined these tools, which emphasize cultivating long-term relationships with individual community members. The Creating a Campaign Plan section helps organizers plan a direction for their initiative. This section guides organizers through the key steps of establishing goals and a timeline, undertaking a community assessment and more.

1. Program Outputs Purpose: To clearly establish which outputs the program must produce to define success Time: 30 minutes Modules Activities Outcomes Program Outputs Revisit existing goals and timeline Agree on program goals that will be the basis for the campaign plan The first step in constructing a campaign plan is to define program outputs. The outputs are the goals, which program staff and volunteers are continually striving to reach to achieve success. In most energy efficiency programs, the key top-level output is the number of homes that invest in energy upgrades. There are several stages in the customer engagement pathway before the energy upgrade process is complete. The following outputs are connected to stages of the pathway. To judge inefficiencies in our process, we will include the outputs of: 1. Commitments 2. Energy Assessments 3. Energy Efficiency Upgrades 4. Reengaged customers Timeline: In designing this campaign, we will plan on a 12-month timeline. As we set program output goals and create timelines, we will schedule for one year out. This plan is not set in stone. Though it is important to strive to reach program outputs, a campaign plan should be revisited regularly and evolve throughout the year during implementation. Past Outputs: During one of our first planning sessions as an organization, Groundswell defined metrics for our residential weatherization program. Below, we organize these outcomes (e.g. Interested, Upgrades) and conversion rates, the percentage of customers moving forward from one stage to another, from the output areas listed above. These are columns to estimate the conversion rates for each year that the program has been operating. There is also a column to estimate the average conversion rate across all years.

Metric 2009 2010 2011 Average Conversion Rate Interest to % Commitment Commitment to % Assessment Assessment to Upgrades % With these conversion rates in mind, we can set a goal for the total number of energy efficiency upgrades that the program needs to complete and work backwards to set goals for the metrics that must be met. Metric 2010 2011 2012 Average 12 month output Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Changes to past conversion rates: Before we finalize the 12 months of outputs, we will take time to have a discussion about the past conversion rates and outputs, assess the accuracy of your estimates, and other factors that may affect these outputs. Are there changes in the conditions in your community that will affect your past conversion rates? Are there any changes in local policy changes or economic changes that could affect past conversion rates? How do you feel that this community-focused/homeowner re-engagement strategy may impact outputs and conversion rates? Are there other factors that may affect current conversion rates or outputs? Complete Outputs: Take time as a team and establish the program s Conversion Rate goals for the period of your campaign, commonly 12 months. It will be important to revisit the previous year s conversion rates as a benchmark:

Metric Conversion Rate Interest to Commitment % Commitment to Assessment % Assessment to Upgrades % With these conversion rates in mind, we can set a goal for the total number of energy efficiency upgrades that the program needs to complete and work backwards to set goals for the metrics that need to be met based on the conversion rates above. Metric Output Goal Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Reflection: How did you decide on your new conversion rate goals? What is the percent increase for each metric from past performance? Are there any other places along the customer engagement pathway that lead to energy efficiency upgrades?

2. Community Timeline Purpose: To create a 12-month framework for campaign phases based on existing community events and themes Time: 2 hours Modules Activities Outcomes Community Assessment Community timeline Community spaces mapping Community partner mapping revisited A map of where community events take place and when; where community members congregate; and potential partners from which campaign milestones and turfs will be built 1. List all of the community events that occur within the city or state that are benchmark dates within the community throughout the year. (Example: a community fair) 2. Think about the types of events that not only bring large numbers of people out into community spaces, but events that define the narrative and identity of the city or state. (Example: a community fair celebrating the town winning the state little league championship)

3. Are any of these community events likely to have attendees who self-identify with your interests? (Example: an Earth Day festival) 4. List the community traditions that exist within your city or state. Is there a theme for each season? Are there historical events that are part of the DNA of your community?

Timeline: Build the 12-month timeline on the line below: Add dates to your 12-month timeline below Take the events that you listed in the last exercise and add them to the timeline below Timeline Questions and Discussion: Are there certain themes that emerge for specific periods of time during the year? How do the seasons affect these themes? Are there clusters of activity that could create a narrative for a period of time? Do similar activities fall within one part of the year? Identify large or important gatherings. Are there events that everyone in the town attends? Or events that may be on the front page of the newspaper for a week leading up to the event?

Campaign Phases Purpose: To create a rhythm within your campaign around which goals are set with specific start and end dates Phases are an important tool for organizers - especially those working on long-running initiatives. If there is no clear end date, it can be difficult to create a sense of urgency among volunteers. Campaign phases offer a solution. o If a volunteer says, I will help the campaign later, the organizer can respond, This is the last event in our summer campaign. To reach our goal of X, we need you help now, or This is your last chance to help the campaign in this important phase. Phases also create the space for a campaign to clearly delineate different tactics by the time of year. A linear strategy where the same tactics are employed throughout the year is not advisable. Phase 1 should have a different tactical approach from Phase 2. There are a few important suggestions for creating effective campaign phases: o Campaign phases should have clear start and end date (example: July 4 th September 1 st ). o Campaign phases should have specific kick-off and culmination points (example: Independence Day volunteer training, Labor Day canvass). o Campaign phases should have distinct identities (example: Beat the heat efficiency drive). In the chart below, build out the phases of your campaign. ACTIVITY: Campaign Phase Timeline

Using the community timeline that you built, define your campaign phases in the table below. Draw lines vertically along the timeline below to mark the separation of campaign phases. Ideally, within a year, a campaign has between three and five phases. To incorporate the idea of community identity for each event, name each phase. Insert a brief description of the phase identity. Phase name Phase identity

Community Assessment When selecting partner organizations, it is important to map the entire landscape of who holds power and influence within each community. Seek advice from others through one-on-one meetings. Consolidate their responses in the framework below. 1. Brainstorm: List the potential partner organizations in your community based on the categories listed below. Using butcher paper or a white board, take notes on the groups that are brought up in the brainstorm. Specific faith institutions Faith networks (ex. Industrial Areas Foundation or Catholic Bishops) Community organizations (ex. homeless service provider) Environmental organizations Labor organizations Educational institutions 2. Influence: For each organization, describe and assign a numeric value from one to ten (low to high) for each: Trust within the community People power within target community o Who are their typical members? o Where are their members from? o What was their largest display of people power? o How active are their members? Resources within the organization Diversity within the organization 3. Values: Campaigns are rooted in key values of building community power, creating jobs and reducing poverty, and helping the environment. For each organization listed in section 1, assign a numeric value from 1-10 (low to high): Building community power Jobs / Poverty Environment

4. Power Mapping: Plot each organization from section 1 as they fit on the chart. 10 5 10 Values Influence Reflection Which organizations landed in the top-right quadrant? Are there issues that would prevent organizations in the top-right quadrant from becoming program partners? Who would you like to partner with?

Energy Efficiency Engagement Pathway Purpose: To build a streamlined tactics model for engaging with volunteers and homeowners throughout the Customer Pathway Time: 2 hours Modules Activities Outcomes Customer Engagement Pathway Energy efficiency homeowner and volunteer engagement pathways Completed customer and volunteer Engagement Pathway During the early stages of the Community Efficiency Initiative, formerly known as WeatherizeDC, we assumed that volunteers could simply knock on a homeowner s door, tell the individual what we were trying to do and they would decide to weatherize their home. It became clear that individuals were most likely to complete the weatherization process and volunteer if they were engaged on a deeper level. We have deconstructed our process of interaction with homeowners and volunteers into multiple stages. This pathway, made up of program tactics, is a map of homeowners and volunteers experience with the program. For both the volunteer and homeowner, there are stages of interaction that occur along the energy efficiency pathway that are specific to the business process of your program. Commonly these stages can be broken down into three stage types for volunteers and homeowners: Homeowner Pathway: Identify: Use demographic data and existing community networks to target households and neighborhoods Volunteer Pathway: Identify: Assess existing networks to identify local volunteers Outreach: Use online and offline organizing tactics, volunteers gauge targeted homeowners interest Training: Use online and offline organizing tactics, organizers recruit local volunteers Engagement: Volunteers educate on the benefits of participation and facilitate a deeper commitment Action: Volunteers run the homeowner outreach and engagement process

These stages are an important aspect of an effective engagement program. They will become the lists that are generated for organizers to call, email or visit. Volunteer and homeowner movement through these stages are key benchmarks of program progress. ACTIVITY: The Energy Efficiency Pathway Shuffle Materials: Index cards, markers and a white board or butcher paper This is an activity to help construct a volunteer and homeowner pathway. This game is designed to get the creative juices flowing and make some decisions around designing an energy efficiency pathway. Step 1 Program Process Mapping As stated earlier, the customer pathway should directly map to the program s business processes. To define the stages within the pathway, we will map the process that a homeowner would usually undergo from their first contact with the program to completion. Step 2 Energy Efficiency Customer Pathway Stages Now that we have laid out the entire program process, we need to distill this complicated process into the four or six stages in which a homeowner lives. The goal of this process is not to capture every detail of the stages from a program administrator perspective, but to think as an organizer. What are the key steps that homeowners and volunteers pass through as they interact with the program? Step 3 - Tactics Brainstorm Imagine any and all tactics that you can think of and write one tactic on each notecard. What have you done for campaigns in the past? What has worked within your community? What creative new ideas would you like to try? Step 4 Populate the Pathway Place each of the note cards onto the homeowner and volunteer pathway stages listed above (Homeowner: Identify, Outreach, Engagement Volunteer: Identify, Outreach, Action). Which tactics target? Which tactics outreach? Which tactics engage? Step 5 Refine the Pathways While the stages of your pathway will not change depending on the phase of your campaign, the tactics that populate each stage will. This is how your strategy can change to meet the need of that phase. First, draw blank stage diagrams on the board for each phase. Next, create engagement pathways for each phase by choosing tactics for each stage.

Campaign Phases review: Before we dive into creating these pathways, we will dive a little deeper into the purpose of campaign phases. We have already discussed how campaign phases should match the rhythm of the community. Campaign phases should have different identities based on the season or time of year, but they also should have different strategies based on the campaign s development. The model below demonstrates an ideal for growing capacity in a campaign: * Image courtesy of the New Organizing Institute Taking this approach, your campaign might need to prioritize certain tactics within your energy efficiency customer pathway at different times in your campaign. The table below outlines ideas for structuring capacity building into campaign phases:

Phase Focus Tactics? 1 Building Building relationships and team capacity by holding 1 on 1 meetings with as many potential leaders as possible and hold team strategy meetings where more collective planning and training can occur - 1 on 1s - Strategy meetings - Team members - Team members trained 2 Outreach Working in the field to spread the word about the weatherization program and building a list of potential program participants who are interested in weatherization 3 Engagement Working in the field to engage those identified as interested in weatherization in homes and community spaces to build a list of program participants who would like to weatherize with partner contractors - Volunteer shifts - Doors knocked - Phone calls - Weatherization interests - Energy meetings - Weatherization leads generated Based on this information, choose two or three tactics for each phase that will work best for your community. Add theses notecards to the phase specific pathways on the board. If there are stages that lack tactic cards, re-enter the creative brainstorm section and create cards to fill in the tactics. After you have filled in the tactics, you have completed your engagement pathways.

Reflection: What are the stages of your engagement pathway? How were these constructed? What impact will this have on the program? How will this help the program track its progress? What will be the experience of a homeowner and volunteer in each phase? How will these pathways affect the activity of the program?

4. Campaign Plan: Purpose: To build a roadmap for phased campaign activity Time: 2 hours Modules Activities Outcomes Phased Timeline Creating detailed campaign phases Completing the campaign plan template A roadmap for engagement: goals, objectives and activities clearly laid out by phase 1. Intro - Before entering the campaign-planning phase, it is important to recognize how far we have come. We have many pieces of the puzzle figured out! Now comes the fun part where we put it all together. Here is what we have in place already: Program Model Highlights that community is the entity that holds the power within energy efficiency programs by illustrating who is a part of this campaign and outlining their responsibilities. Organizing Theory The theory of how to build the power (relationships and volunteer network) to run an effective engagement program. Program Outputs Clear output goals defined by the program, typically around weatherization commitments. Campaign Phases Defined periods of time within a campaign, which reflect the rhythms of the community. Community Assessment through Power Analysis An understanding of when and where to focus with the community timeline and power analysis. Energy Efficiency Pathways A detailed pathway made up of organizing tactics customized to your neighborhoods. The campaign plan will serve as the roadmap for how the campaign will grow its capacity to implement engagement tactics - within specific communities, by certain dates - to reach its output goals. For each phase, we will work to clearly define the: Output goals Objectives Activities within the phase Key dates within the phase Launch events and culmination events

Campaign Plan Template Overall In this campaign we will: [Insert Strategy Statement] In this campaign we will work with: [Insert results of power mapping] In this campaign we will accomplish: [Insert Top Line Outputs] Conversion Rate Goals: Metric Conversion Rate Goals Interests to Commitments % Commitments to Assessments % Assessments to Upgrades % Output Goals: Metric Output Goal Energy Efficiency Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Other input [Insert other input on the overall campaign]

Campaign Phases [Phase 1] Output Goals: Metric Output Goal Energy Efficiency Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Phase Objectives [We will do what, with whom, and by whom]: Phase Timeline: Date [mm/dd/yy] Event Launch event: Culmination event: Prioritized tactics within the phase: Tactic Goal How will this tactic help you reach your output goals?

Campaign Phases [Phase 2] Output Goals: Metric Output Goal Energy Efficiency Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Phase Objectives [We will do what, with whom]: Phase Timeline: Date [mm/dd/yy] Event Launch event: Culmination event: Prioritized tactics within the phase: Tactic Goal How will this tactic help you reach your output goals? Campaign Phases [Phase 3]

Output Goals: Metric Output Goal Energy Efficiency Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Phase Objectives [We will do what, with whom]: Phase Timeline: Date [mm/dd/yy] Event Launch event: Culmination event: Prioritized tactics within the phase: Tactic Goal How will this tactic help you reach your output goals? Campaign Phases [Phase 4]

Output Goals: Metric Output Goal Energy Efficiency Upgrades Assessments Commitments Interests Phase Objectives [We will do what, with whom]: Phase Timeline: Date [mm/dd/yy] Event Launch event: Culmination event: Prioritized tactics within the phase: Tactic Goal How will this tactic help you reach your output goals?