The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums: Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities [Paperback]

Carol A Lukas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2003

Step-by-step instructions to plan and carry out exciting, successful community fourms that will educate the public, build consensus, focus action, or influence policy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A great 'power to the people' book. This book should be in the library of every citizen organization." -- David A. Lanegran, PhD, John S. Holl Professor of Geography, Macalester College

"This step-by-step guide will help community groups turn mere meetings into effective 'public spaces'!" -- Martha L. McCoy, Executive Director, Study Circles Resource Center

From the Publisher

Community forums are powerful tools for educating the public, building consensus, focusing action, and influencing public policy. The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums provides step-by-step instructions to plan and carry out effective community forums with lasting results. It's based on the authors' experience with more than 70 community forums on a wide variety of topics. The proven models and best practices provided in this book will help readers

* Clarify goals and decide whether a forum is the best way to achieve them

* Select the best type of forum to meet your goals

* Develop a timeline, create a budget, and recruit sponsors

* Engage an audience early

* Manage the logistics of event planning and execution

* Prepare for pitfalls, unexpected requests, and challenging situations * Sustain the results and bring about lasting, desired changesa You don't need a lot of time or money Sample documents, detailed worksheets, and a comprehensive checklist lead readers through the process. "Forums on a Shoestring" sidebars help get results with little time or money. A detailed resource section lists useful books, articles, organizations, and web sites. Practical tools for planning and trouble-shooting

* "Forums on a Shoestring" sidebars can help you save time and money

* A comprehensive forums checklist to ensure that no key planning steps are missed

* A troubleshooting section to help planners anticipate and avoid typical problems

* Sample agendas, concept paper, evaluation forums, and marketing brochures

* Reproducible worksheets to help the planning process move along * Resources pointing you toward helpful books, organizations, and web sites Who this book is for Recommended for all kinds of community groups, meant to be used in many situations, The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums gives quick-and-easy access to the information, models, advice, and best practices needed for successful forums. It's particularly helpful to

* Any community group—citizens, nonprofits, foundations, government, or businesses * Facilitators and event planners

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Wilder Publising Center (May 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940069318
• ISBN-13: 978-0940069312
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,886,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carol is President of Fieldstone Alliance, a national nonprofit intermediary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fieldstone Alliance works to strengthen the nonprofit sector across the country through its consulting, training, research, and publishing.

Carol has been executive director of nonprofit organizations, a trustee of a community foundation, a consultant within a fortune 500 company, and a small business owner. She has over 30 years of consulting and training experience with nonprofits, government, foundations, businesses, and collaboratives. Carol focuses on building the capacity of national networks and organizations; strengthening connections between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors as they address urban issues; and helping organizations and collaboratives plan and manage change in strategic direction and organization structure and capacity.

Carol is author of Consulting with Nonprofits - A Practitioner's Guide, and co-author of Strengthening Nonprofit Performance - A Funder's Guide to Capacity Building, Conducting Community Forums - Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities, and a contributing author to A Funder's Guide to Organizational Assessment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Conducting Community Forums, July 2, 2004

By 

Jan Tunnell (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums: Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities (Paperback)

Conducting Community Forums Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities
Carol Lukas and Linda Hoskins
Published 2003 by Wilder Publishing Center
Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
St. Paul, MN
112 pages including appendices

Reviewed by
Jan Tunnell
Tunnell & Associates

Community forums are powerful tools to educate the public, build consensus, influence policy, support public debate, and get the community voice heard. Forums are a mechanism to engage citizens and organizations, and serve as a vehicle for community initiatives. This book is designed to help readers:
o Determine if a forum is the best way to achieve their goals
o Clarify the desired outcomes for a forum
o Decide who needs to be involved
o Identify resources needed to support their forum and how to obtain those resources
o Manage the logistics of event planning and execution
o Support follow-up action
o Conduct exciting, successful events that accomplish the established goals
Organized in four chapters plus very useful appendices, the book is a basic but thorough guide to achieving community goals and making good use of scarce resources in facilitating the forum.
The first chapter describes and defines the types of forums; community education, community engagement, and community action - distinguished by the goals they attempt to accomplish. The advantages and disadvantages, uses, and caveats of each are detailed and a chart shows the overlap of the three types. Forums can provide benefits in addition to the basics, including public exposure and increased community involvement. The complete process of planning a forum is given. The reader is led through the decision, or not, to have a forum, establishing a planning group, designating responsibilities, group selection, group size, leadership, and structure. Specific agendas for different time periods are charted. Other charts show in detail the design formats that can be used, with examples of events in varied communities. Every aspect to be considered is explained.
Chapter Two explains how to plan for your forum. Steps are outlined: creating the agenda, identifying resource people, logistics, publicity, and evaluation. Paying attention to the details is stressed.
Orchestrating the event is the subject of the third chapter. All of the possible stumbling blocks are presented, with tips on how to avoid them. Topics such the coordinator, volunteer management, registration, packets, the facility, and food are discussed, with suggestions and ideas. There is a section on troubleshooting, identified as a key to success.
Chapter Four defines change and shows how to sustain the results of the event. The energy and commitment to action that emerges from a successful forum needs to be captured and transformed into concrete action. Understanding the ingredients to bring about change is important after the forum. Pre-planning is part of this process as well as activities for after the event. The forum is only the launching pad for attention or action on an issues or changes in policy and is only one part of a strategy.
Each chapter has a summary; this can be reviewed to determine if what you need is under this section topic. Included at the end of each chapter are ideas on utilizing all possible resources to reduce costs. The four chapters are a gold mine of information, and provide useful, specific directions for accomplishing your goals. As valuable as the information is, the appendices are even more useful. Need a budget form, training for facilitators, evaluation format - they are all here and more. This is a basic but most useful book; easy to read and assimilate, carefully thought out and well documented. Definitely recommended for community activists.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Community Forums Can Benefit from this Nonprofit Field Guide, February 25, 2005

By 

Peter V. Cannice "Peter Vincent Cannice of Sc... (Scottsdale, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums: Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities (Paperback)

Conducting Community Forums: Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities, authored by Carol Lukas and Linda Hoskins, adds to a rather small selection of guides on conducting community forums.

Having spent over 15 years in the area of conducting forums and discussions for small and large communities, almost always in a nonprofit setting, I learned a great deal about needs assessments for nonprofits trying to reach into the community. In the beginning, there was almost nothing available to us, and only in recent times did true technical assistance become an attainable resource.

Times have changed in a great way. I realized how far we had come after reading this very creative and helpful reference guide. What I really loved about the book, was how even the most important information presented was put in a simple and understandable format that was engaging and interesting. Finally, a comprehensive "Field Guide" that makes total sense and offers the many tools necessary to educate your audience (the public community), help build consensus, dramatically influence policies, support any public debate and allow the voice of any community to be heard.

Whatever your needs, let this great guide act as an important instrument in allowing you to successfully engage the community and then powerfully engage them. The authors filled each page with incredibly useful information that is based on experience, scientific research, and successful implementation of the many constructive tools that they have used in the field.

Happy Reading to ALL!

Peter Cannice from Scottsdale, Arizona
Email: [e-mail]

5.0 out of 5 stars Another solid Wilder publication, October 3, 2006

By 

madhatter "madhatterlg" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wilder Nonprofit Field Guide to Conducting Community Forums: Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities (Paperback)

Another reviewer said it best, the plain language of the Wilder field guides make them one of the best sources for manangment information. Even though written with a focus on noprofits, this guide on Cummunity Forums has much information that is easily adaptable to government agencies...and I suspect even a few private companies.

Three aspects that were most valuable for me are 1) the acutal design of a community forum; 2) the types of Adult learner and how to structure your forum to communicate to them all, and 3) constructing a budget (including ideas about 'Forums On A Shoe String")

I used this book with my staff in their planning for a series of forums which produced above average results.


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