Community resourcing

Community organizations often use the community itself as a resource to support their activities. Most community organizations don’t have enough cash flow to buy what they want on the open market. If you get good at this, you will be able to do all sorts of things with relatively little cash resources, for example, you will probably be able to get all the following:

Venues Loans of equipment Personnel Advertising and publicity Information and advice Network of contacts Access to media and other community institutions Donations and grants of money

Good ideas Volunteer labor Donations in kind (e.g. materials) Recyclable materials Community structures e.g. a group acts as guarantor for a micro-credit loan communal farming and building practices

 

Why non-monetary resources are important

1. You may need non-monetary resources if you want local people to eventually take over the program using their own resources.
2. Good ideas are often your most valuable resource. Creative innovations can achieve optimum results in your context, and can save everybody time, money and unnecessary effort. (Work smarter, not just harder.) We'll look at change management later.
3. Money doesn't always solve problems. You may need people who can give you trustworthy advice or mediation if you get stuck. In fact, extra money can make problems worse if it creates jealousies and power-plays.
4. You can encourage resourcefulness rather than dependency. People might not realize that their resources are valuable and useful.
5. If you work with their non-monetary resources, you might find that they have most or even all the resources they need.
   If you are working with subsistence farmers, they can have considerable wealth in land and agricultural produce, but very little money. They can more easily contribute goods in kind, and might also have spare time outside planting and harvest seasons. However, forcing them into a money economy can severely limit their ability to contribute. (If subsistence farmers try to convert their wealth into cash, they can become victims of local traders. For example, they might sell rice cheap at harvest time and buy it back later at much higher prices. Middle men might buy from farmers and sell to wholesalers and retailers, making most of the profit.)

 

Your network

You need to define your community as a network of people, organizations and service providers. For example, in a community theatre, "community" first of all includes the immediate constituency: directors, stage staff, performers, friends, relatives, regular attenders, volunteers, newsletter readers, and website visitors. It also includes other local service providers, the local government, bodies that give grants for community arts, and organizations that might provide advertising sponsorships. To this, you can add your target audience: the people you want to come to your gigs.

Take inventory of non-monetary resources available to you. These may include any of the above. Start by writing a directory of key services and people in your community (with contact details), and keep it up to date. This will include people, organizations and services, as well as criteria for accessing those services. Your directory needs to be easy to use and accessible so that people will use it. After that, it is your role to establish and maintain relationships with key people. Your information base might include:

• The name of the person or organization
• The best way to contact them
• The kind of benefits, services, or resources that are available through the relationship
• Ways of getting regular information from them (e.g. newsletters, regular visits, etc.)
• Role and responsibility of key people and each service.
• How to comminicate with them, e.g. some require formal proposals, some are as simple as a phone call

Each of them will have something to offer, and some can give you something for nothing. When the goal of a government or charitable organization is to help an organization like yours, it might only ask that your application fit their purposes. You can even help them by accepting their money. But in most cases, you need to produce a win-win relationship:

• Volunteers might want to learn something new, have an enjoyable experience, or have a new way to meet people.
• Businesses might be glad to offer commercial products and services in return for appropriate advertising credit.

For most people, the biggest obstacle is being afraid to approach people and ask for help. They rationalize by saying "That person won’t be interested" or "That person won’t be helpful." Many will be; you just need to make the contact.

 

Key link people

The success of your community organization will also depend on your relationship with key link people. In many cases, their main contribution is advice, access to other people, and recommendations that will get decisions made to help you. They might be:

• People who support your organisation
• Designated groups in the community
• Community leaders
• Other providers
• Specialist providers

You will need to establish and maintain appropriate contact with these key people using the best kind of communication that works for each one (e.g. attending meetings, phone contact, visits, sharing information, newsletter).

 

Tip

To some extent, your success will depend on your ability to "join the dots," that is, link up people with similar interests, link up people who can help with those who need help, and link up people who can help each other. This often involves arranging and holding meetings. As you go, check for any obstacles to effective contact between them.