Plan your project and assemble the resources you need to address local opportunities and challenges.

Kick off your project with a workshop to define your community, discuss the issues your community is facing, and gain buy-in from community members.

Gather insights about the availability and delivery of information in your community using a Checklist and a Scavenger Hunt.

Analyze your results using a Community Information Scorecard, a simple visual reporting tool.

Move from insight to action using with a template and a strategic workshop that helps you plot your next steps.

Pursue partnerships to repurpose and expand existing information tools and other resources. Don’t duplicate efforts that are already underway.

A clear understanding of the roles and goals of each partner will lessen the likelihood of problems down the road.

Not every partnership requires a contract, but formal documents provide necessary structure when a partner’s participation is essential to the mission or partners are sharing money or other resources.

Regularly gather insights on who your audience is and what they care about. Use that feedback to refine membership programs and events, tailor user experiences and pitch sponsors.

Pursue strategies for reducing your reliance on foundation funding and increasing income through events, sponsorships and donations from community members. Such revenue sources offer greater independence in reporting and more flexibility in how capital can be invested.

Share your content with others through syndication or other means to reach a larger audience. In exchange you should gain intelligence on who your content is reaching, prominently market your brand or earn fees from syndication.

Keep up with how and where your audience consumes information—and how those habits are changing.

Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
The foundation used a media project as a building tool for the Western New York environmental movement. It has facilitated collaboration among 150 nonprofit organizations and other community members.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation
The foundation partnered with nonprofit and government agencies to create YouChoose Bay Area. The initiative helps residents and leaders make decisions about building development and population growth that will shape the long-term health of the Bay Area.

Community Foundation of New Jersey
The largest newspaper in New Jersey downsized in 2009, raising concerns about the availability of information on state policy matters. The foundation made a small loan to a team of journalists in 2009 to start NJ Spotlight, an online investigative news service focused on state policy issues.