Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

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MARKETING
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Community Engagement and Branding


Community Engagement

If you implement it, the marketing circle will improve the effectiveness of your literacy programs by addressing the needs and wants of your learners, partners, volunteers and funders. We have also discussed our fifth target – the community at large. It fits into the marketing circle, but somehow the idea of target does not completely capture the collective entity that is our community. In fact, there is more to our communities than can be segmented as a target market. Our relationships with our communities require an added approach.

Certain nonprofits have adopted the idea of community engagement, which was originally developed in reaction to hard-nosed marketing practices in the private sector.

“Community Engagement is the process of building relationships with community members who will work side-by-side with you as an ongoing partner, in any and every way imaginable, building an army of support for your mission, with the end goal of making the community a better place to live.” (Community Driven Institute: www.Help4NonProfits.com)

What makes community engagement a useful marketing concept for us is that we have a very distinctive relationship with our communities that sometimes goes unexplored and under-utilized. As literacy agencies we link to our communities via our board of directors, our volunteers, our involvement of learners in all aspects of our operations and our personal community participation. Our community is our market niche.

Community Literacy of Ontario's 2003 Human Resources survey revealed just how closely we are linked with our communities. The percentages are based on approximately 60 respondents.

Community literacy agencies participate in the following types of community events:

  • Community presentations = 90%
  • Community fairs and special events = 87%
  • Promotional events such as open houses, Scrabble® tournaments, etc. = 77%
  • Writing articles in the local newspaper or submitting press releases, etc. = 84%
  • 24% participated in other promotional activities

Community literacy agencies have the following types of partnerships:

  • Local employers = 45%
  • Local referral agencies = 68%
  • Local community agencies = 90%
  • Local community service clubs = 50%
  • Ontario Works = 77%
  • Other literacy agencies = 75%
  • Other types of partnerships = 40%

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CLO gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the National Literacy Secretariat (HRSDC) and the technical support provided by the National Adult Literacy Database in developing this web site.

All external links within this website were valid at the time of publication.
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