Creating A Roadmap For Building Out Your Social Impact Ideas
The hardest part of getting anything off the ground is knowing where or how to start. In a culture where we are constantly bombarded with information, the seemingly supportive phrase, “just get started” (or variations of it) can feel like taking a winding path towards a dead end. Where do you start if you don’t exactly know where you’re going, especially if you’ve never embarked on this type of task before?
The social sector is a big space with lots of passionate people seeking support for initiatives ranging from combating climate change, promoting girls' education, or addressing mental health and trauma. Navigating the social sector can be tough, and in this blog, I will share three helpful things you can do to help create your unique roadmap for launching your social impact idea or program.
Be Introspective and Get Clear On Your Program’s Mission And Vision
Sometimes, the first best step starts with answering honest questions about why you’ve started on this journey. More specifically, after you get to the heart of why you’ve started, I want to encourage you to write down different iterations of your program’s mission and vision statement. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Simply start by asking yourself a question related to the big picture of your vision:
How will the world be different because of your specific program?
Then, dig into your mission:
What is the outcome you want to produce?
How will you get there?
Who will you ultimately serve?
After committing to this exercise, my vision for you is that you’ll be able to comfortably deliver your elevator pitch to the next person who asks, “What’s your idea for social impact?”
2. Research and Find Out: Who Else Is Addressing Your Idea?
In order to get really good at anything - a lot of time goes into studying that subject from every angle. I’m not just talking about reading about it; a great way to build deeper knowledge is through having conversations with others in your space. What are common frustrations felt by the people you want to serve? What are common frustrations experienced by your own peers and others who serve your target population? Understanding the answers to these questions and others like them can help you refine your program goals and really spell out a timeline and plan for how program participants will interact with your program.
As you start to meet more people who are also addressing your idea, join affinity groups that regularly engage with people in your space. Joining affinity groups are a great way to stay updated about current events as it pertains to your focus area and it’s a great way to give back to your community. After this step, ideally you’ll be able to have answers to some of the following questions:
How have your peers traditionally approached tackling your focus area(s)?
How will you tackle this problem in a way that is different from your peers?
What news sources or groups can you follow that will help you remain updated about current events in your focus area(s)?
3. Document Your Journey and Share Your Work
I am a big advocate of demystifying the social sector but conceptually, this can feel like a hard thing to do. First, let’s unpack what “demystifying the social sector” actually means. I said it earlier and I’ll say it again, the social sector is full of big-hearted people and mission-driven causes but navigating this sector can be overwhelming. How do you find the right causes to support and how do you support the right causes outside of monetary donations? Sharing your process with others as you navigate this space makes demystifying the social sector beneficial for both you and your supporters. You’ll help other people who may have the same questions understand how to navigate this space or find a solid starting point. After taking this step, my hope is that you will build a community of supporters who you will take the time to engage with and your community will enjoy learning from you.
More than anything, I want to encourage you to be patient with yourself throughout this journey. Start by unpacking your why and then create a mission and vision statement that you can share with others. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to pivot - especially if that means being able to better serve your community. We need more people in the social sector like you who are deeply aware of the issues they want to tackle and committed to building a strong foundation to creating change in their communities.
Hawwa Muhammad is the CEO of Pink Trumpet, a social sector consultancy that helps organizations, businesses, and individuals research, plan, and build systems that will drive their social impact goals forward.
Pink Trumpet offers three core services that get to the heart of operational challenges:
Research & Evaluation
Operations & Project Management and,
Communications & Storytelling
For more information about working with Hawwa and her team you can visit her website, follow her on Instagram or connect on LinkedIn.