Organizing your project  step by step

Definitions

Timeline - a theoretical schedule of events and accomplishments for your project. Some times are fixed by external needs, for example, to have a display for Bike to Work Week or to lobby a committee that meets in two months. Most times are set by you, for example, it would be ideal to have the mailout go out in a month or have the letter ready for the next meeting. 
Project checkpoints - events and goals in your timeline that can be evaluated in concrete terms. These times are good for stopping and evaluating your progress, for example, counting up the petitions at the end of one week to see if you're meeting your targets or having a meeting after the workshop in a series to integrate the feedback into future events.
Brainstorming - with a group of people, generate as many ideas as possible related to the situation or problem. The focus is on volume, not quality, to encourage creative thinking. Later on, sort through the ideas and evaluate them.
 

Step 1 Planning

Gather and analyze facts about the current project situation.

This may include some research at the library, but most often this means talking to someone who is familiar with the situation. You may need to speak with a few different people before you find someone who is willing to help and has the information you need. Don't get discouraged, most people are happy to share what they know. Go to a few different sources to check that your information is accurate.
 

Decide on your desired results.

Setting your goals at this point means that you can approach people with a specific purpose in mind. You can also be certain of getting personal satisfaction from your work, regardless of what changes the group makes later.
 

Find someone to be your partner.

Don't work alone. Everyone needs someone to try out ideas and get support for your plans.

Develop a network of interested groups and people. Make contact with your allies, they will be a valuable source of assistance, experience, ideas and social support.

Let everyone involved in the project have a chance to talk about ideas and goals together.

Make use of the collected expertise and support of the people around you. Including them in your planning stages ensures that your work will be coordinated.
 

Develop possible alternative courses of action.

Now that you have a goal and some reliable sense of your situation, try and think of several ways to achieve your goals. Brainstorm as many ideas as you can with your partner and allies.

Identify the negative and positive consequences of each course of action.

Assess your strengths and weaknesses.
 

Decide on a basic course of action.

Step 2 Organizing

Set up a coordinating group.

Recruit from people you've know or spoken to during your research. If someone is busy but you want their advice, ask them to be involved with only this stage of the project. Four people is a good size for a core group at this point. Later on when there is more concrete tasks to take on, your core group might expand to 7 to 12 people, or even more if it's a time-limited project.
 

Develop these details

Program - what actions are you going to carry out and when? Try and be as concrete as possible.

Priorities - the plan of action you've chosen may serve many purposes at once, which of these are the most desirable? What goals are the most important to you. For example, if you are planning a conference, is it more important that the conference not lose money, or that it is free to attend? Knowing your priorities now will help you stay on track of your goals and make better on-the-spot decisions later.

Sequence - the steps should build on each other, for example, publicity needs to come before fundraising, volunteer recruitment needs to be arranged before the training. Make a timeline of what needs to be accomplished and when.

Timing of major steps - how critical is timing to your project? Is it focused around an election, an event or some other deadline? Set the final date and then work backwards to piece together when the smaller steps need to be accomplished.

Determine measurable checkpoints for success of the project - how will you know if you're meeting your goals? Try and make your checkpoints tangible things, for example, 20 new volunteers recruited and trained by a certain date, 10 meetings with public officials, 3 letters mailed out, 4 media interviews, 50 people registered for your course, a facilitator booked for each workshop, 2 factsheets produced, or good results from a questionnaire passed out to 30 people. 

Identify minimum job tasks (volunteer and/or paid) needed to carry out the project - when you recruit people to get involved with the project, it will help if you know what you're asking from them and if they know what they're getting into. Make up job descriptions (they can be broken down and shared by more than one person if needed) that cover all the different aspects of work involved in the project. Make a list of all the tasks involved in getting the project done and then group them into categories. You can separate short term and long term job descriptions (you may need 30 people to help with the night of the event but only 3 are needed for the long term planning). Don't forget planning and coordinating work that needs to be done - phone calls, volunteer coordination, office work etc. 

Do up a budget (best and worse case scenario) - begin with 2 lists of your expenses, one is in an ideal world and the other is what you think is the bare minimum for getting the work done comfortably. Then write 2 lists of income, also the best and worst case scenarios. Keep wrestling with the numbers until your ideal spending spree matches what you will ask be asking your funders to provide and your bare minimum expenses can be met by funding you think is pretty secure.

Fundraise - ask your allies how they are funded and what ideas for funding they know about. This will save a lot of time in choosing your fundraising strategy.
 
 

Step 3 Implementing

Find people to do job tasks.

You can advertise in the paper, set up a table at events, ask people personally or hold a volunteer Open House for people who are interested.

Train staff and volunteers if needed (you may need to allow for money and time to train people when you are planning).

Develop mutually agreed-upon ways of assessing work performance.

Each job description should contain a purpose and a goal of the position that can be measured.

Coordinate ongoing activities of the project. Don't forget to write a job description for someone to do what you've been doing all along - coordinating! Don't let this work become invisible and take on extra tasks on top of it. Instead, acknowledge the time involved, and think about sharing it with more people.
 
 

Step 4 Coordinating and evaluating

Measure progress towards and/or deviation from project checkpoints and goals.

There will always be changes in your project, unexpected problems and unforeseen opportunities will see to that. Evaluate these changes and decide if you can work around the problems you face, or create more opportunities for your project to thrive. You should do this as a group, and you can invite allied groups and individuals to share their opinions too. 

Evaluate how well jobs have been done. You can hold a meeting to evaluate the project, or pass around a questionnaire.

Make changes in the project based on your evaluations.

Brainstorm and re-plan as needed.

As you reach the end of your timeline, or even a major turning point in your project, you will want to review Step 1 again to re-visit all your original planning assumptions and evaluate where to go from this point on. 

Compiled by Regan McClure , from workshop notes by Lisa Salsberg

Some Good Books

A Guide for Community Health Promotion Planning by the Ontario Ministry of Health.

Building Consensus for a Sustainable Future by the National Roundtable on Environment and Economy.

Community Action for the Environment: A Guide to Helping your Community Go Green by the Conservation Council of Ontario.