How to Start and Manage a Social Impact Committee
In the first part of our blog series, we covered the benefits of having a social impact committee and how it can help make your community efforts stand out.
If you’re wondering how you can start one in your workplace, you are in the right place! We have broken down how you can start and manage a social impact committee into 5 steps.
1) Define the Purpose
Every effective strategy starts with a clearly defined purpose. It is important to determine the committee’s responsibilities and the goals which you would like them to achieve.
The purpose can then be translated into tangible goals such as reaching $x fundraising target, or encouraging x% of employees to volunteer per year.
You might feel a little resistance toward the idea of quantifying everything, including intangibles like "doing more good in the world," but taking care to define the purpose of your committee will clarify expectations and set everyone up for success.
2) The Logistics
With a defined purpose, the next step is to determine how many people will be in the committee and how often they will meet.
Depending on the size of your business, and how many people want to be involved, the committee can have anywhere between 4 to 12 people. Instead of focusing on the number of people, we suggest you aim for an equal representation of employees and departments.
Try to involve senior employees, middle managers, and junior employees from different departments. And to the best of your ability, ensure the committee is diverse and inclusive with employees coming from different backgrounds.
How often the committee should meet will also depend on the size of your business and the scope of your goals. We suggest you encourage the committee to meet no less than once every two months, and no more than once every two weeks. By increasing the frequency of meetings, the productivity and engagement at each meeting may decrease.
3) Find the Right People
The members of the committee will be ambassadors for social impact within your workplace. You want to find people who already champion social impact in their daily lives and have the passion to make positive change.
Send a company-wide email to ask if anybody is interested to be involved. You can also post on the company Slack channel or any other form of internal communication.
The individuals who volunteer to help are the ones who will go the extra mile to make social impact initiatives better than before.
4) Build the Foundations
Now that you have a handful of people who have shown interest in being involved with the committee, talk to them one-on-one. Get a better understanding of their thoughts on the social impact committee, any suggestions they may have, and how they would like to help. This is also a good chance to get to know them better.
Similar to employee volunteer opportunities, ask them what skills they would like to offer and what roles and responsibilities they would like to take on.
Some responsibilities could include:
- Organizing meeting agenda
- Leading discussions to ensure all points are covered
- Recording meeting notes
- Organizing team activities
5) Host an Icebreaker Event
Host an icebreaker event to welcome the committee members and thank them for their involvement. This would also give them the chance to get to know eachother better and build a mutual understanding on why they want to be involved.
Go over the basics of the committee and the goals and expectations. Emphasize that the committee members have the reins in finding creative ways to improve the company’s social impact internally and externally. Let them know that they have your trust and you are ready to support them any time.
Did you enjoy this blog post? This is the second part of our Social Impact Committee blog series. You don't want to miss the next part: "Strategies for a Successful Social Impact Committee" Sign-up for our newsletter to be the first to know when it’s out, and for more exclusive resources!
In case you missed the first blog "Benefits of Social Impact Committees," read it here.