Conducting a Community Assessment

One of the most important factors to consider is the level of resources you have to conduct a community assessment. Examine the time, effort, and human resources that are available from your various stakeholders, including staff, volunteers, consultants, and board members. Establishing collaborations will increase the resources available to conduct a quality and useful assessment.

Benefits of collaboration:

• Engages more community members in the assessment planning and implementation
• Increases access to more data sources to answer the key questions
• More resources are available to conduct the assessment and cover expenses
• Establishes relationships that will be important for leading actions identified in the community assessment findings

If you decide to work collaboratively with partners to complete a community needs assessment, consider using a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the involved parties to ensure that each organization fully understands and commits to the efforts involved. An MOU outlines key responsibilities of the involved organizations. Click the icon to the right to download a sample MOU. Every MOU should include the names of the participating organization and the organization’s representative, what tasks or actions each party agrees to take, what resources each party agrees to contribute, and the deadlines or timelines associated with the partnership.