Related guide: Community engagement planning: from the decision to a working plan
A community engagement proposal sets out how you would engage a community on a project, and what it would take, so that a client or decision-maker can approve the work. Consultants write one to respond to a brief or tender. Internal teams write one to win budget and sign-off before the engagement starts.
This guide covers what goes in a proposal, a section-by-section outline, how to price the work, and the mistakes that most often cost approval.
Proposal or plan: what is the difference?
A community engagement plan is the working document for a project that is going ahead: the decision, objectives, stakeholders, methods, timeline and how input will be used. A proposal comes first. It makes the case for an approach and asks someone to commit time and money to it.
The two draw on the same thinking. A good proposal is a plan in outline, plus the scope, team, fees and assumptions a reviewer needs to say yes. If the proposal is approved, most of it carries straight into the plan.
What goes in a community engagement proposal
Most proposals, whether for an external client or an internal sponsor, cover these sections:
Understanding of the project: the decision being made, who makes it, and why engagement is needed now. Show you have read the brief and the context, not just restated it.
What is open to influence: what community input can change and what is already fixed. Proposals that skip this set up the engagement to over-promise.
Objectives: what the engagement needs to find out so the decision can be made well. See our guide to community engagement objectives for examples.
Approach and level of engagement: the level of influence you are proposing and why it fits the decision. Our article on choosing your engagement level explains how to justify it.
Stakeholders: who is affected, who has influence and who will be hard to reach. An early stakeholder map makes this section concrete.
Methods and activities: what you will run, for whom, and why each method suits that group.
Timeline: phases and key dates, working back from when the decision is due. See planning a community engagement timeline.
Deliverables: the engagement plan, materials, activities, analysis and the what we heard report, each with a due date.
Team: who will do the work and the experience that matters for this project.
Budget and assumptions: a costed breakdown and the assumptions behind it, such as the number of sessions or the expected volume of submissions.
Risks: what could affect the engagement, such as a contested history, tight timing or a decision that is mostly fixed, and how you would handle it.
How to write a community engagement proposal, step by step
Read the brief for the decision, not the deliverables. Work out what will be decided, by whom and when. If the brief does not say, ask before you write.
Test what is open to influence. List what is fixed and what is genuinely open. If almost nothing is open, say so, and propose communication or a lower level of engagement rather than dressing it up.
Draft the objectives. Two to four objectives tied to the decision. Every method you propose should serve at least one of them.
Sketch the stakeholders. A first pass at who is affected and who will be hard to reach. This is where proposals show they understand the community.
Choose methods to fit the groups. Start from the barriers each group faces, then pick methods. Avoid a standard menu of a survey, a drop-in and a workshop for every project.
Build the timeline and the budget together. Cost each phase and method, and state your assumptions so variations can be priced fairly later.
Write the summary last. One page that states the decision, the approach, the deliverables, the timing and the cost. Many reviewers read only this.
Pricing the engagement work
Staff time is usually the largest cost and the one most often underestimated, especially analysis and reporting. Cost the work by phase and method rather than picking a total first. The budgeting section of our community engagement plan guide lists the cost lines to include, from venues and translation to advertising and participant support.
State the assumptions behind the price: how many sessions, which languages, how many submissions you expect to analyse. Clear assumptions protect both sides when the scope changes, which it often does.
Common mistakes that cost approval
Promising a level of influence the decision cannot support.
A generic method list that would fit any project.
No plan for the groups that are hardest to reach, or a budget that quietly leaves them out.
Underpricing analysis and reporting, then cutting them when time runs short.
No mention of how people will hear what was decided and how their input was used.
Internal proposals and business cases
If you are proposing engagement inside your own organization, the same outline works. Lead with the decision and the risk of not engaging well, keep the method detail light, and be specific about staff time, because that is what managers most often need to approve.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a community engagement proposal be?
Long enough to show you understand the decision and the community, and no longer. For a single project, five to ten pages plus a costed schedule is common. Follow any page limit in the brief.
Who writes a community engagement proposal?
Usually an engagement consultant responding to a brief, or an engagement or project lead inside the organization seeking approval and budget.
What happens to the proposal once it is approved?
It becomes the starting point for the community engagement plan. The objectives, stakeholders, methods and timeline are refined with the project team, and the plan is signed off before engagement begins.