Related guide: Community engagement planning: from the decision to a working plan
A community engagement plan is the document that sets out how a project will involve the community in a decision: what is being decided, what is open to influence, who is affected, how they will take part, when, and how their input will be used and reported back. A good plan is short, specific to one decision, and written before any engagement activity is booked.
This guide covers the sections of a plan, the steps to write one, example objectives, a worked example and budgeting. A free Word template with the same structure is available below.
If you are looking for the wider process (scoping, assessment, sign-off and how planning fits across a program of projects), see our guide to community engagement planning. This page is about the plan document itself.
What goes in a community engagement plan?
Most plans cover the same twelve sections. Each depends on the ones above it, so the decision and objectives come first and methods come later.
Section | What it answers |
|---|---|
The decision and what is open to influence | What decision will be made, by whom, and which parts can community input actually change? What is fixed, and why? |
Objectives | What does the decision-maker need to learn from the community, and what should the engagement achieve? |
Stakeholders and who is affected | Who is directly affected, who is interested, who has influence, and who is usually not heard? |
Level of engagement | Where does this sit on the IAP2 Spectrum (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower), and what promise does that make to the public? |
Methods | Which activities will reach each group and produce the input the objectives need? |
Timeline | When does engagement open and close, and how does it line up with the decision date? |
Roles | Who owns the plan, who runs activities, who analyzes input, and who signs off? |
Budget and resources | What staff time, money and materials does the plan need? |
Risks | What could go wrong (low reach, conflict, misinformation, timing clashes) and what is the response? |
Communications | How will people hear about the engagement, and what key messages and channels will be used? |
Analysis and use of input | How will input be recorded, analyzed and passed to the decision-maker? |
Reporting back and evaluation | How and when will participants hear what was heard and what changed, and how will you judge whether the engagement worked? |
Smaller projects can collapse some of these into a line or two, but they should not be skipped. A plan with no answer to "what is open to influence" or "how will input be used" tends to produce engagement the decision-maker cannot act on.
How to write a community engagement plan, step by step
Work through these in order, and expect to revisit earlier steps as you learn more.
Pin down the decision. Write one or two sentences on what will be decided, who decides, and when. Then list what is fixed (budget, legal requirements, technical constraints, decisions already made) and what is genuinely open. This is the step most often skipped.
Write the objectives. Set out what the decision-maker needs to know from the community and what the engagement should achieve. See the next section for examples.
Identify stakeholders. List who is directly affected, who is interested, and who has influence, then ask who is usually missing (renters, young people, people with disability, non-English speakers, shift workers). A stakeholder mapping tool helps you sort them by impact and interest.
Choose the level of engagement. Use the IAP2 Spectrum to decide what you are promising: to keep people informed, to listen and acknowledge their concerns, to work with them, or to share or hand over the decision. The level follows from what is open to influence. The project assessment tool can help.
Select methods. Pick activities that match the level and reach each stakeholder group. Plan at least one way to reach people who will not come to a meeting or go online. Our guide to choosing community engagement methods goes deeper.
Build the timeline. Work backwards from the decision date: report back, decision, analysis, engagement window, promotion, preparation. Leave enough time for analysis, which is the step most often squeezed. See planning a community engagement timeline.
Assign roles. Name the plan owner, the people running each activity, who analyzes input, who writes the report, and who signs off.
Set the budget and resources. Cost each method, including staff time. More on this below.
List the risks. Note what could undermine the engagement and your response: low participation from key groups, a clash with another consultation, organized campaigns, or a decision timeline that moves.
Plan communications. Set out key messages (including what is and is not open to influence), channels, and when each goes out. Our guide to a community engagement communication strategy covers this in detail.
Decide how input will be analyzed and used. Describe how you will record input, code themes, handle campaigns or duplicate submissions, and present findings to the decision-maker. If you cannot say how input will be used, revisit step 1.
Plan reporting back and evaluation. Commit to when and how you will tell participants what was heard and what changed, and set a few measures for whether the engagement met its objectives. See how to evaluate community engagement.
Once the draft is done, have the decision-maker read the decision and objectives sections before anything goes public. It takes a few minutes and prevents most of the problems that surface at the end.
These steps cover the plan document. For the whole community engagement process, from scoping the decision to reporting back, see our ten-step guide.
Community engagement objectives, with examples
Community engagement objectives state what the engagement needs to find out or achieve so the decision can be made well. They are the hinge of the plan: they decide which stakeholders matter most, which methods make sense, and what the analysis looks for. For more examples and a method for writing them, see our guide to community engagement objectives.
What makes a good engagement objective
It is tied to the decision. It names what the decision-maker needs to learn, not a general wish to "hear from the community".
It is specific about who. It says whose views are needed, especially the groups most affected.
It is within what is open to influence. It does not ask for input on things that cannot change.
You can tell whether it was met. At the end, you can point to evidence that it was or was not achieved.
It is short. Three to five objectives is usually enough for one plan.
Example community engagement objectives
These are illustrative examples across different project types. Adapt the wording to your decision.
Park upgrade: Understand how different groups use the park now, including families, older residents and dog owners, and which of three draft layouts best meets their needs.
Road safety project: Identify the locations and times where residents, school communities and local businesses experience safety problems on the corridor, to inform the choice of treatments.
Planning strategy: Test whether the draft housing strategy's priorities reflect community values, and identify where residents expect the greatest trade-offs.
Service change: Understand how a proposed change to library opening hours would affect current users, particularly people who rely on the library for internet access, before a final schedule is set.
Infrastructure construction: Agree with directly affected residents and businesses on work hours, access arrangements and a complaints process that will apply during construction.
Community grants program: Gather community views on the funding priorities for the next grants round, including from groups that have not applied before.
Budget or long-term plan: Show residents the trade-offs in the draft budget and record which priorities they would protect if savings are needed.
Building relationships: Establish a working relationship with local First Nations or Indigenous organizations on how they want to be involved in the project, before options are developed.
The common mistake: writing activities as objectives
"Run three workshops and an online survey" is not an objective. Neither is "receive 500 survey responses" or "hold a community drop-in session". These are methods and outputs. They describe what you will do, not what you need to learn, and an engagement can hit every one and still fail to inform the decision.
A quick test: if an objective would still make sense after you swapped the project for a different one, it is probably an activity or a slogan. Rewrite it around the decision. Our article on how to set clear objectives for your community engagement plan walks through the drafting in more detail.
A community engagement plan example
Here is an example for a hypothetical project: a council upgrading a neighborhood park. The details are invented to show each section filled in briefly.
Section | Hypothetical park upgrade |
|---|---|
The decision and what is open to influence | Council will adopt a concept design for the upgrade of Riverside Park at its meeting in the second quarter. Fixed: the capital budget, the location of the existing playground footings, and accessibility requirements. Open: the layout, the mix of facilities (play, seating, shade, dog area), planting and lighting. |
Objectives | 1. Understand how different groups use the park now and what stops others using it. 2. Identify which of three draft layouts best meets those needs, and why. 3. Surface concerns from immediate neighbors about noise, lighting and parking before a design is chosen. |
Stakeholders and who is affected | Immediate neighbors; families with young children; older residents; dog owners; the local primary school; a nearby aged care facility; sports and community groups that book the park. Likely under-heard: renters in nearby apartments, teenagers, and residents who speak languages other than English at home. |
Level of engagement | Consult for the wider community (layouts and priorities); involve for immediate neighbors and the school (concerns are worked through and reflected in the design). |
Methods | Online survey with the three layouts; two on-site pop-ups at different times of day, including a weekend; a session with students at the school; a short meeting with immediate neighbors; translated summary materials in the two most-spoken community languages. |
Timeline | Four weeks of preparation and promotion, a five-week engagement window, three weeks of analysis, a report to council, then reporting back to participants within two weeks of the decision. |
Roles | Plan owner: the parks project manager. Activities: engagement officer with the landscape architect. Analysis and report: engagement officer. Sign-off: the parks manager, with the project manager briefing council members. |
Budget and resources | Staff time for officers and the landscape architect; pop-up materials and boards; translation; printing and letterbox drop to nearby streets; social media promotion; a small allowance for refreshments at pop-ups. |
Risks | Low response from renters and teenagers (respond with the school session and pop-ups near the apartments); neighbor opposition to lighting (respond with the neighbor meeting and lighting options); a clash with another council consultation (coordinate dates with the communications team). |
Communications | Key message: "Help choose the design for the Riverside Park upgrade. The budget is set; the layout and facilities are up to you." Channels: signage in the park, letterbox drop, school newsletter, council website and social media. |
Analysis and use of input | Survey and pop-up input coded into themes by layout and by stakeholder group. Neighbor concerns logged individually with a response. Findings presented to council alongside the recommended design, showing where input shaped it. |
Reporting back and evaluation | A short what-we-heard summary on the project page, at the pop-up sites and by email to participants, explaining the chosen design and what changed. Evaluation: did each listed group take part, and could council point to input in its decision? |
Notice that the methods follow from the stakeholders and objectives, not the other way round, and that the communications message states what is fixed. That one line prevents a lot of frustration later.
Examples by project type
The structure stays the same across projects, but the emphasis shifts.
Infrastructure and construction
Construction plans usually run in two phases: engagement on the design or options, then ongoing communication and engagement during delivery. The decision section needs to be especially clear, because much is fixed by the time works start. Stakeholders are mapped street by street, and the plan needs a complaints and inquiries process, notification lead times for disruptive works, and a record kept current over months or years. Our guide to community engagement for construction and infrastructure projects covers this in detail.
Planning policy or strategy
Plans for a strategy, land use plan or policy deal with abstract choices and long time frames, so the objectives should focus on values, priorities and trade-offs rather than detailed design. Many jurisdictions set minimum consultation requirements for statutory planning documents, so check what applies and record how the plan meets it. Expect more than one round: an early round on issues and options, then consultation on a draft. See also our guide to community engagement strategy.
Service change
When a service is reduced, moved or redesigned, the people most affected are current users, and some of them will be the hardest to reach through general channels. Plan to engage users where they already are (at the service itself), be direct about what is driving the change, and focus objectives on impacts and ways to reduce them. The risks section matters here, since service changes often attract strong feeling.
Community grants or programs
For a grants round or a new community program, the plan usually seeks input on priorities, eligibility and how the program is run. The stakeholder section should include groups that have not applied or taken part before, and the reporting-back section should explain how input shaped the guidelines.
For more varied illustrations, see our collection of community engagement examples.
How much does community engagement cost? Budgeting your plan
Community engagement costs vary with the scale of the decision, the number of affected groups, the methods and the level of engagement, so there is no standard figure. Cost each method and phase rather than picking a total first.
Budget for:
Staff time: planning, running activities, analysis and reporting. This is usually the largest cost and the one most often left out.
Venues and logistics: room hire, equipment, pop-up materials, refreshments and travel.
Translation and accessibility: translated materials, interpreters, accessible formats, captioning and support for people with disability.
Advertising and promotion: print, letterbox drops, signage, paid social media and local media.
Incentives and participant support: where appropriate, payment or vouchers for time (for example in deliberative processes or lived-experience panels), and childcare or transport.
Digital tools: online engagement platform, survey and mapping costs.
Analysis: time or external support to code and analyze input, especially for large volumes of open-ended responses.
Reporting: writing, design and distribution of the report back to participants and decision-makers.
Contingency: for an extra round or a longer engagement window.
A simple budget table structure keeps it transparent:
Item | Phase | Stakeholder group or method | Staff hours | External cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Example: on-site pop-ups | Engagement window | Families, older residents, renters | Two sessions, one on a weekend | ||
Example: translation | Preparation | Residents who speak languages other than English | Summary materials in two languages | ||
Example: analysis | Analysis | All input | Coding survey and pop-up comments |
If the budget does not cover what the objectives need, change the scope or the level of engagement in the plan rather than quietly cutting the methods that reach the hardest-to-reach groups.
Turning the plan into a proposal
Consultants responding to a brief, and internal teams writing a business case, often need a community engagement proposal rather than a plan. A proposal starts from the same thinking, but it is written to win approval or a contract, so it adds:
Scope: what is in and out, the phases, and any assumptions (for example, the number of sessions or the expected volume of submissions).
Approach: the reasoning behind the level of engagement and methods, showing you understand the decision and the community.
Deliverables: the engagement plan itself, materials, activities, the analysis and the report, each with a due date.
Team: who will do the work and their relevant experience.
Fees or costs: a costed breakdown, usually structured like the budget table above, with how variations will be handled.
A good proposal is a plan in outline. If you cannot sketch the decision, objectives and stakeholders at proposal stage, ask the client or sponsor before pricing the work. For a full outline, pricing advice and common mistakes, see how to write a community engagement proposal.
Writing the engagement report
The plan ends where the report begins: the analysis and reporting-back sections set up what you will write at the end. For how to write a community engagement report, including structure and a template, see our what we heard report template. For reporting that shows how input changed the decision, see community engagement reporting that shows influence.
From one good plan to every project
A template helps you write one good community engagement plan. Getting the same quality across every project in an organization is a different problem: the plan has to be part of how projects run, so the decision, objectives and level of engagement are set before anyone books a venue, and the record carries through to the report. That is what CE Canvas is built for. See how it supports an established engagement practice, or explore our engagement playbooks.
If your organization already has an engagement strategy or framework, the free Strategy and Framework Audit shows whether it gives project teams enough to write plans like this, and where they would still be guessing.
When the comments come in, our guide to thematic analysis shows how to turn them into findings you can defend.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an engagement plan and an engagement strategy?
An engagement strategy sets the organization's overall approach and commitments to engagement across all its work. A community engagement plan applies that approach to one project or decision, setting out the objectives, stakeholders, level of engagement, methods, timeline and reporting back for that project.
How long should a community engagement plan be?
As long as the decision needs and no longer. A small, low-impact project might need two or three pages; a complex or contested project might need ten or more. What matters is that every section is answered, especially what is open to influence and how input will be used.
Who writes the community engagement plan?
Usually the project manager or an engagement specialist writes it, with input from the project team. The decision-maker or project sponsor should review the decision and objectives sections, and the plan should be signed off before engagement starts.
When should you write a community engagement plan?
Early, once the decision is defined but before options are fixed and before any activities are booked. Writing the plan late usually means engaging on things that can no longer change. Update it if the project scope or timeline shifts.
What are community engagement objectives?
Community engagement objectives state what the engagement needs to find out or achieve so the decision can be made well, for example understanding how different groups use a park and which draft layout best meets their needs. They describe what you need to learn, not the activities you will run.