Free tool
Stakeholder mapping and analysis tool
List everyone who might matter, make each group specific enough to plan against, place them by stake and influence, decide who needs deliberate outreach, and review coverage. The same five-step workflow CE Canvas runs on every project, with its practice notes.
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Who might matter?
Directly affected people, those who avoid the place or service because of the issue, neighbours, rights-holders, regulators, internal teams and delivery partners.
Start with who you know today. Groups get added, renamed and re-placed as the project unfolds.
0 stakeholders · 0 mapped · 0 deliberate outreach
About stakeholder analysis
What is stakeholder mapping and analysis?
Stakeholder mapping identifies everyone with a stake in a decision. Stakeholder analysis assesses each group, how affected it is, how much influence it has and what might stop it taking part, so you can decide how to engage it. Done well, it is the part of an engagement plan that decides who you hear from.
- Step 1
List
Everyone who might be affected by the decision or able to influence it, before you judge who matters.
- Step 2
Refine
Make each group specific enough to plan against: not "residents" but "residents on the two streets losing parking".
- Step 3
Map
Place each group by its stake in the decision and its influence over it, and mark who is directly affected.
- Step 4
Reach
Decide which groups need deliberate outreach because of barriers to taking part, and how you will reach them.
- Step 5
Review
Check coverage: affected groups with no plan to reach them, gaps in who you heard from, and groups you have assumed.
Power/interest grid
Why the tool maps stake, not just power and interest
The power/interest grid is the most common way to sort stakeholders: manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed, monitor. It is useful for managing relationships with influential groups. In community engagement it has a blind spot: being affected is not the same as being interested, so directly affected groups that are less organized or face barriers to taking part end up in the monitor corner. Mapping stake and adding barriers is how the tool closes that gap.
Questions
Common questions about stakeholder mapping
Is the stakeholder mapping tool free?
Yes. There is no account to create, and your map is saved in your browser as you work. If you want a summary of the finished map to paste into a plan or brief, the tool asks for your name, work email and organization before the download.
What is the difference between stakeholder mapping and stakeholder analysis?
Stakeholder mapping identifies who has a stake in a decision. Stakeholder analysis assesses each group: how much it is affected, how much influence it has, what might stop it taking part, and therefore how you will engage it. The tool does both: list and refine are mapping; map, reach and review are analysis.
Stakeholder mapping and analysis guideHow is this different from a power/interest grid?
A power/interest grid sorts stakeholders by their influence over a project and their interest in it. That works for managing relationships, but in community engagement the people most affected are often not the most interested or organized, so they land in the "monitor" corner. The tool maps stake (how affected a group is) rather than interest, and adds barriers to taking part, so affected groups get a plan to reach them.
What do I do with the map once it is finished?
Use it as the stakeholder section of your engagement plan: it sets which groups you will engage, at what level and how, and which need deliberate outreach. Revisit it at each phase, because new groups emerge and influence shifts as a project moves.
Stakeholder engagement plan template