How To Get People Involved

Are you inspired to join a cause or start one in your community? That’s great—there are so many different make a positive difference. Odds are, you don’t intend to do it all by yourself—not only can you make a bigger impact with others’ help, but it’s also more fun.

But how do you get other people involved?

It’s one thing to be motivated yourself, its quite another to motivate others to join you. Regardless if you’re looking for donations for your next fundraising run or volunteers to help build a house—asking for favors is usually uncomfortable for most of us.

But, no matter. A few simple steps can make it easier, both for you to ask and for others to say yes.

1. Give before asking.
   Before you can build a community around your cause, you’ve got to be part of a community. That means contributing to something and building genuine relationships. Regardless of the cause, people are more willing to join in when they care about you and feel connected.

You don’t need to start form scratch to do this, though. What groups or communities do you already engage with?

2. Make a personal ask.
   People are more responsive to requests when they are addressed on an individual level, rather than when part of a group. Who doesn’t appreciate being singled out as valuable?

So when you want to get people involved, take the time to invite them personally, one-on-one, and if possible, in person. Don’t forget to share why you want that person involved, and how much it would mean to you.

3. Be clear about what you want.
   Whatever it is that you’d like a person to contribute to your cause, be sure to be clear and specific. If someone is not sure about what they’re being asked to do, they’ll usually just take a pass, instead of risking committing to something they didn’t intend to. 

4. Make it easy.
   This tip might sound obvious, but it gets overlooked all the time. The easier you make it for people to complete your ask, the more likely people are to help you.

So before you ask someone to support your cause, think about it: What can you do to make it easy for people to do what you’re asking?

5. Show the big picture.
   Most people have a desire to give back and help others out … but you have to show them that their action will, in fact, make a difference.

Be clear about the problem your cause is trying to address, what your effort will do to help, and how what you are asking the other person to do fits into that effort. For example, don’t just say that a $20 donation helps you meet your goal of $5000—explain that their $20 can provide food for a child in need for a week.

6. Recognize people for their contribution.
   People need to feel valued. After someone gets involved with your cause, thank them for it. This can mean calling them out in a meeting for their contribution, including their name among your donors or volunteers, or a simple phone call to say “thanks.” 

7. Spread Your Passion

It’s easy to get inspired to contribute to a cause. But it can be harder to ask others to get involved, too. But there’s easy steps you can take to make asking for involvement easier … and to make it easier for others to say “yes” when you do.

With these simple tips you’re sure to gain lots of support for your cause—your passion will be contagious.