3 Steps To Include Community Voices in Social Impact

When social impact work includes community voices, everyone wins. Organizations maximize investments and minimize risks by supporting the priorities communities want and need, generating the type of impact that consumers, especially millennial and Gen-Z consumers, increasingly expect. Meanwhile, communities benefit from resources going where they are needed most — not where a third party thinks they are needed. 

It’s a simple concept: social impact efforts should be guided by those whose experiences are closest to the problems we’re trying to solve. But including community voice isn’t low-hanging fruit, and social impact professionals should be prepared to invest time and resources into this work. Tides works with many corporate and philanthropic partners who value community voice in shaping social impact, and we’ve identified three steps to begin your organization’s journey. 

1. Define Your Community

Consider the following: What issue does your team seek to address, and which community is most affected by that issue? What are your goals for community engagement, and who are the right people to achieve those goals? 

The answers to these questions will narrow your focus and form the basis for your strategy. Often, our partners focus on one or more of the following communities: 

Community Leaders

Advancing Girls Fund: The Advancing Girls Fund (AGF) is a Tides Foundation initiative that powers grantmaking for adolescent girls and young women of color and their allies, investing in spaces where they can learn, play, dream, and become powerful movement leaders. Given its focus, AGF believes it is important to include youth voices in its grantmaking strategy. In 2024, AGF launched its Youth Advisory Council, comprised of young women and gender-expansive youth ages 18-24 who have backgrounds in leadership, advocacy, and civic engagement in their communities. The Youth Advisory Council convenes every month to connect, learn about grantmaking best practices, and bring a youth perspective to AGF’s work and impact. Over time, the goal is to increasingly shift power to the Youth Advisory Council to drive AGF’s strategy. 

Tides’ Advancing Girls Fund created its Youth Advisory Council to give girls and gender-expansive youth a voice in grantmaking decisions.

Grantees & Nonprofit Partners

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF): For five years, Tides collaborated with RWJF to facilitate a peer learning community called Policy Connect. A space for RWJF grantees with shared policy goals around children and families to connect and collaborate, Policy Connect’s design and implementation was guided by an advisory group  of the participating grantees . Through Policy Connect, RWJF showed its responsiveness and commitment to deep partnership with its grantees, creating value above and beyond monetary support. By working alongside grantees in this way, RWJF gained additional insights to support their strategy.  

Employees

Sephora: Sephora is committed to supporting nonprofits that promote belonging and empower historically marginalized communities through their Community Impact Program. To make this happen, they engaged all Sephora employees to vote for nonprofits in communities where they live and work. In 2024, Sephora employees were given a potential opportunity for their non-profit of choice to receive a $10,000 grant through Sephora’s fund at Tides. Sephora partnered with 12 of their strategic nonprofit partners and Tides to nominate over 500 local, mission-aligned grant recipients. A total of $630,000 was donated to local organizations selected by Sephora’s 7  corporate departments, 48 retail districts, and 5 distribution centers across the country. 

Sephora, a Tides partner, is committed to supporting nonprofits that promote belonging and empower historically marginalized communities through their Community Impact Program.

2. Design for Equity

Community voice is not just about the who — it is also about the how. After facilitating many interviews, listening sessions, focus groups, and convenings to help organizations connect with and learn from their communities, Tides’ Strategic Initiatives team developed the framework below. It provides concrete ways that companies can center equity in the development and execution of a strong community voice strategy. 

Build reciprocity into the process: Offer meaningful compensation when appropriate and explore opportunities to share back learnings, facilitate connections, and provide a platform to uplift participants’ work. 

Center the voices of the most marginalized: Think critically about who is in the room and which perspectives are prioritized. Ask: who’s missing? 

Create a safe, comfortable, accessible environment: Ask participants about accessibility considerations upfront; this may include disability accommodations, caregiving needs, and dietary preferences. Use language that is tailored to the audience. Host events in central, welcoming community spaces. 

Place relationships first: Create space for participants to get to know each other as people and as professionals. Model the engagement you want to see. Provide ways to stay connected. 

Prioritize participants’ experience: Ask: If I were a participant, what would make this a valuable use of my time? What would make me feel seen and heard? What would make me want to share my experiences and expertise? 

3. Start Small While Being Future-Focused

It’s okay to start small when it comes to community voice. Even one listening session can allow you to learn what works well and what is needed to support stronger engagement. That said, community voice should never be an isolated activity: rather, the goal should be deep, sustained, trust-based engagement that is embedded in your long-term social impact strategy. 

For example, that initial listening session might allow you to connect with members of the local community, increase your understanding of their lived experiences, and tailor your social impact investments to better meet community needs. Over time, as you share back how you have implemented what you learned from participants and continue to make a material difference in the community, those relationships — and mutual trust — will grow. Eventually, those community members might serve on an advisory board for your team, regularly shaping and refining your social impact strategy. 

Above all, incorporating community voice into your social impact work requires accountability and transparency. Community voice is about action, not about checking a box. Is your team prepared to act on insights gained from your community? Clarifying what type of input is desired, how it might be used, and any boundaries upfront will help you and your community align expectations and engage appropriately. 

Get Started With Community Voice

In an ever-changing social impact landscape, one thing remains the same: if you want to design initiatives that have a transformative impact, incorporating community voice is foundational. Feel free to reach out to Tides for support getting started. We are excited to partner with you in this important work. 

This blog is the first in a series from Tides’ Strategic Initiatives team that explores ways to take your social impact strategy from transactional to transformational. Sign up for news from Tides and never miss an update.