Corporate Community Engagement

American AgCredit

“Stratiscope took the time to understand the unique needs of each of our targeted communities and trained our team to engage them respectfully and meaningfully. Their contribution made the difference between our becoming just another corporate donor and becoming an integral community member.” – Greg Somerhalder, Chief Operating Officer

Challenge:

Support the development of a philanthropic community engagement program that provides real value to the communities AgCredit operates in and that establishes AgCredit as an integral member of those communities.

Stratiscope Approach:

Groundtruthing:

• Worked with AAC staff to understand AAC’s role in targeted communities and assess existing relationships and internal priorities
• Worked with targeted communities to identify priority issues, decision-makers, influencers, and opportunities for engagement

Program Design:

• Supported and guided the development of a community engagement program by:
  • outlining partnership targets and potential partner organizations
  • developing a framework for giving based on community research
  • determining roles for employees to maintain authentic internal engagement
  • developing a nonprofit vetting process for use in identifying partners
  • establishing an internal community engagement committee

Program Launch:

• Initiated contact with key community leaders
• Launched a pilot effort of selecting initial nonprofit partners
• Trained key staff on to run the program and how to engage non-key staff in community efforts

Outcomes:

• In-depth, community-level research on three targeted communities
• A Community Engagement Playbook with key findings as well as short- and long-term engagement opportunities
• Relationships with community leaders resulting from the Groundtruthing™ process
• A engagement program designed to be responsive to the needs of each targeted community
• A comprehensive series of systems and guidelines to maintain the engagement program