What do community builders need? Insights from Our 2022 Survey of 200+

What do community builders need now? How are they resourcing their work? What are their challenges? We sought to answer some of these questions in aggregate in our latest survey. The results surprised us, some in good ways and in others… not so much. But the good news is that our current state can help us define where we go from here.

A few high-level insights of the 222 respondents include:

• over 50% seek some form of support through training or additional hires

• 44.9% operate as a “Community Team of One”

• 23% have zero budget for their work

• another 23% don’t know whether or not they have a budget

This confirms something we’ve known all along: community builders tend to do a lot with very little.

But even if you have all the resources in the world and work on a team of 100, that doesn’t change the facts: communities never stop being complex and they are constantly evolving. But stepping back to see the bigger picture can bring up all kinds of fear.

As a client recently told me, “I’m afraid that if I learn a new framework for community building, it will create even more work for me. I’d rather keep doing what I’m doing because at least I know this little world.”

Then she stopped herself and said, “Wow, I didn’t even know I felt that way.”

She immediately recognized that this fear was holding her back from advancing in her career and having the impact she wanted. I didn’t have to say a word.

It made me wonder, How many of us hold onto these unspoken beliefs about our work and what we can and cannot do? And how often do those beliefs stop us from seeking the support we need, securing the budget that we need, asking for that raise or promotion, or delegating to others?

I’ve got my own internal dialogue that I have to keep in check on the regular. I have a feeling that you do too. What’s important is that we bring awareness to this dialogue and begin to question it.