Connecting civic engagement to organizational civic dimensions

Harnessing the power of civic engagement’s many faces

1 Aligning Civic Classes With a Mission’s Civic Dimensions

Organizations depend on civic participation to advance important civic dimensions of their missions, meaning the elements of a mission that are realized through civic behaviors such as volunteering, donating, or voting. Whether encouraging employee volunteering through corporate social responsibility programs, coordinating disaster relief, supporting a faith-based ministry, promoting public health, or increasing voter participation, they all face a common question: Which civic classes (groups of people who share similar patterns of civic participation) are most likely to engage in the civic behaviors needed to support these efforts? The five scenarios that follow illustrate how organizations with different missions can use the Civic Navigator to identify the civic classes most likely to fulfill the civic dimensions of their missions.

2 Targeting Specific Civic Behaviors

Seeking to fulfill their mission’s civic dimensions, organizations may opt to target specific civic behaviors they want to encourage, such as voter turnout, charitable giving, or volunteering for a particular cause. For these organizations, the question is more specific: Given a specific civic action, which civic classes are most likely to engage in it? The interactive chart below answers that question. Hover over any point to see the probability that members of a given civic class engage in a specific behavior, based on a national survey of nearly 5,000 respondents.