Community groups have long been a critical element in public engagement outreach. When we surveyed public engagement practitioners, over 80% said community groups are a vital part of their outreach strategy, but only 10% had a central way of managing CBO information.

Based on research from our 2023 National Resident Engagement Survey, residents are twice as likely to engage when public organizations reach out to them through a group they affiliate with. Unlocking that potential represents a significant opportunity for public organizations to build trust, increase engagement, and elevate the role of community groups in civic engagement.

The community-based organizations module is a central system of record for managing:

The module is directly integrated into the Equity Mapping toolkit and your resident database. It is included out-of-the-box for all accounts on the Engage or Engage+ plans.

We know data management is only half of the equation. You need to know what groups are working in your community!

That’s why we’ve compiled a database of over 500,000 community-based organizations, key contacts, and geographic information on where they operate. All groups are categorized using a standardized taxonomy.

This network is designed to foster collaboration and information sharing across state, regional, city, and county lines. For example, suppose a city planner identifies an important stakeholder group. In that case, it can share that group with in-network peers at the county, transit, DOT, and MPO organizations that serve its residents.

The CBO Module is a beta feature and can be enabled on request for organizations on the PublicInput Engage and Engage Plus plan. If you have a legacy plan or a Listen plan account, your Customer Success Manager (CSM) can provide options for turning on the CBO module in the near term.

CBO Network access is an add-on that can be optionally added to your plan. Network access includes unlimited usage of network organization and contact data during your subscription period, along with annual updates to PublicInput-sourced network organizations and contacts.

Adding organizations to your CBO database

Importing CBOs by uploading a spreadsheet

Understanding CBO Standard Categories

Searching and filtering lists of CBOs in the CRM

Exploring CBOs in the Equity Mapping interface

Adding and removing CBO contacts

Exporting lists of CBOs