Community Needs Prioritisation

What the framework is

Community needs prioritisation compares the issues and needs in a community to decide where support or investment is most needed. The template starts with five criteria: Urgency, Potential Impact, Number of People Affected, Feasibility and Long-Term Importance. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

What the result looks like

When it earns its place

Use it for local plans, needs assessments, a charity's strategy, or a council or health partnership deciding where to focus. It works best when residents and front-line staff take part alongside decision-makers.

The trap is that the loudest needs win. Groups that are hard to reach are easy to under-rank. Bring in evidence and the people affected, not only those who usually attend.

How to run it with a group

1. List each need in plain language, as residents would describe it.
2. Agree the weights. Decide how much the number of people affected should count against urgency.
3. Send the link and give people a week or two. Participants do not need an account to respond. Reach out beyond the usual channels.
4. Read the overall ranking, then the ranking per criterion. Publish the result, and say what will happen next.

More templates like this

• Participatory Budget

  Let a group allocate a shared budget across competing priorities. Each participant distributes a real total (e.g. €100,000,000) across the areas — seeing both the amount and the percentage as they go — and the results show where the group would collectively spend.

• Intervention Prioritisation

  Compare actions, programmes, or initiatives to determine which are most likely to create meaningful impact. Useful for policy, sustainability, social impact, organisational change, and systems improvement. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

• Policy Option Assessment

  Compare policy choices, interventions, or strategic responses across multiple decision criteria. Useful for government, public policy, sustainability, and organisational strategy. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.