Community organization aims to involve various organizations and institutions to meet community needs. It develops integration within the community and empowers people through cooperation. Community organization is defined as a process of discovering and addressing social welfare needs by coordinating resources and directing them toward realizing group ideals and developing members' potential. It deals with program relationships rather than direct service. The primary goal of community organization is to maintain an effective adjustment between scarce resources and community needs.

1. Community Organization

2. Concept
 The concept of community organization was developed to involve various
organizations and institutions to meet their basic needs of community people. It
is a method used to make efforts and directed towards community needs. It
develops integration within the community and helps the people to co-operate
with each other. It is a democratic method which believes in the equality of men
and women and dignity provide to individual.

3.  According to Russell H. Kurtz
 Community organization may be thought of as the process by which
these relationships[of agency to agency, of agency to community and of
community to agency] are initiated ,altered, or terminated to meet
changing conditions; and it is thus basic to all social work…..

4.  According to Arthur Dunham
 Community organization is a dynamic, pervasive, far reaching process
of bringing about and maintaining adjustment between social welfare
needs and social welfare resources in a geographical area or a functional
field.

5.  One group proposed the following definitions
 Community organization is the process of dealing with individuals or groups
who are or may become concerned with social welfare services or objectives,
for the purposes of influencing the volume of such services, improving their
quality or distribution, or furthering the attainment of such objectives.
 Another group suggested that
 Community organization may be described as the art and process of
discovering social welfare needs and of creating, co-ordinating and
systematizing instrumentalities through which group resources and talents
may be directed toward the realization of group ideals and the development
of the potentialities of group members.

6.  Third group offered the following-
 Community organization is a type of social work concerned with efforts
to direct social resources effectively towards the specific or total welfare
needs of any geographical area. It may involve such activities as fact
finding, co-ordination, improving standards, interpretation, developing
welfare programs, changing patterns of social work and promoting
social legislation.

7.  UNITED NATIONS considered community organization as complementary
to community development. United Nations assumed that community
development is operative in underdeveloped communities and community
organization is operative in areas in where levels of living are relatively high
and social services relatively well developed, but in where a greater degree of
integration and community initiative is recognized as desirable.
 MURRAY G. ROSS defined community organization as, A process by
which community identifies its needs or objectives, orders (or ranks) these
needs or objectives, develops the confidence and will to work at these needs
or objectives, finds the resources (internal and/or external) to deal with these
needs or objectives takes action in respect to them and in so doing extends
and develops co-operative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the
community.

8.  In general four different major ideas are reflected in these definitions-
 1. the idea of co-operation, collaboration and integration
 2. the idea of meeting needs and of bringing about a balance between
needs and resources
 3. the idea that community organization deals with program
relationships as contrasted with the direct service of case work and
group work
 4. the broad philosophical concept of community organization as
furnishing a working relationship between the democratic process and
specialism.

9. NATURE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
 1. The fundamental aspect of the community organizations is the principle of “Co-operative spirit“.
 2.Community organization recognizes the spirit of democratic values and principles .
 3.Organizing is about empowering. When people unite together, barring all discriminations and get
involved in the community organizations, they develop confidence.
 4. The empowerment comes when people learn skills to help themselves and others.
 5. The community organization recognizes the power of individual. It believes through the collective
strength of the people, better teamwork and adopting scientific methods can make comprehensive
solutions. .
 6. It is concerned with the adjustments and inter-relations of the forces in the community life .
 7. Community organization is therefore, is a continuous process in which adjustments are made and
remade to keep pace with the changing conditions of community life.

10.  7. Within the area of social work the process of community organization
is carried on not only in communities or neighborhoods, or on the local
level but also on a state wide basis and on a nation wide basis or on the
state and national level.
 8. Community organizations is usually and perhaps always concerned
with intergroup relationships.

11. OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
 The primary aim of community organizations is to bring about and
maintain a progressively more affective adjustment between scarce
resources and multiple needs of the community.
 This implies that community organization is concerned with a] the
discovery and definition of needs b] planning for meeting those needs c]
the articulation or pulling the resources d] channelizing these resources
to solve the problems.

12.  Removal of blocks to growth (in individuals, groups as well as in
communities)
 Release of full potentialities (in individuals, groups as well as in
communities)
 Full use of inner resources (in individuals, groups as well as in
communities)
 Development of capacity to manage one’s own (individual, group &
community) life
 Increasing the ability to function as an integrated unit

13.  Secondary objectives are-
 1. to secure and maintain an adequate factual basis for sound planning
and action;
 2. to initiate, develop and modify welfare programs and services in the
interest of attaining a better adjustments between resources and needs.
 3. to improve standard of social work and to increase the effectiveness
of individual agencies.

14.  4. To improve and facilitate the interrelationships and to promote co
ordination among organizations, groups and individuals concerned
with social welfare program and services;
 5. To develop a better public understanding of welfare related problems
and needs and social work objectives, programs and methods.
 6. To develop public support of and public participation in social
welfare activities.

15.  In community organization what is desired is initiation of that process
which will enable a community to overcome blocks which prevents the
community from working together ; release of potentialities and use of
indigenous resources and growth of cooperative attitudes and skills
which make possible achievements of increasingly difficult ends.

16. METHODS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
 Methods explain how community organization is carried out.
 A method is a distinctive way of doing something. Method in its most
general meaning, is a means of achieving an aim, a definite way of
ordering in activity.
 Methods of community organization are a distinctive way of doing
community organization.

17. Methods
 Service
 Administration
 Social actions and social reforms
 Negotiation
 Mass communication
 Planning
 Education
 Consultation

18.  1. Methods of Planning and Related Activities
 1. Fact finding 2. Analysis 3.Evaluation 4. Planning
 2. Methods of Group Decision Making and Co-operative Action
 5. Meeting practice 6. Conference 7. Committee Practice 8. Negotiation
 9. Organization including Mass organization
 3. Methods of Communication:
 10. Education. 11. Consultation 12. Public Relations 13. Formal Written Communication.
 14. Formal oral communication 15.The interview.
 4. Methods of promotion and social action:
 16. Promotion.17.Legislative promotion. 18. Non-Legislative procedural social action
 19. Direct action 20. Exerting or invoking authoritative action
 5. Methods of financing and fund raising
 21. Fund procurement by governmental agencies 22. Fund raising by voluntary agencies
23. Joint budgeting
 6. Methods of administration:
 24. Administrative activities of agencies concerned with social planning.
 25. Administration of common services or community organization. 26. Recording

19. Methods of planning and related activities
 Planning is simply the introduction of orderly thinking into areas of life
which have been ruled by unconsidered judgment.
 Planning is a basic and fundamental approach or way of dealing with
the human problems which beset us.
 Planning is an attitude, an assumption that says it is possible for us to
anticipate, predict , guide and control our own destiny.

20.  Professional skills are needed for setting up a continuous process by
which problems are identified, setting up a process of fact gathering,
creating a working method of analyzing the facts and laying out of
procedures for the implementation of the plan.
 Planning should grow out of the expressed interests and needs of the
persons who compose the agency. It should have a share in the making
of the plan of those who will be directly affected by the results of
planning.

21.  Planning must have an adequate factual basis that will reflect the reality
orientation of the planners. It must be individualized or particularized
because of the differences in situation.
 Planning requires professional leadership, efforts of volunteer,
nonprofessional, community leadership as well as professionals.
 Planning is dependent upon thinking prior to action. Planning should
make use of existing plans and resources.

22. Methods of group decision making and co-operative action
 There are various techniques used in community organization practice
such as committees, conferences, negotiation for group decision
making.
 The method of conference , the bringing about of a meeting of minds
and the achievements of integration of thinking is one of the creative
aspects of community organization.
 Effective committees are guided in their work by their belief and
democratic values. It should have a clear statement and a clear
understanding of their purpose or job assignment. Constructive ,
creative leadership is needed for effective committees.

23.  Proper personnel, preparation, good meeting place, facts, participation
in discussion and decision making are needed for effective committee.
 Effective committees do their work according to mutually agreed upon
roles and functions as a team rather than individual performer.
 Effective committees keep adequate reports to make final reports, it
provides their members a satisfaction.
 Negotiation with individuals, groups and community for understanding
people and their objectives.

24. Methods of communication
 Education and interpretation are used as method of community
organizations to establish public relationships. Agency family,
volunteers , clients, co operators, supporters, key persons, special
publics and general publics are considered as publics to interpret social
welfare programs.
 These methods are used in community organization to affect changes in
values , extension of knowledge and gain understanding of problems
and needs.

25.  Through citizen participation public relationship can be established.
Citizen participation in social welfare operates at two levels-passive and
active. Most of the adult public is at the passive level and here
participation tends to be casual and without any great depth of interest.
It is a great challenge to move people from passive to active so that they
can act as director, volunteer.
 In order to ensure participation we have to give the fact about needs,
services and budgets, must develop better attitudes and stronger co
operative relationships between public and voluntary agencies, should
have faith on ourselves, and be more than technicians.

26. Methods of social action
 The objectives of social action are- improving mass conditions,
enhancing social welfare, solving mass social problems, influencing
basic social conditions and policies.
 The role of social action and social reform as methods in community
organization is to affect changes in social legislation and social policy by
modifying the old and introducing the new ones.
 Mobilize community resources, overcoming apathy, developing
interests by individuals or groups , changing attitudes are possible
through social action.

27.  Mobilization of community and state resources are possible through selection
of targeted population on the basis of the project, choosing leadership with
care.
 Overcoming apathy[lack of emotional interest] is possible by increasing the
emotional , using dramatic event etc.
 Developing interests by individuals or groups by establishing beliefs among
them that they have something to contribute the common goal.
 Changing attitudes is a slow process but through demonstration it can be
possible.

28. Method of mobilization
 Mobilization as a method of community organization refers to
mobilization of man power, finances and all other resources necessary
for the realization of the objectives of community organization.
 Mobilization starts the process of empowerment by asking people to
stand up for themselves.
 In it who have been disempowered begin to find their voices, to
discover confidence , to feel that they actually have a chance of
changing the conditions of their lives.

29. Method of administration
 Administration is the process of carrying out the plans, executing the
programes and administering the services.
 Forms of organization, personnel management, financial management,
supervision, co-ordination, monitoring are necessary for organization.
It is the process of co-ordinating agencies.
 Some type of administrative recording is in use in every agency
engaging in community organizations. When we record a process we
write about persons and their responses to each other in a given
situation. The answer of who, what, how and why can get through it.

30. Method of research
 Research in the sense of fact finding is a primary method of community
organization practice and constitutes the necessary foundation for
planning and action.
 The problems for research should come from a recognized community
needs. For maximum effectiveness those who are expected to
implement the recommendations should participate in the study
process. Before launching a study the planning group should examine
community readiness.

31.  Social problems must be reformulated into a researchable problems.
 Action research requires technical assistance and direction to insure the
objectivity and accuracy of the data collected.
 Action research in community planning implies teamwork among
researcher, other professionals, technicians . The motivations for action
research affect the nature of the research as well as its utilization. An
action research project should result in recommendations for action or
social change.

32. Methods of Recording
 Records are kept in community organizations for various reasons-
 For the individual , group of agency and community.
 For the internal administrative processes of the agency for supervision and
education.
 To provide the agency the necessary data.
 For teaching and research purposes which is closely related with supervision.

33.  Recording in community organization is largely limited to files of
correspondence and memoranda and minutes of meetings and
occasional summaries of important interviews. Detailed process records
have been developed for teaching purposes.

34. Methods of fund raising
 Fund raising is necessary for nearly every voluntary welfare agency.
Fund raising campaign is a planned mobilization of the friends or
institutions for a voluntary solicitation of proportion gifts from an
informed constituency always toward a specific goal or objectives and
usually a specific period of time.
 Fund raising campaigns comprises five basic elements-
 1. in chronological order rather than in order of importance
 2. active and influential leadership
 3. a sufficient number of informed and enthusiastic volunteer workers

35.  4. campaign constituency or field of support
 5.campaign dynamics

36. Principles of community organization by Florence G. Cassidy
 Social need as a basis for organization
 Adequacy of community services
 Citizen control an essential part of agency operation
---Principles in community organization for social welfare
---General principles of community organization

37.  Dunham (1958) has presented a statement of 28 suggested principles of
community organization. He grouped them under seven headings.
 i) Democracy and social welfare,
 ii) Community roots for community programmes,
 iii) Citizen understanding, support, and participation and professional
service,
 iv) Cooperation,
 v) Social Welfare Programmes,
 vi) Adequacy, distribution, and organization of social welfare services, and
 vii) Prevention.

38.  Principles of community organization by M.G.Ross
1) Discontent with existing conditions in the community must initiate and/or nourish development of the association.
 2) Discontent must be focused and channeled into organization, planning, and action in respect to specific problems.
 3) Discontent which initiates or sustains community organization must be widely shared in the community.
 4) The association must involve leaders (both formal and informal) identified with, and accepted by, major sub-
groups in the community.
 5) The association must have goals and methods and procedures of high acceptability.

39. 5) The associationust have goals and methods and procedures of high acceptability.
6) The programmes of the association should include some activities with an emotional content.
7) The association should seek to utilize the manifest and latent goodwill which exists in the community.
8) The association must develop active and effective lines of communication both within the association
and between the association and the community.
9) The association should seek to support and strengthen groups which it brings together in
cooperative work.
10) The association should develop a pace of work in line with existing conditions in the community.
11) The association should seek to develop effective leaders.
12) The association must develop strength, stability and prestige in the community

40. Siddiqui (1997) has worked out a set of 8 principles.
 1) The Principle of Specific Objectives
 2) The Principle of Planning
 3) The Principle of People’s Participation
 4) The Principle of Inter-group Approach
 5) The Principle of Democratic Functioning
 6) The Principle of Flexible Organization
 7) The Principle of Optimum Utilization of Indigenous Resources
 8) The Principle of Cultural orientation

41. Principles of Community Organization by Ray Johns and David F
Demarche
 1 community organization is a means and not an end. Organization,
personnel, program, knowledge, skills are only means to an end the
welfare and growth of people is the end.
 2.Communities like individuals and groups are different. Each has its
own problems and needs.
 3. Communities have a right to self determination like individuals.

42.  4. Social need is the basis for organization. The determining factors in
initiating, continuing, modifying or terminating an organization is
social need. It should meet a felt need and should be continued when it
adjusts with changing needs.
 5. community welfare rather than agency self interest should be first
consideration in determining program.
 6. co ordination is a process of growth. It should be the result of
intelligent recognition of common interests and objectives.

43.  7. community organization structure should be kept as simple as
possible.
 8. services should be distributed equitably. It should be available
equally and without discrimination to all who need them.
 9. diversity in program approach should be respected. Community
needs should be the determining factor.

44.  10. there should be broad representation in interagency bodies.
 11.there must be balance between centralization and decentralization.
 12. barriers to communication must be broken down.
 13. communities need professional help.