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For community outreach to be successful, you must ensure that key figures in the community know what you offer. For example, if your organization provides services to at-risk youth, meet with school principals, school counselors and other area youth-serving agencies to let them knowhow you can help them. Do not hesitate to announce during a chamber of commerce or Kiwanis meeting how your organization will benefit the community and how others can help.

Consider putting a notice in your local paper about in your service area to get the word out about your organization. Churches often mail postcards to community members to invite them to Christmas or Easter services or to let them know about any special ministries offered.

One of my personal favorite forms of outreach is to host a clothing exchange, this helps people recycle clothes and get things they might otherwise not be able to afford.  If you don't have a location of your own work with a local church, community organization, or use the school.

You might also consider hosting a fair that helps the community and makes your organization better known. Fair ideas include craft fairs, family fairs with games, cultural fairs that sell international foods or fairs that provide important information about community resources.  Or you might host a free movie night in a large area where participants can comfortably sit, like in an auditorium. Advertise the event to the community with posters hung in area business' windows. Hand out informational cards to all those who participate as they enter or leave the movie.