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Community organizations often try to do too many things at once. During retreats, board meetings and strategic planning sessions, many groups fail to make a connection between the resources that are available and what the group can actually accomplish.

At the Virginia Organizing Project, we have found an exercise that groups can use to help determine the priorities in their organization. It takes about 30 minutes.

Instructions for the leader/facilitator:

Break into small groups of no more than four people. Tell them, �You are all very hungry. You have .00 to buy lunch for four people. What would you buy?� Ask them to write down their lists.

Then, tell them, �You just discovered that you only have .00 to buy the lunch. Please make another list.�

Then, tell them, �You just discovered that you lost some money and you only have .00 to buy the lunch. Please make another list.�

Ask each group to report what they had on their three lists.

The participants should then discuss how they had to set priorities. �You can only buy what you have money for� should be very clear.

Then, relate this to the organization. Every group has a limited amount of resources � money, equipment, people, media contacts, office space, etc. Get the group to make a list of all the resources available. Be specific. (For example, estimate the amount of time that each person will put into activities of the group.)

In a separate process, ask everyone to make a list of things they would like the group to do. Besides each thing, they should begin to estimate what resources it will take to do it effectively.

Try to keep the exercise simple. Make the point that the number of things a group can accomplish is related to the amount of resources available. If you find out you have less money (resources), you have to buy less, and set some priorities, which means making difficult decisions.

This may also lead the group to be very clear about their mission and long-term goals. Sometimes it also motivates them to expand their resources so they can do more things!