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Client and Service Capacity Established; Event Size: Event Type
Who is the target audience?
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Are there income requirements/limits for who can attend?
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Who are the agencies participating?
- These events require collaboration between multiple partner organizations, which generally fall into one of two categories, legal or community.
- Regarding the first, because Louisiana Appleseed does not provide direct legal services, we rely on Civil Legal Aid or Pro Bono partners to deliver these services, specifically Wills, Special Needs Trusts, Successions, Power of Attorney, and Living Wills. Even if your organization does provide these services, it is important to know your limitations (be they manpower, income-restraints, etc.) and whether you have the capacity to serve the target audience.
- These events also rely on more local/trusted community organizations. While hyper-local (even neighborhood specific) can be great, other orgs with more name-recognition can work too (for example, we have partnered with Habitat for Humanity and AARP in the past.) These community organizations promote trust and their knowledge of the target audience needs, community spaces, and general date/time availability of community served will be invaluable.
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How many attorneys will you need to serve your goal number of clients?
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Is there a specific geographic area you are looking to serve?
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What are the community’s expectations?
- Ask the target audience if there is specific information this group wants to gather. Some groups may need more information on successions and heirs’ property, whereas other groups may be looking specifically for information on trusts or disaster recovery. Similarly, some groups may want to learn more about a topic well in advance of speaking one-on-one to an attorney (this is particularly true if there is low exposure/trust in the legal system.) Understanding community expectations will inform the entire planning process.
What is the event type? Is it a solo event or a series?
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Presentation
- Presentation on Estate Planning. These generally last between 45 and 75 minutes. Linked here you will find a copy of Appleseed’s current general estate planning presentation. Logistically, presentations are the easiest to accomplish, generally requiring simply the presenter, a venue representative, and a community org representative.
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Presentation and Registration Drive for Clinic
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This type of event is similar to a standalone presentation; The legal partners can either give a short (<5 minutes) presentation or table at the event. The general goals of these types of event are as follows.
- Provide general education on Estate Planning topics (generally handled by Appleseed, however, the legal partners are in presenting on this they can handle it)
- Introduce and promote legal partners (give legal partners an opportunity to connect with community and speak about their other program areas)
- Assist attendees to register and answer questions they may have about intake requirements, the necessity (and reason) for them to share more sensitive information, and questions on clinic structure.
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Wills Clinic
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The purpose of the wills clinic is to provide attendees the opportunity to walk out with a notarial will using the Legacy Planning Application. The Legacy Planning App can currently create Living Will and Power of Attorney documents as well. Although the logistical considerations will be tackled in more depth later in this document, some things to consider when deciding to set up a wills clinic are:
- Who will provide the legal services? Can your organization provide them yourself or will you require a legal partner?
- Do you or partners have enough trust and standing in the community to ensure the community will engage with a wills clinic? More often than not, there will be a general level of discomfort with these aspects of the legal system, if not the legal system itself. Reducing that discomfort through improving your own standing or working with a trusted partner is of critical importance here, otherwise attendance will be weak.
- Does the target audience have enough knowledge and comfort with the estate planning process to meet with an attorney briefly to produce a last will and testament?
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Presentation and Wills Clinic
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Now that you know what the presentations and wills clinics look like, consider the following when determining whether to hold this type of event:
- Do you only have the capacity to conduct an event over the course of one day? This could be related to travel funds, staffing needs, etc.
- If you need to conduct intake (determining the eligibility of clients to receive service), do you have enough time and staff to conduct interviews on site. This will ALWAYS be a bottleneck.
- Is there a space in the community large enough to hold a presentation along with 1:1 attorney consults?
- Do you have enough standing in the community, or does a community partner have enough, where people will come?
Secure the Date, Time
Date: What are the considerations for deciding the date?
Appleseed often defers to community partners on selecting dates. They will have a better idea of conflicting community events/schedules such as funerals, sporting events, etc., or anything that could conflict with attendance. Of course, it is also important to ensure that it is a day that will not conflict or cause problems with recruiting Pro Bono attorneys or staffing with Civil Legal Aid attorneys/support staff.
Time: What are the considerations for deciding the time?
It’s best to defer to community partners when possible as they will have the best idea of community schedules. It is also best to determine how many people should be served and whether there are sufficient attorneys available to provide consultations.
Appleseed allocates 1 hr of time with an attorney per individual served. For example, if there are 40 people to serve and we have 10 attorneys available, we will set the event timeframe for 4 hours. If partners or a venue cannot allocate 4 hours plus set up and breakdown for the event, then we will assess recruiting more volunteer attorneys. By adding 3 attorneys to make 13 attorneys available, we could serve the same 40 clients in 3 hours as opposed to 4. Although allotting each attorney consult an hourSecure Event Location
What are the considerations for choosing a venue?
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Centrality
- This is particularly true when serving rural populations. Although this is a free service and it’s not unreasonable to expect folks to drive, the more central the venue can be to the target audience the better. This is also important if you are attempting to serve a specific neighborhood or Zip Code.
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Community Comfort
- If you are a new organization within the community, it can be better to align with an organization that already has good-standing. A library or Council-On-Aging location generally works well. Churches (or other houses of worship) are also excellent partners, but it may be best to communicate with other religious leaders, or perhaps even a council if possible, to ensure that congregations from other houses of worship will attend if the target audience extends beyond the congregation.
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Capacity, both Technical and Physical
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We will dive deeper into the tech used for Appleseed **clinics later. But things to consider include:
- Outlet Access
- A/C or Heating
- Audiovisual capabilities
- Outdoor access if utilizing satellite wifi
- Room size
- Overflow room for consulations
- Tables and Chairs
Discuss Audio and Visual System Possibilities
What are the audio and video system requirements?
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Does your presenter need a microphone?
- Do you need to bring it or is one already there?
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Does your presenter require equipment for a visual presentation?
- Do you need to bring it or is one already there?
Discuss How the Room Can Be Laid Out
What are the initial considerations for room layout?
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Are you utilizing a slide show? How will you present if so?
- Will consults be in the same room as the presentation or does the venue have breakout rooms? How far or close by are the breakout rooms to the waiting or presentation area? Would people be better served in one large room with ample space between groups?
- Are there noise issues, like an echo or lack of privacy, that should be addressed?
- If attendees have appointments, is there an ability to find and direct them to an attorney consult room or area during the presentation with minimal obtrusiveness?
- Likewise, if intake needs to conduct individual interviews, can they be heard over a simultaneous presentation? A little bit of a din is generally good for comfort around discussing sensitive topics like income, but too much can make hearing difficult.
Planning/Meeting Schedule Created
What are the considerations for planning a meeting schedule?
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Timeline and amount of partner organizations
- As indicated by the timeline here, Appleseed begins planning estate planning events at least two months in advance. The frequency of planning meetings is generally biweekly until we’re two months out, at which point we meet weekly. The more partner organizations involved, the more often you will have to meet. If you are working with multiple legal partners, be sure to block extra time in meetings, as different legal organizations have varying capacities and reporting requirements, and these discussions can run a bit long.
Identify partners and roles they will play
Examples of roles and descriptions:
Role | Role Description |
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Community Partner | Organization(s) assessing local interest, handling grassroots outreach, and securing venue. |
Legal Provider | Organization(s) bringing staff and/or volunteer attorneys |
Logistics Coordination | Singular organization bottom lining planning and ensuring everyone has the resources they need. This organization is the information hub for all logistics. This is often Appleseed’s role. |
Determine a Marketing Strategy
What are the considerations in determining a marketing strategy?
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Who is bottom lining?
- Who is bottom lining? Although each org should use the marketing means at their disposal, it’s best to ensure one person/org is delegating these tasks and has a concept of what the marketing push looks like. Often the community partner knows how to reach the target audience best.
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What types of media are we using?
- Canvassing works well when a partner organization has the capacity to lead these efforts. Canvassing is especially effective when the target audience is located in a small geographic area.
- Radio has been effective, both in urban and rural areas. However, it is critical to work with an organization familiar with what stations are tuned in to by the community and do an interview if possible (in order to build trust.)
- Appleseed always creates digital and/or printed flyers. Digital flyers should be distributed through each partner organization's social media. Printed flyers should be placed in high traffic areas and community gathering spaces, such as the front desk at the community center. Staff should be informed of what the event is or be able to help guide folks to more information, such as the community partner(s). Television has also generated excellent turnout in the past. If you are able to pursue this, I would recommend it.
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What other organizations/individuals should be aware of this?
- Are there any local politicians who may be interested in this work? Are there neighborhood or religious organizations? Is there a specific person in the collaboration who can reach these audiences?
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