ABSTRACT
Today, organizations are increasingly viewing local community and global affairs as embroidered by the same principles. The community relations model that evolved—planned involvement that meets the needs of the community and company or organization—was a response to the realization that companies and other organizations situated in a community must obtain what Burke called a “license to operate.” Moreover, a good reputation benefits the company brand in immeasurable ways, including the ability to attract and retain business clients. The community audit should be geared toward producing, first, factual information including a quantification, where possible, of the community’s needs, along with an examination of the community’s own resources. Second, the audit should include qualitative information on such things as community attitudes toward the organization as well as the kinds of relationships people in the organization have already established in the community. Third, strategic information should be included in the audit concerning opportunities and threats to the organization in the community.
