Make a Wish

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Select a single community-facing wish or need and secure initial commitments for collective execution.

Use it when: Use during neighborhood assemblies, volunteer kickoffs, or civic workshops when a group needs to move from identifying shared needs to concrete local action.

Skip it when: Skip when the group has no authority, resources, or mandate to execute projects, or when an emergency requires immediate top-down triage rather than consensus.

Group arrangement: Individual drafting, plenary clustering, individual voting, whole-group action planning

Timing: The source notes planning can take 2 to 4 hours with execution spanning weeks; this 60-minute UWT run sheet structures the initial identification, selection, and task kickoff for up to 24 people.

Materials and tools

• Index cards or sticky notes (3 to 5 per person)
• Thick markers (1 per person)
• Masking tape or blue painter tape
• 1 poster board or clear wall space for display
• Dot stickers for voting (3 per person)
• 1 flipchart pad and flipchart markers for the action plan

Before participants arrive

1. Label three wall sections: Personal Wishes, Institutional Wishes, Community Wishes.
2. Place index cards, markers, and voting dots at every seat.
3. Prepare a blank flipchart sheet titled 'Action Plan: Task, Owner, Resource, Date'.

Say this to open

Today we will surface real needs and wishes across our community, pick one that we can solve together, and build an immediate plan to deliver it. A wish here means a concrete improvement that we can realistically achieve with our own hands, allies, and available resources.

How to run it

1. Propose individual wishes 7 minutes

   Say the opening script. Invite each person to write 1 to 3 distinct wishes on separate index cards. Each card must state a concrete need and an outcome. For example: 'Paint the hallway at the senior center' or 'Install a community tool-lending shelf.' Participants work quietly. Writing is optional; anyone may choose to review others' cards instead.

2. Post and cluster proposals 18 minutes

   Have participants tape their cards under the matching wall heading. Ask 2 to 3 volunteers to help group related cards. Read aloud cards that need clarification. Prompt the room: 'Which cards belong together?' Merge duplicates and write a distinct cluster title on a fresh card for each group. Resolve disagreements by keeping debated ideas as separate options.

3. Prioritize and vote 8 minutes

   Give each person 3 dot stickers. Participants place dots on the project clusters they believe are both meaningful and feasible for this group to deliver. People may place all 3 dots on one cluster or split them across different clusters. Count the dots publicly and declare the option with the most dots as the collective wish.

4. Build the initial action plan 17 minutes

   Ask the room: 'What are the first 3 to 5 actions needed to make this happen?' Brainstorm aloud. For each action, ask who will volunteer to coordinate it, and what local allies, tools, or materials are required. Record each task, lead volunteer, needed resources, and completion target on the flipchart. Clarify that volunteering for tasks is voluntary.

5. Debrief and confirm next steps 10 minutes

   Lead a debrief using the supplied questions, taking 2 to 3 responses from the room per question. Confirm the date, time, and lead coordinator for the first follow-up checkpoint before closing.

Debrief questions

• Which specific factor made the winning wish feel feasible to take on together?
• What local partner, store, or community asset can we approach this week for materials or advice?
• What is one risk that could stall this project, and how will we handle it?

Finished output: One prioritized community wish accompanied by a documented action plan listing initial tasks, assigned volunteer owners, required resources, and a follow-up date.

Remote

Use a digital whiteboard like Miro or Padlet with three labeled columns. Participants post digital sticky notes. Use the platform voting plugin or three digital star icons per person for selection. Type the resulting action matrix directly into a shared spreadsheet visible on screen.

Hybrid

An in-room co-facilitator transcribes digital sticky notes from remote participants onto physical cards and reads remote comments aloud. Remote participants vote using an online poll that mirrors the physical board clusters. Display the video feed directly on the room main screen so both groups see the wall.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may speak their wishes aloud for a scribe instead of writing.
• Participants may choose not to propose a wish or volunteer for a task while still casting voting dots.
• Physical cards must use thick markers with large lettering to ensure legibility from a distance.

If the session gets stuck

Proposed wishes are too large or require major capital funding (e.g., 'Build a new hospital').

Acknowledge the vision, then ask the group: 'What is a concrete slice of this need that our group can realistically complete in 30 days?'

Voting ties between two completely different proposals.

Allow 1 minute of advocacy for each option from the room, then run a fast hand-vote runoff between the top two choices.

Terms used here

• Feasibility: The practical ability of the group to complete an action using existing skills, volunteer time, and reachable local resources.