outreach
Enable an agent to recognise, assess and plan outreach by recording who is being approached, why existing channels do not suffice, and what forms of contact and follow-through are appropriate.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 17 findings · 28 questions
Purpose and boundary Establish what the outreach seeks to change and why the activity qualifies as outreach.
Intended connection
Describe the connection being offered and its intended benefit.
Outreach offer
Record what recipients are invited to do or access, alongside the initiator's objective and the proposed recipient benefit.
- What connection, opportunity or support does this outreach offer? definition
- Who established the purpose, and what evidence shows that intended recipients value the offer? provenance
Activity boundary
Locate outreach relative to ordinary intake, promotion, campaigns and service delivery.
Beyond usual channels
Record the contact or access gap that motivates outreach and where responsibility transfers to a neighbouring activity.
- Which people or participation needs are not reached adequately through the actor's usual channels? boundary
- At what point does this outreach become service delivery, sales activity or ongoing relationship management? boundary
Audiences and access Describe whom outreach intends to reach and the conditions that make contact and participation possible.
Audience selection
Make audience inclusion and identification methods explicit.
Audience identification
Record inclusion criteria, identification sources and known gaps without treating inferred need as established fact.
- What criteria identify the intended audience, and who might those criteria miss? definition
- Where did audience information come from, and which needs or interests remain inferred? provenance
Participation barriers
Connect observed access difficulties to practical outreach adaptations.
Barrier and route fit
Record barriers to receiving, understanding or acting on an invitation and the adaptations proposed to address them.
- What evidence identifies language, trust, timing, mobility, cost or other barriers for this audience? provenance
- Which contact route and participation arrangements address those barriers? action
Contact and recipient control Specify how approaches are made, represented and limited.
Approach design
Describe the messenger, invitation and conditions of contact.
Credible invitation
Record who makes the approach, whom they represent and what the invitation promises or requires.
- Who will make contact, and how will their identity, affiliation and reason for approaching the recipient be explained? action
- What costs, eligibility conditions or commitments must recipients understand before accepting? boundary
Contact limits
Capture recipient preferences and the rules for follow-up or closure.
Permission and stopping
Record the basis for contact, channel preferences and conditions that require further approaches to stop.
- What recorded permission, request or other applicable basis supports this contact route? provenance
- How will refusal, withdrawal and nonresponse change the follow-up plan? action
Dialogue and follow-through Track what recipients say and whether accepted offers become useful connections.
Recipient response
Separate observed responses from the outreach team's interpretations.
Expressed needs and choices
Record recipient questions, priorities and decisions, preserving uncertainty when no response is available.
- What did recipients express about the offer, their needs and their preferred next step? provenance
- How should the invitation or approach change in response to that feedback? action
Onward connection
Make accepted introductions, referrals and promises traceable.
Agreed handoff
Record the agreed next step, responsible party, necessary information sharing and evidence of completion.
- Who owns the next step, and what recipient agreement covers the handoff and information shared? action
- What evidence distinguishes a referral sent from a connection successfully completed? measurement
Reach and recipient outcomes Assess who was reached, what followed and what remains unknown.
Reach accounting
Distinguish attempts, confirmed contact and meaningful response.
Contact evidence
Define each reach measure, its counting unit and the limits of audience coverage estimates.
- What counts as an attempt, a person reached and an engaged recipient, and how are repeat contacts handled? measurement
- Which intended audience segments remain unreached or unobservable, and how reliable is the denominator? measurement
Benefit and burden
Assess recipient outcomes alongside adverse experiences and attribution limits.
Outreach contribution
Record evidence of improved access or participation, unwanted effects and uncertainty about outreach's contribution.
- What evidence shows a recipient benefit or burden beyond message delivery, and whose assessment is recorded? measurement
- What can be attributed to outreach, and what depends on later service quality or other influences? boundary
- What observed result would justify adapting, expanding or stopping this outreach? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of outreach this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Activities and processes
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- ACT
- Domain
- ACT.ACT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- Orthodox Judaism outreach
What it is Filled
Outreach is the activity of providing services to populations who might otherwise lack access to those services, through arrangements that address barriers to access.
In scope
- The service purpose, providing actor and intended populations are in scope.
- Reasons populations might otherwise lack access to the services are in scope.
- Audience identification, access barriers and intermediary relationships are in scope.
- Contact methods, invitations and recipient responses that support service access are in scope.
- Accessible service provision, referrals and commitments arising from contact are in scope.
- Reach, accessibility, unwanted contact and service access outcomes are in scope.
Out of scope
- Full campaign strategy and coordination across multiple activities are outside this model.
- Advertising inventory, media buying and broadcast distribution are outside this model.
- Sales negotiation, contracting and transaction fulfilment are outside this model.
- General engagement or participation recruitment without service provision to populations facing access barriers is outside this model.
- Detailed professional standards for the services provided are outside this model.
- Long-term community governance and relationship management are outside this model.
- Jurisdiction-specific legal rules governing communications and personal data are outside this model.
Why it exists Filled
Enable an agent to recognise, assess and plan outreach by recording who is being approached, why existing channels do not suffice, and what forms of contact and follow-through are appropriate.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Outreach provides services to a population that might otherwise lack access to them.
- The relevant barrier may concern location, accessibility, information, trust or other conditions affecting service access.
- Contact, dialogue and referrals support outreach when they contribute to accessible service provision.
- General announcements, sales activity and participation recruitment alone do not establish outreach in this sense.
- Outreach includes the accessible provision of services while remaining distinguishable from the whole surrounding programme.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Contact people who have opted out or whose contact data was obtained unlawfully.
- Disguise sales, recruitment or proselytizing as neutral help.
- Pressure vulnerable people, such as the homeless or ill, to accept services or join.
- Collect sensitive data during outreach beyond what is needed.
Only with a human decision
- Sending messages on an organization's behalf to new audiences.
- Outreach to children or people in crisis.
May
- Help plan outreach and draft materials for an organization that authorizes it.
- Track who has opted in or out and respect those choices.
- Adapt messages to the language and access needs of the people being reached.
Moral aspects Filled
- Outreach can widen access to help, but can also intrude on people's lives.
- Hard-to-reach groups deserve respect, not targeting.
Who is affected
- People contacted
- Vulnerable groups
- Outreach workers
Owners Filled
Steward
The organization or person that runs the outreach.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q1914636 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.outreach
- Wikidata: Q11640 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11640)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Outreach purpose: Awareness, dialogue, participation, recruitment, service access, relationship initiation, mixed, or locally defined
- Audience relationship: Initiating actor linked to intended audience, with prior relationship and reason for renewed or initial contact
- Access barrier: Awareness, language, location, timing, cost, accessibility, trust, eligibility uncertainty, digital access, other, or unknown
- Contact route: Direct individual contact, field visit, event, peer introduction, partner referral, targeted group communication, or mixed
- Contact permission and preference: Requested, permitted with recorded basis, unknown, declined, withdrawn, or channel-restricted
- Engagement stage: Identified, attempted, reached, responded, engaged, connected onward, declined, closed, or unknown
- Unique people reached: Count of distinct people with specified evidence of contact during a stated period
- Onward connection completion: Completed connections divided by agreed connection attempts, with period and completion criterion recorded
Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Outreach is defined by the purpose and relationships of an activity rather than by distinctive visual features.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Identify audiences missed by current contact and participation channels.
- Match contact routes and accessible invitations to recorded audience barriers.
- Plan an approach within recorded permissions, preferences and contact limits.
- Record responses and adapt or stop further contact accordingly.
- Arrange an agreed referral or introduction and track its completion.
- Compare intended reach and recipient benefit with observed outcomes and burdens.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Unwanted contact damages trust and can breach data protection law.
- Poorly designed outreach misses those most in need.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, European Union, where personal data is used.
Context of use required Filled
- Outreach is used in health care, education, social support and community programmes to reach people who face barriers to ordinary service channels.
- It brings information, initial contact or services into settings such as neighbourhoods, homes and online communities.
- It also supports referrals and follow-through so that initial contact can lead to meaningful access or participation.
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q11640: outreach - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Outreach - general description of the item
Open questions
- How do community, health, educational, scientific and commercial practitioners define outreach, and which differences require explicit variants?
- Does the registry intend outreach to include re-engagement of existing participants and broad awareness activity without an individual next step?
- Does an existing Vercy world model already cover outreach at this granularity, requiring a registry link instead of a separate publication?
- Which operational definitions of reach, engagement and completed connection are supported in each relevant sector?
- How should recipient perspectives, trusted intermediary claims and difficult-to-observe audience gaps be evidenced without collecting unnecessary personal information?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q11640/spec.json