One of four elements that CSCCE emphasizes when considering a community. Community members may have a single, shared purpose that the community is aiming to address together, or there may be multiple, related shared purposes within a community. As a community manager, identifying the shared purpose and related activities to support achieving it is crucial. A purpose should be specific rather than too general and precise but not so narrow that it stifles a sense of belonging or member agency e.g., “Advance STEM education” is too broad a purpose, and “Advocate for methodology X at Y institution” may be too narrow. “Sharing resources and knowledge for educators around open education approaches to undergraduate biochemistry education” might be appropriate in this example.
Citation: Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement. (2025) CSCCE Glossary: Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals. Woodley, Pratt, and Santistevan doi: 10.5281/zenodo.15359413