Most think tanks will at some point want to engage in a public consultation or engagement process. The International Association for Public Participation provides a set of core values which it feels such processes should benchmark themselves:

IAP2 core values of public participation

The public participation process should:

• Include the promise that the public's contribution will influence the decision
• Communicate the interests and meets the needs of all participants
• Seek out and facilitates the involvement of those potentially affected
• Involve participants in defining how they participate
• Provide participants with the information they need to participate in a meaningful way
• Communicate to participants how their input affected the decision

Source: International Association for Public Participation, Meaningful Participation, p16.

This tool first appeared in the ODI Toolkit, Tools for Policy Impact