Its not easy to get it right the first time. The first project, the first action, is fraught with problems you never anticipated. So, even before you start anything, be prepared:

• Find an 'excuse': This is the spark, the initial reason for you to start along a path leading you to the setting up of an NGO. Many times it is a tragedy - such as a disastrous flood or a fire - that needs handling. Sometimes a more joyous event, such as a local festival, that brings the community into the streets to enjoy. Look at these initial trigger events as a learning experience, and as a means of building your network of friends and supporters.
• Involve leaders: People and communities, in general, trust their leaders - not the political party types, but the 'real' leaders - the ones who do the actual work for the community, the ones who are active and care for the community. Involve them at all stages of the project development and implementation, ask their permission to work with the community - it will make your project more easy to implement.
• Use a local center: Many communities now have centers - some just a meeting hall, where the community comes together for meetings, to hear their leaders, to celebrate a festival, or to discuss something that will affect their lives. These kinds of 'neutral' grounds are best used to explain an idea or a project's components.
• Bring people together: And of course, bring people together. Don't do it alone - involve everyone, because everyone has something to offer - some skill, knowledge or resource. Recognizing it and providing an opportunity for the people to use that skill, knowledge or resource for the good of the community is a powerful process of 'building local ownership' of the project you want to implement.