1. Building and Sustaining
Effective Coalitions
Presented by Jonathan Poisner
For the State Environment
Leadership Program
April 2011
2. A BOUT J ONATHAN P OISNER
S TRATEGIC C ONSULTING
Services:
Strategic and Campaign Planning
Facilitation
Coalition Development
Fundraising
Communications
Organizational Development
Executive Transitions
Executive Coaching
3. W HAT WE ’ RE GOING
TO COVER
Best practices for launching
Different types of coalitions
Best practices for sustaining
4. W HAT WE ’ RE NOT GOING
TO COVER
Why coalitions
Details on governance
Differences between large and small
coalitions
Many other topics that could turn this
into an all-day webinar
5. W HAT IS A C OALITION ?
My plain english definition:
A coalition is a set of organizations
that have chosen to work together for
some shared purpose.
6. H AVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A
MEETING WHEN SOMEBODY SAID :
“We should form
a coalition!
8. D ETERMINE THE CORE
This is the list of people who need to be in
the launch meetings.
It’s not your ultimate coalition
membership, but it’s the essential players
9. TAKE THE C ORE ’ S
TEMPERATURE
Series of 1 on 1 conversations to
take the temperature
Prefer 1 on 1 because you want
candor and no group-think and peer
pressure
If there isn’t enthusiasm, be
prepared to pull the plug
10. I F IT ’ S STILL A GO , MEET TO
ANSWER 5 KEY QUESTIONS
Not a single meeting
Could be anywhere from 2-4
meetings
11. Q UESTION 1:
W HAT ’ S THE PURPOSE OF
THE COALITION ?
Is the coalition about a specific piece
of legislation, or an ongoing issue
where the group wants to make
progress over time?
Is the coalition about building the
capacity of its members separate from
any specific policy goal?
12. Q UESTION 2:
W HAT TYPE OF COALITION
MAKES SENSE GIVEN THE
PURPOSE ?
More on this in a minute
It can be good to put the answers to
Questions 1 and 2 in writing.
13. QUESTION 3:
GIVEN THE PURPOSE
AND TYPE OF
COALITION, WHAT
SYSTEM OF
GOVERNANCE MAKES
SENSE?
14. Q UESTION 4:
W HAT ARE THE INITIAL
PRIORITY OR PRIORITIES
FOR ACTION ?
Don’t come together if there isn’t at least
some initial action item for you to
collectively take over the next 1-12
months
15. Q UESTION 5:
W HERE DO YOU GET THE
RESOURCES FOR
COLLECTIVE WORK ?
16. M ORE ON Q UESTION 2:
W HAT TYPE OF COALITION
DO YOU WANT ?
17. FIVE TYPES THAT
ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY
GROUPS TYPICALLY USE
Networks
Associations
Coordinated Project
Campaign Coalition
Ongoing Partnership/Strategic
Alliance
Adapted from materials created by Institute for Conservation Leadership
18. N ETWORKS
Groups coming together
Primary purpose is sharing
information
Ad hoc help where interests overlap
Decrease duplication of effort
Very informal governance
19. A SSOCIATIONS
Membership-type alliance
Primary purpose is to serve the
long-term interests of the
membership
More focused on capacity building
than policy goals
Tends to have formal governance
and separate incorporation
Example: SELP
20. C OORDINATED P ROJECT
The primary purpose is a specific
project.
Examples: passing legislation,
stopping a bad “thing”,
creating/publicizing a report
Coalition members tend to take on
specific tasks within the project
Rarely involves formal governance
or separate coalition finances
21. C AMPAIGN C OALITION
Primary Purpose is a specific action
you want some outside entity to take.
Such as voters passing a ballot measure,
the legislature passing a bill, or a
corporation to take some action.
Usually with an end-date (election
day?)
Shared, written plan for what needs to
happen e.g. the campaign
Usually a pooling of resources into
single campaign budget
22. C AMPAIGN C OALITION
Continued
Usually centralized staff or volunteer
campaign leadership who’re
accountable to the campaign, not
individual member groups
Tends to have own governance, bank
accounts, and campaign-specific
fundraising
23. O NGOING PARTNERSHIP /
S TRATEGIC A LLIANCE
Longer-term around an issue or goal
Example: Reduce use of toxic
chemicals in Oregon over the next 5
years.
Shared “strategic” planning
Tends to develop Campaigns or
Coordinated Projects as appropriate
to meet long-term goals
24. HOW DO YOU DECIDE
WHICH IS APPROPRIATE?
Identify the potential coalition parties
Identify why the coalition is being
proposed
Pick the most appropriate type of
coalition collectively; don’t prejudge
before you talk to potential coalition
partners
Be flexible – don’t feel you have to
pick one of these; you can create your
own model
25. WHY DO SOME
COALITION LAUNCHES
FAIL?
Number one reason: Lack of
individual leadership!
That’s why the temperature
taking is so important.
I’ll give you two examples from
my own experience.
26. G ROW O REGON
PARTNERSHIP
Started with a general meeting of
folks interested in sustainable food
systems after a series of 1 on 1s
Brought in outside facilitator to talk
about whether to form an agenda to
pursue a common legislative agenda
Did 2 more meetings that formalized
the coalition governance and
selected initial priorities
The Partnership is thriving.
27. SMART GROWTH
COALITION IN A STATE
I WON’T NAME
Had me facilitate two meetings of a
set of individuals/organizations who
were interested
The participants agreed upon
forming the coalition, its purpose of
the coalition, its governance, and an
initial policy priority
But then it fell apart.
28. W HY DID IT FAIL ?
B ECAUSE NOBODY WAS
PREPARED TO STEP UP
AND LEAD .
The group instigating the initial meeting
wasn’t prepared to lead
They just hoped somebody would “step
up.” Had not done 1 on 1s to take the
temperature.
Nobody wanted to be chair of the
coalition or make it a major focus
30. F OUR K EYS :
Communications
Power
Planning
Behavior
31. C OMMUNICATIONS
Failure to communicate can lead to
schisms
Insiders and outsiders
Systems to make sure that those not
in the core know what’s happening
Enough meetings for all to feel
engaged. But not so many that
things bog down.
32. P OWER
Coalition partners aren’t all equal
Especially if the coalition has groups
of dramatically different size
Acknowledge and think about this
openly when setting up the
governance.
There is no one right solution to
power imbalances.
33. P LANNING S YSTEMS
Failure to plan can lead to problems
Just like with organizations
Really important to agree upon
strategies
Not all the organizations in the
coalition will have the same
strategic thinking
You may have coalition partners who mostly
pursue legal strategies in with partners who
mostly pursue grassroots strategies.
34. P LANNING S YSTEMS
Continued
Need a conscious plan/strategy regarding
coalition membership
Before growing, ask why you want a
larger coalition membership
The “why” should tell you who to invite,
if anybody
Need to build in planning processes that
engage coalition members if you want them
to invest in the coalition
Can be long-term strategic plan
Short-term campaign plans
And everything in between
35. B EHAVIOR
Transparency
Share information broadly within the
coalition
Don’t mask disagreements within the
coalition
Confidentiality
Keep plans of individual groups
confidential
Don’t air dirty laundry
36. B EHAVIOR
Continued
Taking and sharing credit
Dispute resolution procedures
Codes of Conduct as potential
mechanism.