1 / 17

Building and Joining Coalitions: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Principles for Success

Learn about the benefits and challenges of building coalitions, and discover key principles for successful collaboration. Find out how coalitions can help organizations achieve their goals and increase their impact.

Download Presentation

Building and Joining Coalitions: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Principles for Success

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Chapter 9Building and Joining Coalitions Jennifer C. Duval Professor Walter Parmer Urbs 448: Displaced Populations February 18, 2009

  2. What is a coalition? • An organization of organizations working together for a common goal • Amassing the power necessary to do something you can not do through a single organization • Goal: Bring together major progressive organizations to build a base of power capable of winning on issues of mutual concerns

  3. Advantages • Win what couldn’t be won alone • Build an ongoing power base • Increase the impact of an individual organization’s efforts • Develop new leaders • Increase resources • Broaden scope

  4. Disadvantages • Distracts from other work • Weak members can’t deliver • Too many compromises • Inequality of power • Individual organizations may not get credit • Dull tactics

  5. Principles for Successful Coalitions • Choose Unifying Issues • Hire Neutral Coalition Staff • Understand and Respect Institutional Self Interest • Help Organizing to Achieve their Self Interest • Develop a Realistic Coalition Budget • Agree to Disagree

  6. Principle for Successful Coalitions • Play to the Center with Tactics • Recognize that Contributions Vary • Structure Decision Making Carefully • Achieve Significant Victories • Urge Stable, Senior Board Representatives • Clarify Decision-Making Procedures • Distribute Credit Fairly

  7. Things to Consider • Is it Permanent or Temporary? • Who is behind the Coalition? • What’s your organizational Self Interest? • How can your members participate? • How will Participating in the Coalition build your organization? • Is it a Letterhead Coalition?

  8. The Organizer’s Job • Never become involved in the internal politics • Who hired you ? • Who makes decisions? • To whom do you report ? • What competing Organizational Self-Interests exists between Members? • Who’s contributing and who’s gaining? • Where is the money coming from? • Who is being excluded and why ?

  9. Jobs With Justice-Philadelphia • Jobs with Justice is a coalition of labor unions, community groups and religious and student constituency organizations. We are dedicated to building a movement for workers’ rights and social and economic justice on the principles of solidarity, reciprocity and action. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrbHkYlXRnE • http://www.phillyjwj.org/

  10. Chapter 10 Recruiting

  11. Importance of Volunteers • Organizations would be far stronger if their staff and leaders resolved to do nothing else but find others to volunteer for all jobs

  12. Basic Recruitment Principles • Canvassing, fundraising and coalition building • Appeal to people’s self interest • Personal, professional, power, moral • Fire a Shot over the Water • Recruit to an activity, not a business meeting • Have an ongoing entry-level program for new people • Offer childcare

  13. Your Image as a Recruiter • Try to look as much as possible like the people you are trying to recruit • People shouldn’t be able to remember what you looked like • Be enthusiastic, concise and upbeat in conveying a clear message

  14. Six Steps toward Successful Recruitment • Be Prepared • Legitimize yourself • Listen • Agitate • Get a Commitment • Follow Up

  15. How NOT to Recruit Volunteers • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ah2uu2yqA

  16. Tips on Keeping Volunteers • Stay organized in assigning tasks • Provide coffee, celebrate birthdays, toast small victories • Maintain regular hours at different times of the day

  17. Conclusion • Recruitment is the lifeblood of an organization • Growing, thriving organizations must train staff and leaders on how to recruit others and build recruitment strategies into their ongoing program work

More Related