Be An Advocate

Working in Coalitions

A substantial way to advance your cause locally or at the state or national level is to work in conjunction with other organizations. If your organization has served the community for a long time, you should be functioning with a variety of partners already. You should know those individuals and organizations or groups which share in common purposes to varying degrees.

Reasons for forming a coalition may include:

• The issue is too big for you to address alone.
   
• The coalition will raise the profile of the issue and/or your organization.
   
• The coalition provides information which is valuable to your cause.
   
• The coalition builds support and legitimacy for your cause.
   
• The coalition brings numbers of people to support your cause
   
• The coalition brings diversity of interests and therefore helps to sharpen the arguments in favor of your cause and to build responses to opponents of your cause.
   
• The coalition provides resources which you cannot alone provide.

On the other hand, participating in a coalition may bring restraints as well:

• You will be expected to support the coalition’s consensus decisions even if they do not exactly mirror your own positions.
   
• You will be expected to support the most prominent organization in the coalition or to be that most prominent organization.
   
• You must be comfortable with associating with the other members of the coalition.
   
• You must understand and abide by the operating rules established by the coalition.
   
• You must determine the credibility of the coalition in relation to your own credibility.

A coalition may be a short term coalition focusing on a particular piece of legislation, or it may be a longer term organizational structure intended to seek broad legislative reform efforts. It may be proactive and seeking new initiatives, or it may be status monitoring in nature and attempting to maintain past achievements and successes. It may be loosely structured or formally organized.

When considering initiating or becoming a part of a coalition, consider the similarity of concerns of coalition members, the contributions each member brings to the coalition, the compromises which may be required by the coalition’s consensus building process, and the time and effort required by the coalition process.

When entering into a coalition, consider the following suggestions:

• Establish a realistic expectation for outcomes.
   
• Involve enough people and organizations to reach a critical mass for influencing the issue you want to address.
   
• Be flexible and adaptable in the consensus building process.
   
• Expect to provide leadership and effort in order to get the most out of the coalition.
   
• Understand that coalition members may have different motivations and levels of commitment for seeking the same outcome as you are seeking.
   
• Be creative in looking for coalition members by reaching out to groups which may be different from the usual
  partners.
   
• Ask for help and information from other members.
   
• If you are successful, expect a “counter coalition” to form.
   
• Keep communication flowing to keep members involved.
   
• Be prepared to commit more time and effort than you originally expect to be successful.
   
• When it is over, let it go, and look for new opportunities.

When the time comes to advocate, you should identify your organization’s position and invite other groups and organizations to join with you in seeking common action. Be careful to maintain group awareness of common purpose at all stages of planning and action. If added time is needed for representatives on the coalition to take matters back to their respective groups or organizations for approval, build that time into your schedule and honor the process.

Working with a coalition or task force on common concerns can be an efficient and effective way to influence legislation. Coalitions reinforce the idea that the problem or concern is one with a broad base rather than a narrow focus. Contacts with state legislators can be shared by members of the coalition according to legislative districts.

If you are working with a coalition, be sure to:

• Identify yourself as a member of the coalition.
   
• Explain why the coalition was formed and identify the names of the participating organizations.
   
• When meeting about the coalition position, do not add confusion by identifying your own individual differences from the coalition position.
   
• Use all of the normal processes, such as visits, testimony, letters, phone calls, etc.
   
• Give the legislator information about how the positions relate to his or her district.
   
• Leave a written summary of the positions.
   
• Keep your relationships alive with other groups and organizations. Help them even as you seek their help.

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