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

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