Student Leader Resources

Coalition Building

About Coalition Building
Coalition building is an ability to work with and gain the confidence of different groups on campus while encouraging them to work together.

A coalition is defined as a group of organizations and individuals working together for a common purpose. There are generally two types of coalitions:

1. "One issue" or event coalitions only have to agree on one particular issue. The coalition is dissolved when the issue has been solved or the event has been coordinated.
2. "Multi issue" coalitions have related issues, such as hunger and homelessness, gender issues, or the environment. This more permanent type of coalition recognizes the value of mobilizing together for action over a longer time. To be effective the "multi issues" coalition should have a date set for work to be completed. The coalition can always be reorganized if there is still a need. Coalition building is needed when one organization recognizes it alone does not have the technical capability or people power to have a real impact on an issue.
   

Often, student leaders, community organizers, and professionals encounter issues on their campus or in their community that are difficult to address with one organization or club alone. Collaborative efforts or coalition support can prove helpful in addressing such issues. In practice, coalition building can be a challenging task to accomplish, but is often worth the effort. It demands the ability to analyze contexts and issues, identify allies and supporters, and negotiate unity among individuals, groups and organizations with different goals.

The types of activities that coalitions generally assist in include:

• setting priorities for action
• helping to identify specific data and informational needs from other groups and departments
• developing an action plan and initiating it
• broadening the development of new audiences
• improving the ability of some individuals/groups (such as students) to disseminate information to other entities (such as departments, groups of students, groups of faculty)
  

Based upon the tasks for your coalition and the descriptions of your campus organizations, determine which organizations could you ask to join your coalition.

• If the event requires publicity, then choosing the student newspaper would be a good idea.
• If you need volunteers to help run events, then contacting service groups might be appropriate.

How to Build a Coalition

1. Identify the challenge, problem or issue that needs to be addressed.
   Students often confront a range of problems and issues on and off campus that may seem overwhelming. However, overwhelming or not, students committed to social change can utilize coalition building to initiate solutions to these concerns.

2. Determine the cause of the challenge, problem or issue.
   All problems have causes and they must be understood in order to create solutions to address them.

3. Identify the offices, groups and campus departments that are responsible for addressing the problem.
   Most often, campus concerns are not fully understood by students. To remedy this, get to the roots of problems by asking people who might know, like faculty and staff. For example, research the archives of your student newspaper for important information.

4. Find out what has been done in the past and what is being done currently to address the problem.
   This may be the most important step in addressing concerns through coalition building. The purpose of the coalition can be to initiate events and programs that will address the problem or issue. Understanding what has already been done to address the problem is imperative for the coalition to implement ideas and be effective.

5. Brainstorm ways to more effectively address the challenge, problem, or issue.
   Follow the basic rules of brainstorming and jot down as many possible ideas you can come up with. Remember that quantity is more important than quality here. Later, go back and eliminate the ideas that are not feasible in your opinion. Develop a short list of ideas that you can easily share with other student organizations in gaining support for the coalition. Once the coalition is formed, the group can revise or develop further ideas.

6. Determine which student organizations, clubs, and groups on your campus can help to address the challenge, problem, or issue.
   Create a list of the leaders and their clubs and organizations. Include important contact information like email addresses and phone numbers. This will be beneficial as you start making initial contacts with this group. Also this may be the point at which you might develop a list of possible faculty and staff members who may be beneficial in your efforts by acting as advisors. More than likely, faculty and staff members want to be included in student initiatives and are willing to offer valuable tools to the efforts made by students.

7. Create a short introductory email that introduces yourself, the problem or issue, your proposed solutions, and the idea of joining a coalition with other organizations to address the problem.
   Remember, keep it short and to the point. Be sure to include contact information and a deadline to reply. Also explain that if they are interested reply with their contact info. Once leaders start replying, call each one individually to further explain the purpose of the coalition.

8. Call the first meeting.
   Once most of the leaders have signed on, call the first meeting. Host the first meeting in a neutral location on campus. At the first meeting, introduce yourself as the temporary facilitator. Have all leaders introduce themselves and their organization and purposes. Review the issue and problem and explain how a student coalition would be effective in addressing it. Also review your initial list of solutions. At the end of the initial meeting, set the agenda for the next meeting. The agenda could be electing a facilitator, developing goals and objectives, naming the coalition, inviting other organizations to join the coalition and beginning to develop an action plan.

9. Build the coalition.
   It will be up to the elected facilitator and student leaders to establish deadlines, a coalition membership criterion, inviting faculty and staff members to participate, and general meetings where members from all coalition clubs and organizations will be invited. However, when forming to address one issue, the efforts of the coalition must be focused on an action plan that will guide the group. The plan must include a purpose, goals, background of the problem or issue being addressed, initiatives to address the problem, schedule of when the initiatives will occur, and a proposed budget. Faculty and staff advisors for each club should be included in the creation of the plan.

10. Introduce a plan of action to all the departments, offices, and groups that are responsible for addressing the problem.
    Finally, return to the list of departments, offices, and groups responsible for addressing the problem. The finished action plan will act as a proposal as well as a guide for the coalition. It is important to gain the support of those who work to address the problem or at least inform these groups of the coalition’s intentions. You can have small groups of members meet with these groups individually, presenting the plan. Or, you may call a meeting, inviting these groups to attend. Either way, these groups must be informed before the coalition begins initiating events.

For more information please reference the Bonner Training Module, Building Coalitions.