Build a coalition

We think this is fundamentally important. So important in fact that the Campaign Central website has got extensive social networking features to connect you with other campaigners. Visit the Campaigns section to create your own profile and find people who are working on similar things.

Building alliances is important because voices in coalition are louder and are likely to have more credibility and reach.

Case Study

For example, Citizens Advice, Shelter, YMCA England, Centrepoint, Crisis, the Foyer Federation, the British property Federation and the Child Poverty Action Group came together to campaign against the Singe Room Rent Restriction, which limits the amount of Housing Benefit that people that are 25 and under can claim. Each organisation has its own policy focus, supporter base and people in Government that they know. Through aligning their messages, and coordinating approaches to the relevant decision-makers the campaign was more than the sum of its parts.

So, when different groups come together on a single issue, it evidences consensus; that ‘despite our differences here is an issue that we all feel strongly about’; and that through coordinated action, your voice will be heard in places that by yourself you might not be able to access.

Working in collaboration does need to be carefully managed though:

NCVO’s ‘The Good Campaigns Guide’ provides some useful tips on how to manage collaboration, which are summarised here:

• Be clear about the campaign focus
• Set criteria, rights and responsibilities for all individuals and groups in the coalition. You might want to draft a partnership agreement that members would sign up to.
• Agree on the remit of the coalition – about what it will do and what it won’t do.
• Agree management structures
• Agree who will contribute which resources
• Have guidelines for when it is necessary for the coalition members to act as a group, with a group identity, and when it is more appropriate for members to act individually. This is especially important in coordinating approaches to the media, potential funders and decision-makers.