1. NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE FOR INFANTS AND
TODDLERS STATE GRANTEES MEETING
December 5-6 • Hyatt Regency La Jolla, CA

2. Building Effective Coalitions
Introduction and Background
Learning Objectives:
Connect research on coalitional networks to your practice
Provide opportunities for reflection on coalitional processes through:
Discussion of a nonprofit advocacy case in a distinct setting
Considering how lessons from the case may inform current work

3. Research on Coalitions
Crosses many fields, e.g:
Collaborative governance
“Hollow state” theory (“new public management”)
Network theory (insights from sociology and political science)
Driving question: What makes for network success?

4. Network Governance… Explosion of networked arrangements:
Late 20th century movement toward contracting out for service delivery;
Emergence of strong third sector;
Spurs innovation, but…
… must confront complex social problems under constraints.

5. Challenges… Research emphasizes: Goal complexity
“Principal-agent” issues
Instability of resource commitments
Blurring of transparency, accountability, and stakeholder access
Difficulty of “meta-governance”

6. Practical Discussion
What do you find most challenging in networking within a simultaneously constrained and complex political and social service environment?

7. Parsing it Out Parsing It Out
Less Under Your Control
More Under Your Control
Political environment
History of coalition activity within your context
Resources available to support joint action
Internal organizational constraints (yours; your partners)
Others?
Shared mission, objectives, strategies, tactics.
Working agreements (formal or informal)
Institutional norms and practices (often unexamined).
As most nonprofit networks have an informal character, shared norms are impactful.

8. Case Introduction
Goal: Step back and think through coalitional strategies through lens of another advocacy network.
Case Overview:
Why did Eight Neighbors come together?
What were they trying to accomplish?
What was the external context? What environmental challenges did they confront?

9. Group Discussion Small group discussion:
Take five minutes to review the facts of the case in more detail, if needed.
From the list of discussion questions circulated in advance, select two or three of interest to discuss.
In particular, focus on factors that are more… or less… amenable to control by the partners.
Do you see any commonalities between the strategic questions facing Eight Neighbors and the practical challenges you face?

10. Reporting