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Section Four
Growing the Coalition

"Please remove my name from your membership list.
I refuse to belong to any club that would have me as a member."
Groucho Marx

Overview of Section

For the coalition to grow and develop, a number of things need to happen. Initially, it must begin to show itself to the community as a force that is to be taken seriously. It must begin a marketing campaign that establishes its presence and its importance. In addition, it needs to identify potential members and recruit them as an essential resource for coalition growth and success. Finally, it must develop an ability to build additional capacity in both its members and in the coalition as a whole.

B. Recruiting for a Coalition

Finding Partners for a Coalition

One coalition organizer commented that the process for bringing partners together in a coalition could best be compared to a courtship. The comparison highlights the tentative, probing kinds of activities that go on at the start, as well as points out the critical importance of careful recruitment. The choices made during recruitment have lasting impact on the success of the coalition. In addition, most coalitions are continually in a recruitment mode. There is no time when they consider recruitment to have completely ended. They are either recruiting new groups or individuals to support expanding operations or fill new roles or they are looking for individuals or groups as replacements for those who may have left the coalition.

Considerations for Recruitment

Developing a marketing approach
Identifying recruitment sources
Setting timelines for recruitment
Integrating roles for members
Finding methods for recruitment

1. Developing a Marketing Approach

For an organization or individual to participate in a coalition, there must be some perception of value. The individual or group is being asked for time, energy, and talent. While the coalition may view these as donated services, they will not be donated unless the one being recruited sees some return in value. A private business may choose to join an asthma coalition to reduce absenteeism. A school nurse may choose to participate because it fits her vision of preventive health care. An accountant may choose to participate because of career benefits. All of these are the normal reasons people choose to participate in anything. A marketing-oriented coalition understands that there may be many reasons for people to participate and is not afraid or reluctant to make these known when recruiting members.

2. Identifying Recruitment Sources

For a health-oriented coalition key people can be identified as those having some knowledge of a specific health issue, health issues in general, or people who have important contacts and relationships, perhaps with the press or with government. The following two boxes give a summary of people who have been recruited as members of health-related coalitions. The first list is of key people who can make a difference in this area or the community. The second list is of people who as members can contribute with their special skills. While these may be more difficult to recruit, success in recruiting one or more of them would pay a significant dividend.

Usual Recruitment Sources for Health Coalitions
(By company/agency)

Local medical personnel
Health department personnel
Public school officials and teachers
Private school officials and teachers
Community service group members
Members of civic organizations
Human Services personnel
HMOs
Pharmaceutical companies
Local political leaders
Religious leaders
Chamber of Commerce
Local universities and colleges

Suggested Recruitment Areas for Health Coalitions
(By skill level)

Web Master
Marketing professional
Community organizer
Graphic designer
Copywriter
Systems analyst
Grant writer

3. Setting Timelines for Recruitment

The order in which people are invited into the coalition is frequently important. Certain groups or individuals are better recruited early in the process when planning and organizing are key tasks. Others are better recruited later when there are certain specific roles to be filled. The action plan should take into account not only the needs of the project but also the ability of the leaders of the coalition to manage those recruited. Surveys have indicated considerable frustration by volunteers who were recruited prematurely and were forced to wait a considerable time before they could begin to fill their roles

4. Integrating Roles for Members

The usual challenge of a coalition is to bring about some substantive change in human behavior. Although it takes relatively few people to start a coalition, it will take a broader membership to bring about the changes that need to happen. Clearly, a coalition needs different kinds of commitment from its various members. The following is one possible description:

Leaders—Responsible at least initially for organizing coalition, running meetings, conducting correspondence, publicly representing the coalition, and recruiting members.
Core Members—Publicly committed to the coalition; assigned to specific roles and responsibilities.
Cooperating Members—Publicly support the coalition; unable to contribute time or be part of the action plan but encourage others to do so.
Community Supporters—Support the coalition at key intervals; community leaders, hospital administrators, school officials, politicians, religious leaders.¹⁵

Questions People Ask Before Joining a Coalition

Who is behind it?
What is my organizational self-interest?
Do I want to be a member or a leader?
What will I receive in exchange for participation?
What tactics will be used by the coalition?
Will participation build my organization?

5. Finding Methods for Recruitment

In the recent survey conducted of asthma consortia, the largest proportion of people indicated that they conducted recruitment or were recruited by word of mouth. Individuals and groups seeking to recruit members have used the following methods for initial recruitment. Subsequent membership campaigns become more personalized because of the already developed networks of the coalition.

Surveys—A mailing sent to individuals and groups who would be logical members of the coalition. The survey would seek their opinion on the issue the coalition is planning to address. Follow-up is usually conducted by asking those who showed an interest to attend an organizational meeting.
Personal Contact—Since the organizers of the coalition have been involved in this field for some period, it is natural for them to know of others who have similar interest.
Personal Visit—Key administrators such as school superintendents, hospital or HMO executives, city officials, and religious leaders are appropriate candidates for a direct, personal visit.
Conference or Symposium—A gathering of individuals and groups to participate in a conference gives organizers the opportunity of gauging interest in the problem and assessing membership possibilities.
Internet—Although the developing coalition would not have its own Web site, a sponsoring agency or a friendly administrator might give the organizers the opportunity to make an announcement.

Traits of Good Coalition Partners

There are people with whom we like to socialize but who we would never hire to work in our organization. Similarly, organizations can be admired from afar, applauded for the work that they do for the community, yet would be poor partners for a coalition. In recruiting for a coalition, we need to keep in mind that we recruit both organizations and individuals. Individuals are easier to put into perspective as potential members than are organizations. Organizations are more complex, have a variety of ways of participating, and are always represented in coalitions by individuals. There is no guarantee that an individual representing an organization will reflect the strong characteristics of the organization. Conversely, an organization that would appear to be a highly marginal candidate for representation in the coalition might be an outstanding choice because of one particular individual who will represent it.

Published research, survey research, and interviews indicate good coalition partners should have some of the following traits:

Trait	Rationale
Will follow a plan.	Since some organizations just keep doing over again what they have always done, the capacity to act according to a prescribed plan should never be considered a given.
Will make and fulfill all commitments.	While some coalitions may have a legal contract dealing with basic elements of an agreement, the document can never anticipate everything and in a crisis waving a piece of paper is little satisfaction.
Will act in an egalitarian manner with all members.	Since some organizations are not egalitarian in their own operation, this may require some learned behavior.
Will be supportive of all members of the coalition.	The fumbling and uncertainty that mark the early days of any coalition require everyone to be understanding and tolerant of miscues.
Will communicate well.	All organizations require clear communications, particularly in times of stress. Separate organizations learning to work together require a great deal more, even during normal periods.
Will provide and respond to leadership.	Leadership is critical to ensure that all elements of a coalition are functionally integrated.

Recruitment Rationale

Those who have researched coalitions describe the rationale behind several methods for recruitment. None of these descriptions is meant to imply that one method is preferred over another.

Recruitment from convenience—The developers of a coalition recruit organizations or individuals who they know by experience to be interested in the same general areas as they are and whose intentions would seem to fit the coalition.
Recruitment from necessity—The developers of a coalition find a funding agency, public or private, that has certain stipulations on the kinds of groups or individuals that need to be in any coalition that will be funded. A recruitment strategy is devised to invite those groups or individuals that will meet the funding criteria.
Recruitment from personal development—The developers of a coalition may decide that they want a different type of work experience within the coalition. They may have worked for some years within a relatively small nonprofit agency and would like the experience of working alongside a large, for-profit pharmaceutical company. Conversely, those who have worked within a large bureaucratic organization welcome recruiting the types of organizations and individuals who will give the coalition the feeling of a smaller, more informal organization.
Recruitment from experience—The developers of a coalition, after working for a number of years in a given area, feel that they know exactly who it is who should be members of a coalition in this field and invite only those who fit their experience.
Recruitment for the community—The developers of a coalition believe that membership in the coalition should be universally open to everyone and adopt a practice of widespread invitations and acceptance of all who are interested.