By Catherine Brown, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy
Reading time: Eight minutes
The National College Attainment Network (NCAN)’s annual membership survey revealed a strong appetite for greater impact on state policy among our members. 65% of respondents reported wanting to make changes at the state level, but only 40% are currently
engaged in those activities. That’s why NCAN has been focused on building tools and resources to help our members take on this work.
One of the most effective tools in the state policy advocate’s toolbox is working in coalition. Building strong coalitions is critical to all policy advocacy work, but it’s essential when
you work in an organization that doesn’t have a lot of capacity to do this type of work. By teaming up with other organizations that share the same goals, you can pool your resources and more efficiently and effectively make change.
Building a coalition when advocating for policy change is important for many reasons, including:
Strength in numbers: A coalition brings together diverse groups that share a common goal.
By working together, coalition members can increase and expand their influence, and make a stronger case for policy change among different audiences.
Expanded resources, expertise, and capacity: Ideally, coalition members bring different skills, knowledge, and expertise to the effort. By sharing
resources and collaborating, the coalition can develop a more comprehensive and effective strategy for achieving its goal. Some coalition members, for example, might be great at policy analysis while others excel at communicating or organizing.
By pairing these complementary skill sets, coalitions work to maximum effect and minimize the work that any one coalition member must do.
Diverse viewpoints/empower marginalized groups: Different policymakers listen to different organizations and individuals. Business leaders, for instance, may be more credible to conservative lawmakers while higher education institutions
may have strong relationships with their own representatives. By partnering, these organizations can expand their sphere of influence, better tailor their messages, and reach
more policymakers. Groups representing marginalized populations can have their perspective elevated through a broader effort.
Increased visibility and collective action: A coalition can generate more visibility and media coverage than a single organization. This approach
can help to raise awareness and build broader support for policy change.
Heightened political clout: When a coalition represents a broad and diverse range of
stakeholders, decision-makers are more likely to take their concerns seriously. By building political influence, the coalition can increase its chances of success in achieving the policy change.
Overall, a coalition can create a more powerful voice for change and increase the chances of success in achieving state policy change. But building a coalition is not for the faint of heart. This work requires strategic planning, strong organizational
ability, effective communication, and the skills to mobilize people to act. Here are steps to building a strong coalition for policy change:
Define the issue: What issue are you trying to address and why is it important? To engage partners and persuade policymakers, you will need a clear understanding of the problem, its impact on students and other key stakeholders, and
potential solutions. There are different ways to define issues and these approaches lend themselves to different types of coalitions, including:
High-level goal – If you want to achieve a bold and visionary goal like “increasing postsecondary attainment,” you might consider creating a broad, big tent, coalition that meets regularly and identifies and acts
when windows of opportunity present themselves. This type of coalition could include organizations that may sometimes disagree on how to achieve the goal but do agree on principles or a roadmap for progress. This kind of coalition is ideal
for raising awareness about the issue, shifting the narrative, or garnering media attention.
Specific policy issue – Another option is to drill down on a specific policy issue like reforming state financial aid, changing the state’s funding formula for public higher education institutions, or spending federal
relief money allocated for educational purposes. This kind of coalition is ideal for short-term or time-limited action, making granular policy recommendations and seeing them through.
Combination – A 3rd option is an ongoing coalition that works on a specific issue. For example, a coalition could work to increase the annual allocation for state financial aid, coming together at regular points throughout
each budget cycle to develop a shared funding request, send joint letters asking for that amount to be included in the budget, meet with key stakeholders, and coordinate until the final budget is determined. A coalition like this could
include organizations that agree on this singular issue, but not on others. For example, they agree on the need for more funding for financial aid, but not on the formula for determining how the aid is allocated. In cases like this, we
recommend that the coalition clarify at the outset any parameters around the kinds of issues you will work on together.
Identify potential coalition members: Who are your potential allies in advancing the issue you have identified? Consider other NCAN members and community-based organizations, research institutes, advocacy groups, business organizations,
postsecondary institutions and their associations, financial aid administrators, school counselors, teachers unions, school administrators, and any other organization that may be impacted by this issue. Prioritize organizations that may have sway
with key policymakers. Once you have a list of target organizations, create a sequence, starting with the organizations where you have the closest relationships. You can create a sense of momentum by growing the coalition as you work through the
list. Reach out to your closest contact within each potential ally, explain the issue you are trying to address and invite them to join you. One on one meetings are time-consuming but may be the best way to get everyone on board. Cultivating strong
personal relationships is key to investing potential partners in the coalition effort.
Develop a written organizing plan: Once you have identified potential coalition members, we recommend that you create a written document describing how you will work together. This includes a:
Shared policy agenda or proposal that outlines what you are trying to achieve. This agenda will be your north star and the glue that binds the coalition together. You can always revisit the goal/agenda, but it’s essential
to start with a goal that every coalition member is invested in. Ideally, developing the agenda would be a collaborative process that involves input from all members, but it may help to start with a draft for people to respond and react
to.
Meeting schedule: Do you meet weekly, bi-weekly, as-needed, virtually or in-person? What is the plan for keeping coalition members in touch with one another and developing next steps in your work together?
Process through which the coalition operates: Are all coalition members equal? Is there a steering committee, for example, that makes key decisions and other members that provide input? What is the process for determining
whether a new organization can join the coalition? How does the coalition determine the actions it takes or strategies it pursues? Does everyone have to agree? These kinds of decisions may be best discussed at the outset so that you have
an established process before you confront any hard questions.
Plan with roles and responsibilities: What are the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the coalition? Be concrete. Consider keeping a running to do list in a Google doc or other shared document that everyone
in the coalition can access. Tasks might include making an agenda for coalition meetings and following up with members to get updates, conducting outreach to different constituents or stakeholders, doing research, writing white papers
or op-eds, pitching reporters, conducting policy analysis, meeting with policymakers (consider doing meetings with other coalition members when possible), writing coalition letters, etc. Roles and responsibilities can be assigned in each
meeting. It’s important to have a process for keeping track of who is doing what so you can make sure it gets done.
Develop a communications strategy: What are your key messages and how are you going to deliver them? Who are your best messengers for op-eds? Consider working with students or individuals with deep expertise and/or a counter-intuitive
perspective. Develop a plan for how the coalition will communicate its message to different audiences, including the public and policymakers. This could include social media, coalition letters, advocacy days, and other outreach efforts. Develop
and circulate toolkits to all coalition members to make it as easy as possible to align everyone’s key messages. You might also consider building a web site with all the key materials, such
as research, talking points, policy solutions and coalition members, so coalition members can direct media and policymakers to a one-stop-shop.
Mobilize supporters: When possible, coalition members may want to engage their broader networks to take action on the issue at important moments. At NCAN, for example, we work with an advocacy platform to provide templates and an
easy-to-use program for emailing policymakers to urge them to act on our key priorities. You might consider organizing rallies, running social media campaigns, activating board members, or other activities to demonstrate the depth and breadth
of support for the issue you are working on.
Monitor progress and adjust the strategy: Monitor the progress of the coalition and adjust the strategy as needed. Don’t be afraid to change course or add new products, messages, or tactics as you learn more about how the proposal
is being received by key stakeholders. This may involve re-evaluating the goals and objectives, changing tactics, or recruiting new members. The most effective coalitions are agile and responsive to feedback.
Working in coalition can be an effective and efficient way to drive policy change at any level of government. By pooling your resources, sharing the workload, and reaching different audiences, you can accomplish much more than you could on your own.
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