Getting Started Workbook Strategy IV: Engage Key Coalition Members

Getting Started Workbook

Actions in this Section

1. Provide an introduction as to who should be recruited for coalition membership and what will be asked of those who participate
2. Create a list of potential members to engage in the process
3. Track stakeholder motivations and needed resources
4. Provide a template that explains the coalition in order to garner interest among potential members
5. Track contact efforts and assignments           

Tools in this Section:

• Engaging Key Stakeholders
• Membership Examples
• Sample Contact Roster
• Identifying and Understanding your Stakeholders
  
• Outline of Meeting Invitation Efforts

Tips for Success:

• When recruiting key stakeholders remember: WIFM – “What’s in it for me.” 
• There are many components for creating a diverse coalition including people who might not agree with your efforts, various ethnicities and religions, different ages and ideologies, and people who work in the field and citizens who are not involved in prevention. 
• Recruitment will probably take more than an email for most people.  Make the invitation personal and call the person or ask them to briefly meet in person.  This will make a much larger impact than a group email.  This is the start of building the relationships!
• Take time to gather a strong coalition from the start and keep recruitment ongoing
• Use the connections of your Core Workgroup to network and recruit members
• Look beyond the usual suspects in your recruitment
• Make sure meeting invitations go out far enough in advance that people can attend the meeting. 
• Make it easy for non-traditional members to participate by setting convenient meeting times and locations
• Convey shared ownership at the first meeting and make it clear how valuable each member is to the process
• Along with a meeting invitation, it is helpful to follow up after the initial meeting to thank people for their participation.  

Engaging Key Stakeholders Tool

Locate Allies
Your core group can also help identify other people and groups with an interest in education in general, and with volunteerism in particular.  The coalition does not need to include everyone or every interest, only those who genuinely want to improve volunteerism and who see the potential value of the group.  Your coalition might include five, ten, or fifteen people at the outset.  The list may change and grow as you refine your goals and begin to take on projects. 

Who Should Be Involved?

Consider the diversity of the coalition members.  The goal when creating a coalition is to be as diverse as the community you are serving.  Think of organizations and individuals who might be interested in the issue or already involved.  Consider organizations that are professionally, politically, demographically, geographically, or functionally interested in the issue.  What service professionals could help your effort through in-kind support and be part of the decision-making process such as printers, accountants, media, public affairs folk, graphic artists, writers, etc.?

Consider the size of the coalition.  More resources may be needed initially for a larger group and it may take longer to come to a group identity and common purpose.  The coalition can grow over time.  Initially you need a “critical mass” of sufficient energy to start the coalition and create enough activity or success to attract other members.

Make a list of potential coalition partners.  Try to identify stakeholders, formal and informal leaders, and community organizations.

Consider the type of members.  The coalition has several decisions to make about its membership.  The group needs to decide whether or not to have individual members as well as member organizations.  In addition, the right people from the organizations must be recruited; ideally, someone whose membership in the coalition is part of their job and who has the power to act on behalf of the member organization.  There will be different layers of commitment.  Following are suggestions of the types of organizations to include:

• Local Colleges or Universities
• Student Organizations
• Non-profit Organizations
• Community Service Groups
• Minority or Ethnic Community Organizations
• Elected Officials
• Religious Organizations
• Media Outlets
• Faculty/Teacher Organizations

Coalitions must constantly be maintained and members must be recruited; as some members drop out, new ones must be recruited.  New membership will also keep the enthusiasm high.  Be sure to develop some sort of orientation process for new members to make them feel involved as soon as possible.
Each member of the coalition will have a separate agenda.  Although as a coalition all members should be focused on the same agenda, each member should be aware and sensitive to all the other members of the coalition.

Recruitment

To recruit people to your coalition, you need to pinpoint all the possible organizations that have a stake in your issue.  Identify the right people to talk to in each of these groups and then go door knocking.

Once your core group has decided which other groups it might approach, the next step is to prioritize the list of groups.  Which one of these groups will need to take just a small step to join the coalition?  Which of these groups would have to take a big leap to join the coalition?

Decide which people in your core group could recruit the most likely coalition members.  Does anyone in your group know anyone in these organizations?  Get a clear commitment from your group members on who they are willing to visit.  Role-play what you are going to say in these visits.  Remember you need to offer the group you are asking to join your coalition something that they see as in their self interest.

Pick a date by which all first-round visits will be done.  It may help to first choose a meeting date on which the first round of prospective coalition members can meet.  Put together a timeline that allows you time to visit each group at least a few weeks before the initial coalition meeting date.

If groups join a coalition, what are they promising?  Troubleshooting problems as an ongoing effort increases the chances for successful coalition building.  The following rules for commitment should help keep all groups on the same track.

• Each organization must be committed to the problem
• Each organization must be committed to solve the problem, not just gain public recognition
• Each organization must be committed to the belief that every other organization has the right to be involved
• Each organization must be committed to open communication
• Each organization must be committed to coalition recognition, not individual recognition

Membership Examples

Sample Contact Roster

** Remember to use your “elevator speech” when inviting people to participate in the coalition.  Please see: How to Create an Elevator Speech for more information.

Identifying and Understanding Your Stakeholders

Worksheet created by:  Karen Abrams, CSAP’s Southwest Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, College of Continuing Education, The University of Oklahoma, 2003.

Outline of a Meeting Invitation

When creating an invitation to attend a coalition meeting and/or to recruit new members here are some things that should be included:

• Purpose of the project
• Goal of the project
• How they were selected as a potential stakeholder/member
• Why the project needs them to succeed
• The level of commitment expected for participation
• Why their participation is crucial for the success of the effort
• Schedule and location of the meetings
• Number they can call for questions (or email)
• Reminder to send in the postcard (RSVP)

Some other things to keep in mind include if a potential stakeholder does not respond they should be contacted by a member who knows the person.  Personal phone calls or in-person contacts are always helpful in getting people to commit their time and effort to the coalition.

Also, if there are any individuals who have been (or felt) left out, ignored, or unsuccessful in community efforts, may require a different approach to gain their commitment to the process.  Many times, face to face contact by members or by trusted individuals is required to gain participation.  Be creative; take the time to enlist all important participants.