Working collaboratively with other organisations can significantly increase your chances of success.
Working with other organisations can give better leverage, and a coherent and coordinated voice is much easier to negotiate with. Organisations and campaign groups can campaign together in a range of ways, from loose networks to more formal structures.
- Networks are informal associations of individuals or organisations. They sometimes have a coordinating secretariat or individual. The emphasis is often on sharing information and ideas.
- Coalitions are joint-working ventures between different organisations. They collaborate around a single event, issue or campaign. Members invest resources and coordinate their messages, strategies and activities, dividing tasks between them. Coalitions are often short lived, for example Make Poverty History.
- Alliances are longer-term, formalised groups of trusted partners that agree on common ideals. Alliances need regular consultation between organisations and time investment in order to work.
Further information
- Campaigning in Collaboration: Executive Summary By Sarah Gilbert and Gareth Coles
- Bond’s free Campaigning Together resources.
- NCVO’s guide to Campaigning in Collaboration, by Sarah Gilbert and Gareth Coles.
