Nonprofit coalitions: recasting equity, engagement and effectiveness

Nonprofit advocacy coalitions are a distinctive but poorly understood type of coalition. This study is the product of a rare opportunity to participate in developing a new national nonprofit advocacy coalition: how would nonprofit leaders design an effective coalition to serve as a sector-government transmission belt? Conceptually, the paper outlines five structural logics by which nonprofit advocacy coalitions might establish input, throughput and output legitimacy. The results of 41 interviews with sector leaders reveal little agreement on the form such a leadership body should take, other than it should include historically marginalized, equity-oriented groups. In an environment in which inclusive engagement involving power-sharing has become an important logic in its own right, our research suggests that crafting coalitions for sector-wide leadership cannot simply recreate past models but will require innovative approaches. The ability to achieve throughput legitimacy via participatory processes, as well as inclusive inputs and advocacy effectiveness, has significantly raised the bar for new nonprofit coalitions. The bar was so high in this case study that there has been little momentum toward the creation of a new sector-wide coalition.