What are allies? Allies are people, organizations, networks, or institutions that share some of your goals or can contribute to progress on an issue. Allies may bring different kinds of support, including: Lived experience Community relationships and trust Knowledge or technical expertise Staff or volunteers Funding or material resources Communications capacity Legal, policy, or research expertise Access to decision-makers Organizational or community influence Meeting space, transportation, translation, or other practical support Allies do not need to agree with your organization on every issue. A useful alliance may be based on one shared goal even when the organizations involved have different missions, values, constituencies, or preferred strategies. People directly affected by an issue should not be treated merely as allies to recruit. Whenever possible, they should have meaningful roles in defining the issue, setting priorities, choosing strategies, and leading the work. Why do you need allies? Advocacy rarely succeeds through the work of one organization alone. Allies can strengthen an effort by contributing knowledge, relationships, resources, credibility, participation, or influence that no single group possesses by itself. Working with allies can also: Connect your campaign with people already affected by or working on the issue Reduce duplication of existing efforts Help organizations learn from one another Expand access to decision-makers and community networks Bring different forms of expertise to the same problem Share workload and responsibility Increase the number of people who can participate Strengthen the legitimacy of an effort when the partnership reflects the communities affected More allies are not automatically better. A large coalition can be difficult to coordinate if members do not share enough common purpose, understand their roles, or trust the decision-making process. The goal is therefore not simply to recruit the greatest possible number of organizations. It is to build partnerships that are relevant, credible, mutually useful, and capable of contributing to the desired change. How do you find allies? Start by identifying people and organizations already involved with the issue or with closely related concerns. For example, if your goal is to improve the nutritional quality and accessibility of school meals, potential partners might include: Students Families School nutrition staff Teachers and school administrators Parent or caregiver organizations Health organizations Food-access organizations Local farmers or food producers Disability or allergy advocacy organizations Public-health agencies A community resource inventory or directory can help identify organizations, institutions, networks, and informal groups already active in the community. Sources may include: Local libraries Community resource or referral services Chambers of commerce or business organizations Local government Community foundations Nonprofit directories Neighborhood associations Faith and interfaith organizations Schools, colleges, and universities Health and social-service organizations Worker or labor organizations Cultural organizations Online community networks If no useful directory exists, create your own. Questions to ask Who is already working on this issue? What are they doing? What have they learned? Which approaches appear useful? Are there areas where collaboration would make sense? Who else may care about the issue even if they are not currently working on it? Who is directly affected but has not been included in previous efforts? Who has relevant lived experience or community knowledge? Who has authority to make or influence the decisions involved? Use relationship mapping One useful method is sometimes called a snowball or referral technique. Ask people you already know: “Who else should we be speaking with about this issue?” Continue asking that question as your network expands. Be careful not to rely only on referrals from the same social or professional network. Doing so can reproduce existing exclusions. Deliberately look for organizations and community members outside your usual circles. Look across community sectors It may also be useful to map different sectors of the community. Depending on the issue, these might include: Residents Youth organizations Older-adult organizations Disability organizations Immigrant and refugee organizations Faith and interfaith organizations Businesses Health care Education Local government Labor Housing organizations Cultural organizations Environmental organizations Professional associations Sector mapping can help reveal both existing relationships and important gaps. Do you and your potential allies care about the same things? Once you identify possible allies, learn what matters to them. Potential partners may support the same general outcome for different reasons. For example, a safer transportation system might matter to: Residents concerned about pedestrian safety Disability organizations concerned about accessibility Schools concerned about students traveling safely Businesses concerned about customer access Local government concerned about infrastructure and public safety These organizations do not need identical motivations in order to work together. At the same time, partnership should not be reduced to asking whether the benefits of helping you outweigh the costs. Consider: What goals do we share? Where do our goals differ? What would participation require from each organization? What risks or constraints does each organization face? What responsibilities would each partner take on? What would each partner reasonably expect from the collaboration? Are there ethical or mission-related concerns? An Ally Opportunities and Risks Table A simple table can help your group understand potential partnerships. For each potential ally, consider: What shared interests or goals exist? What could they contribute? What could they gain from collaboration? What risks or costs could participation create for them? What risks could their involvement create for the campaign or community? What concerns would need to be addressed openly? Who within that organization should participate in the decision? Do not simply minimize or conceal possible risks when approaching an ally. A strong partnership depends on informed expectations. Discuss potential benefits and risks honestly so that organizations can decide whether participation fits their mission, capacity, and responsibilities. Indirect and network allies Some organizations may not work directly on your issue but may have relationships, knowledge, or responsibilities that make them relevant. Think of your immediate partners as part of a larger network. Ask: Who works with them? What other organizations are they connected with? Which communities do they have strong relationships with? Which decision-makers do they regularly interact with? Which professional, cultural, business, faith, labor, or civic networks do they participate in? Network mapping can reveal possible connections, but respect privacy. Do not treat people's financial, personal, or organizational relationships as information to exploit. Center people directly affected by the issue Before evaluating which organizations can help your campaign, identify the people most directly affected. They may have the strongest understanding of the problem and its consequences. For example, if a school is experiencing increased violence or threats, begin by learning from students, families, educators, school staff, and others directly affected. Do not begin by assuming that a particular solution – such as adding security personnel – is necessarily the correct response. First ask: What kinds of violence or safety concerns are occurring? When and where are they occurring? What do students identify as the causes or contributing conditions? Which students experience the greatest risk? What approaches have already been tried? What evidence exists for possible responses? Could proposed strategies create unintended harms or disparities? Potential responses might involve school climate, counseling, student support, conflict mediation, bullying prevention, physical safety, restorative practices, behavioral threat assessment, staffing, or other strategies depending on the problem. The people who experience the problem should have meaningful influence over how it is defined and addressed. Working with allies Cooperation among organizations can increase resources, expand knowledge, strengthen relationships, and demonstrate that different parts of a community share an interest in the issue. But the purpose of a coalition is not simply to create a “unified image.” Healthy coalitions can contain disagreement. Before beginning a joint effort, clarify: What goals are shared What goals are not shared Which strategies partners support Which strategies they do not support How decisions will be made How public statements will be approved How resources will be managed How credit will be shared How disagreements will be handled Working together without requiring complete agreement Organizations can sometimes collaborate on a goal even when they disagree about particular strategies. For example, several organizations may share a goal of reducing pregnancies among adolescents while differing in their views about sexual-health education, contraception, parental involvement, or other policies. Rather than asking one organization to give up its values simply to gain another organization's money or volunteers, identify whether there are areas of genuine agreement. Possible shared activities might include: Supporting young people's access to accurate health information Strengthening communication between adolescents and trusted adults Supporting healthy relationships Connecting young people with appropriate health services Addressing educational, economic, or social conditions associated with adolescent pregnancy Collaboration should not require misleading participants about what services, information, or policies each organization supports. If partners cannot agree on an activity without compromising essential rights, evidence standards, or organizational responsibilities, separate advocacy may be more appropriate. Which ally should you contact first? You may need to prioritize potential allies when time or capacity is limited. Do not rank partners only by how much power, money, publicity, or influence they can provide. Consider which relationships are most important for the particular stage of your campaign. A potential ally may be especially valuable because of: Lived experience Trust within an affected community Relevant expertise Relationships with decision-makers Organizing capacity Communications capacity Legal or policy knowledge Staff or volunteer capacity Financial or material resources Geographic reach Ability to reach populations your organization does not The most influential organization is not necessarily the most important organization to contact first. Trust, relevance, community legitimacy, and alignment with the campaign's goals may matter more. Ally Contribution and Influence Grid A grid can help your organization identify what different potential allies could contribute. Type of contribution or influence Questions to consider Example Lived experience and community knowledge Does the group include people directly affected by the issue or people with substantial knowledge of how it operates locally? A tenant organization helps define priorities for an affordable-housing campaign. Community trust and relationships Does the organization have trusted relationships with communities that need to be involved? A neighborhood organization helps convene residents who have not previously participated in public meetings. Participation and organizing capacity Can the organization mobilize members or support sustained participation? A membership organization helps residents participate in a public hearing. Financial or material resources Can the organization contribute funding, equipment, meeting space, transportation, or other resources? A partner provides meeting space and translation services for community forums. Expertise Does the organization have relevant legal, technical, research, communications, policy, or professional knowledge? A legal-services organization advises the coalition on tenant protections. Decision-making access Does the organization understand or have appropriate relationships with the institutions responsible for the decision? A professional association helps advocates understand a regulatory process. Communications reach Can the organization reach audiences that need information about the issue? A community media organization helps distribute multilingual information about a public meeting. Institutional or public credibility Does the organization have relevant experience or standing that may strengthen public understanding of the issue? A local medical association provides evidence about the health effects of a proposed policy. How do you use the grid? Use a separate grid for potential allies you want to understand more clearly. Identify which kinds of contribution or influence each potential ally may have. Compare those contributions with what the campaign actually needs at its current stage. Consider whether the partnership would also be appropriate from the ally's perspective. Identify any risks, conflicts, or expectations that should be discussed before beginning the partnership. Example of an Ally Contribution and Influence Grid Contribution or influence Assessment Example Community participation Strong The organization has 200 active members and regular neighborhood meetings. Community trust Strong Residents have worked with the organization on several successful neighborhood projects. Technical expertise Moderate Several members have relevant planning and housing experience. You do not need to complete a detailed grid for every organization. It may be most useful when comparing several potential partners or when the campaign has a specific gap – such as community leadership, legal expertise, communications capacity, or relationships with decision-makers. Approach potential allies as partners Once you identify a potential ally, learn about the organization's work before asking for support. An initial conversation might include: Why you are contacting them What your organization is trying to accomplish Why you believe your goals overlap What you have already learned about the issue What role, if any, they are interested in What concerns or limitations they have What they would need from your organization Avoid approaching organizations only with a request for money, members, endorsements, publicity, or access to influential people. Strong alliances are usually relationships rather than transactions. Maintain healthy alliances Partnerships require attention after they are formed. Useful practices include: Communicate regularly Share relevant information Give partners appropriate credit Follow through on commitments Be transparent about changes in strategy Address disagreements rather than allowing them to build Respect each organization's limits Review whether the partnership is still useful to everyone involved Partners may sometimes decide to work together on one objective while pursuing other aspects of the issue separately. That does not necessarily mean the alliance has failed. In Summary Allies can strengthen advocacy by contributing knowledge, relationships, participation, resources, expertise, credibility, communications capacity, and influence. Finding allies begins with understanding who is already working on the issue and who is directly affected by it. People directly affected should not be treated simply as another source of support for an organization's campaign. They should have meaningful opportunities to define priorities and participate in leadership and decision-making. Potential allies do not need to agree on everything. Organizations may collaborate effectively around a shared objective while remaining different in other important ways. At the same time, partnerships should not be purely transactional. Do not evaluate organizations only according to how much money, publicity, membership, or political influence they can provide. Consider community trust, lived experience, relationships, expertise, organizing capacity, access to decision-makers, communications reach, resources, and alignment with the campaign's goals. Discuss risks and expectations honestly. A strong alliance does not depend on hiding the costs of participation or exaggerating its benefits. Avoid selecting partners merely because they make the campaign look more appealing or prestigious. People and communities should not be used as symbols, endorsements, or emotional tools. Coalitions also do not need to present an image of complete agreement. Healthy partnerships can acknowledge differences while maintaining clear shared goals. Finally, treat allies as partners rather than resources to “use.” Successful alliances depend on trust, reciprocity, shared responsibility, clear communication, and respect for what each participant brings to the work. Contributor Eric Wadud Resources Print Resources Altman, D., Balcazar, F., Fawcett, S., Seekins, T., & Young, J. (1994). Public health advocacy: Creating community change to improve health. Palo Alto,CA: Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention. Bobo, K., Kendall, J., & Max, S. (1991). Organizing for social change: a manual for activists in the 1990s. Minneapolis, MN: Midwest Academy. Identifying Allies and Opponents. This advocacy planning model provides information on how to establish a group or individual as an ally, opponent, or neutral/unknown group. Sen, R. (2003). Stir it up: Lessons in community organizing and advocacy. Jossey-Bass; 1st Edition. In this book, Sen goes step-by-step through the process of building and mobilizing a community and implementing key strategies to affect social change. Using case studies to illustrate advocacy practices, Sen provides tools to help groups tailor his model for their own organizational needs. Kretzmann, J., & McKnight, J. (1993). Building communities from the inside out: A path toward finding and mobilizing a community’s assets. ACTA publications. This book provides case studies of successful community-building initiatives across the U.S. In addition to this, it outlines how a community can move toward asset-based development.
