The Best Friends Animal Society’s Animal Welfare Coalition-Building Action Kit is a practical guide for organizations deciding whether and how to work together on a shared community goal. Its central principle is coordination without merger: members agree on a purpose and shared decision-making while each organization retains its autonomy. The process moves from checking organizational readiness through team-building, goal-setting, governance, day-to-day operations, and finances.
What the action kit is for
The kit is intended for organizations such as public and private animal shelters, rescue groups, resource organizations, and spay/neuter clinics. It helps them consider whether a coalition is the right way to address a community problem and, if so, how to organize the work.
Best Friends defines a coalition as “an organization whose members commit to an agreed-upon purpose and shared decision-making to influence an external institution or target, while each member organization maintains its own autonomy.” The shared purpose should complement members’ missions without blurring them, and it should be broad enough to extend beyond any one member’s individual purpose. Read the Best Friends action kit.
Is a coalition right for your organization?
Start by asking whether the problem requires coordination among organizations and whether there is a shared outcome that no single member’s mission fully captures. A coalition takes time and requires members to participate in decisions and follow through on agreed responsibilities; it is not simply a mailing list or a way to attach another organization’s name to a project.
#1 Best Overall
- Can partners describe the community problem and desired change in compatible terms?
- Would working together make a meaningful difference that separate efforts are unlikely to achieve?
- Can your organization contribute time, expertise, relationships, or other agreed resources?
- Can members make shared decisions while preserving their own organizational authority?
If the organizations cannot yet agree on a common outcome or commit to joint work, clarify those issues before forming a coalition.
How to start an animal welfare coalition
The action kit presents seven stages. They form a useful sequence, but local circumstances determine how much time each stage takes and what arrangements are appropriate.
- Determine whether a coalition is right for your organization. Assess the need for joint action, alignment with your mission, and capacity to participate.
- Build a core team. Begin with a small group able to convene relevant partners, move discussions forward, and develop a shared proposal.
- Define the coalition’s purpose. Agree on the problem, the broader shared goal, and the people or institutions the coalition needs to influence.
- Quantify the mission. Decide what observable progress would look like and how members will assess it. Choose measures that fit the shared goal rather than using a number simply because it is easy to count.
- Decide whether to incorporate. Consider whether a separate legal entity is useful for the coalition’s intended work. The kit raises incorporation as a decision point; it does not replace advice about the legal requirements that apply where you operate.
- Run the coalition’s business. Set out how decisions are made, who handles agreed responsibilities, how meetings and communication work, and how the coalition remains accountable to its members and community.
- Plan finances sensibly. Decide what the work will cost, how funds or other resources will be managed, and what financial responsibilities members are accepting.
Who should be at the table?
Build membership around the coalition’s goals, not a fixed roster. Potential partners may include a government shelter, a large humane society or other private shelter, key rescue groups, resource organizations, and spay/neuter clinics. The right mix depends on the problem and the roles needed to address it.
Discuss participation and decision authority early. A coalition can give members a shared forum without transferring each organization’s independent authority to the group. Make clear which decisions belong to the coalition and which remain with individual members.
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The action kit’s manual appendix includes examples that can help partners move from discussion to written arrangements: a sample charter, bylaws, a memorandum of understanding (MOU), a coalition agreement, placement incentive guidelines, grant requests, and a grant agreement. It also includes material on making the case for a coalition and next steps, as well as a Nashville case study. These are examples to adapt to the coalition’s own mission and circumstances, not universal or automatically current legal forms. See the action kit manual.
Before adopting any document, members should agree on the purpose it serves, who has authority to approve it, and whether local legal or financial advice is needed. The guide does not establish local legal requirements.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Keep the coalition useful after it forms
Coalition-building is ongoing work. Best Friends recommends regular meetings, transparent communication, meaningful community involvement, and periodic assessment so members can correct course. Share difficulties as well as successes; doing so gives members a clearer basis for decisions and helps keep the work grounded in the community’s needs.
Best Friends also points to its network community for professional advice and program support. Check the network directly for current availability and terms. Explore Best Friends’ network community.
Best Value
What the NKLA example does—and does not—show
Best Friends reports that it launched the NKLA Coalition in 2012 with about 35 member organizations. This is an example of one coalition’s launch, not a recommended size, a success guarantee, or a target for other communities. Read Best Friends’ NKLA example.
A related resource for advocacy planning
ICAM’s Advocacy Toolkit is a complementary resource, not another coalition-formation guide. It focuses on designing advocacy for free-roaming dogs and cats through questions about the change sought, decision-maker, message, messenger, communication channel, available and needed tools, starting, and evaluation. Explore the ICAM Advocacy Toolkit.
Quick Recap
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