The day-to-day work of a coalition is carried out by the organization's staff, led by a chief executive who often called the executive director. The executive director of a coalition - be it large or small, nonprofit or not-yet-nonprofit - faces the responsibilities of job definition, hiring, staff development, performance evaluation, productive meeting design, project oversight, fiscal management, cultivating potential funding sources, reporting progress, and maintaining the support of the organization's board of directors. Fortunately for executive directors, both new and experienced, there are tools available for building the necessary management skills.
Resources for the Executive Director of a Coalition
A mature coalition is a not-for-profit business. It has bylaws that outline its governance structure and rules of operation and that are a necessary condition of nonprofit status. It has a Board of Directors that sets organizational priorities and assesses its performance; it has a staff that organizes and carries out the work under the guidance of an executive officer, often called an executive director. Like any business, a coalition has a clearly defined goals, strategies for achieving those goals, a budget for implementing those strategies, and an accountability plan. It has programs and products which it distributes on a not-for-profit basis. BoardSource has a vast array of print and video materials designed to help executive directors of coalitions do their job. To view the current list of BoardSource products (including its newsletter, Board Member), click here.
State and Regional Organizations for Nonprofits
Executive directors of coalitions focused on education may have had no previous training or experience in managing a business ... but help is available. The National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) has 40 state and regional affiliates across the United States that offer materials, seminars, and consulting services to leaders of nonprofit organizations. To locate the nearest NCNA affiliate, click here .
Guidelines for the Coalition Staff: The Employee Handbook
Just as there must be bylaws to govern the operation of a coalition, keeping it focused on its mission, it needs guidelines that describe personnel policies and practices, informing staff of basic expectations and privileges of working for the coalition. Those policies and practices, consistent with state and federal laws, should be recorded in an employee handbook. Suggestions for the content and structure of such a handbook (and model handbooks) are available from members of the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA). Click here to see a list of phone numbers and/or websites of NCNA members.