Finances, accounting and grant management

Good organisation of a coalition also means managing the funding that comes from donors. This involves budgeting, day-to-day accounting, reporting and so on. Sometimes a coalition is not a legal entity in its own right, but is legally a project of a member organisation (as in the case of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and the Cluster Munition Coalition from 2003-2010). In this case there might be a distinction between the legal oversight of funds, which ultimately rests with the legal entity not the coalition, and the strategic oversight of the funds – how they are prioritised and spent (which might reasonably be an area of responsibility for the coalition’s leadership).

The questions below focus on the key logistical and organisational challenges that global coalitions may face and offer some insight and experience on how to tackle them.