Page 165 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Political Organizations
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Wildlife Fund. The coalition was intended to reduce competition and
boost coordination among the main players in national environmental
politics. According to a staff person involved from the National Resources
Defense Counsel, the chief purpose of the coalition is to “coordinate
and collaborate appeals for action” by drawing on an enormous, pooled
list of activists. 94 ED gave members of the coalition its Action Network
technology for that purpose. The project’s web site advertises itself as
“a collaborative effort of the nation’s most influential environmental
advocacy organizations harnessing the power of the Internet to increase
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public awareness and activism on today’s most important issues.” The
policy aims of the network, according to an ED official, are national in
scope. The network is intended as a way to amplify the efforts of the
national groups in working with Congress and federal agencies.
As a novel organizational structure, the Save Our Environment Coali-
tion is difficult to characterize in traditional terms. Technically, it is a
metaorganization of about twenty national environmental groups. In
2000, the group claimed to have 3.5 million traditional members in its
promotional material; however, it is impossible to characterize the actual
size of the organization in traditional and affiliated members, since its
configuration differs from issue to issue and because no central mem-
bership list exists. As of May 2001, it employed just one full-time paid
staff person, who functioned as director. It otherwise has no job classifi-
cations or titles. It is guided by a board of directors comprised of the top
officer of each member group. In this flexible, issue-driven organization,
a lead staff person from a member group is identified for each issue, and
that lead person manages the coalition’s activities for that single issue.
With funding from the Turner Foundation, the coalition exists to provide
services and coordination to its member groups, all of which have equal
status in the coalition, regardless of size. One of its central functions, ac-
cordingtoitsdirector,isassessingpoliticalengagementpatterns,tracking
how citizens respond to calls for action by the various member groups,

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The complete list of organizations is: American Rivers, the Center for Marine Con-
servation, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, Environmental
Defense, the Izaak Walton League, the League of Conservation Voters, the National
Audubon Society, the National Resources Defense Council, the National Parks Con-
servation Association, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the State PIRGs, the
Union of Concerned Scientists, and the World Wildlife Fund.
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Lisa Catapano, Director of Citizen Advocacy, National Resources Defense Council,
telephone interview by Joe Gardner, April 11, 2001.
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Save Our Environment Coalition, “WhoWeAre,” Save Our Environment Action
Center, Feb. 15, 2000, http://www.saveourenvironment.org/about.
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