The Coalition of Immokalee Workers

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is a non-profit organization that is based in Florida.
The organization is founded on the need to advocate for the human rights of workers. The
organization has achieved tremendous success in the past (Drainville, 2008). In particular, it has
fought against human trafficking, gender-based violence, and social responsibility. CIW has
helped authorities to investigate slavery operations. The organization has, over time, established
a unique partnership with workers, and this has helped the organization to advocate for the rights
of workers (Gonzalez, 2005). The selected area that the plan covers is public relations. The paper
proposes a strategic plan that helps the organization achieve success in the area of public
relations.
Any non-profit organization needs to build a strong and beneficial relationship between
the organization and the public (Rinrattanakorn, 2012). Through robust public relations, the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers can build trust and credibility, and this can help the
organization to achieve its goals. A positive image can help the organization come up with more
donors, and this can help ensure that the organization achieves its financial goals. A public
relation campaign is more effective compared to a paid advert (Saxton, & Waters, 2014). The
organization stands to achieve a lot from a public relations campaign compared to what the
organization could achieve from paid advertising. The general public is likely to trust a company
that has a better public relations program. Favorable mentions could benefit the organization.
A public relations program can help people to think more positively about the
organization. There is a lot of information about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Both

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positive and negative information exists about the company (Curtis et al., 2010). The most
effective method to fix the reputation of the organization is through a strategic public relations
program. In the digital age, individuals can easily access information online. The implication is
that through public relations, the organization can take control of its reputation online. Many
organizations get a bad reputation for doing nothing wrong. It is, therefore, imperative for the
organization to ensure that it establishes strong public relation campaigns.
Strategic planning is complicated, and this means that every organization must be ready
to face the challenges associated with strategic planning. One of the challenges revolves around
coming up with a strong plan that will fit the organization (Hu, Kapucu, & O’Byrne, 2014). The
plan has to cater to the unique needs of the organization. The plan must take into consideration
the evolving environment. Technology is one of the things that is ever-evolving. The
organization needs to set meaningful priorities to achieve the results. Gaining the commitment of
all employees in the organization will also be a challenge. Strategic planning relies on the right
attitude. If the stakeholders do not embrace the plan, the plan is bound to fail (Cho, Schweickart,
& Haase, 2014). Most organization fail to succeed owing to partial commitment. It is difficult to
have every stakeholder committed to the strategic plan. Another problem relates to financial
constraint. Implementing the strategic plan will require a huge budgetary allocation. The
organization is a non-profit organization that will need financial belt-tightening. The
organization may be reluctant to spend on public relations (Berke & Smith, 2009). However, the
challenge can be overcome through an analysis of the advantages of the public relations
program. Social media has also eased the process of public relations, and the organization can
take advantage of the limitless possibilities offered by social media.
SWOT Analysis of Coalition of Immokalee Workers

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SWOT analysis provides details of strengths and weaknesses within an organization’s
internal environment and threats within an organization’s external environment. Such details
play an important role in the development of an organization’s strategic plan. Since its founding
more than twenty-five years ago, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has developed into a
globally-respected organization for its work in combatting human trafficking, gender-based
violence, modern slavery, and poor working conditions of farm workers.
However, the environment that the organization operates in keeps changing. Therefore, it
is important that it adjusts to these changes in order to remain effective in future as it has been in
the past. One way of achieving this goal is having a strategic plan. The organization’s SWOT
analysis helps in the development of such a plan. Here is a look at CIW’s SWOT analysis.
Strengths
One of CIW’s greatest strengths presence of effective leaders with excellent grassroots
mobilization and negotiation skills. The organization has a leadership development program
which provides future leaders with knowledge and skills that they require to effectively lead the
organization (Gilbert, 2015). As a result of this program, CIW has a large pool of highly
knowledgeable and skilled leaders.
Another strength of CIW is large numbers. Knowing that there is strength in numbers,
CIW has built alliances with like-minded individuals and organizations to collectively advocate
for its causes. For instance, it has joined hands with students and faith-based organizations who
too are against human trafficking, modern slavery, and exploitation of farm workers (Gilbert,
2015). Through such coalition-building, CIW has been able to increase its ability to bring about
the changes that it desires.

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Weaknesses
A key weakness of the organization is its reliance on donor funding to finance its
operations and activities. The lack of significant sources of independent income acts as a
constrain on the organizations plans and activities.
Opportunities
The organization has received a large number of awards for the work that it has done in
combatting human trafficking, modern slavery, gender-based violence and improving the
working conditions of farm workers (Gilbert, 2015). The awards have strengthened the
organization’s credibility and fostered a positive image for itself and its work. The positive
image can not only improve its ability to get more donor funding but also improve its ability to
achieve its goals when negotiating with corporations and other entities for better working
conditions of farm workers and other causes that it is involved in.
Another opportunity is changing public perceptions and attitudes towards many of the
issues that the organization fights for. For instance, the public is increasingly concerned not just
about the nutritional value of the food that they eat but also about the conditions of workers
within the supply chains of the food industry. These concerns have made many individuals and
groups to develop positive attitude towards the organization and support for its efforts.
Threats
The main threat of the organization is the massive market and financial power of the
corporations which the Coalition of Immokalee Workers frequently negotiates with over a wide
range of issues that include the prices of farm products, the conditions of the workers, and how

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the workers are sourced. Being a threat to the business interests of powerful corporations in the
food industry makes the work of Coalition of Immokalee Workers relatively difficult.

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References

Berke, P., & Smith, G. (2009). Hazard mitigation, planning, and disaster resiliency: Challenges
and strategic choices for the 21st century. Building safer communities. Risk governance,
spatial planning and responses to natural hazards, 1, 18.
Cho, M., Schweickart, T., & Haase, A. (2014). Public engagement with nonprofit organizations
on Facebook. Public Relations Review, 40(3), 565-567.
Curtis, L., Edwards, C., Fraser, K. L., Gudelsky, S., Holmquist, J., Thornton, K., & Sweetser, K.
D. (2010). Adoption of social media for public relations by nonprofit
organizations. Public relations review, 36(1), 90-92.
Drainville, A. C. (2008). Present in the world economy: The coalition of Immokalee workers
(1996–2007). Globalizations, 5(3), 357-377.
Gilbert, G. (2015). Lessons from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for low-wage workers.
Waging Nonviolence
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2015/02/lessons-coalition-immokalee-workers-low-wage-
workers/
Gonzalez, M. (2005). Awakening the Consciousness of the Labor Movement: The Case of the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Undergraduate honors thesis, Department of Political
Science, University of Notre Dame.
Hu, Q., Kapucu, N., & O’Byrne, L. (2014). Strategic planning for community-based small
nonprofit organizations: Implementation, benefits, and challenges. Journal of Applied
Management and Entrepreneurship, 19(1), 83.

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Rinrattanakorn, P. (2012). Public relations campaign. Sripatum University.
Saxton, G. D., & Waters, R. D. (2014). What do stakeholders like on Facebook? Examining
public reactions to nonprofit organizations’ informational, promotional, and community-
building messages. Journal of public relations research, 26(3), 280-299.