Strategic Alliance Building
Alliance building is a distinct organizational capability, not a byproduct of good relationships.
Federal health policy is shaped less by rulemaking than by the alliances that form before rules are written. Coalitions that build shared positions before the comment window opens. Relationships that persist across issues, not just across single fights. Trust that develops between constituencies most people assume cannot be brought into the same conversation.
Most organizations do not have the internal capacity to do this work well. They rely on individual relationships that leave when the individual leaves. They form coalitions during crises and disband them when the crisis passes. They convene, but they do not sustain.
ELM Capitol Group was built to help mission-driven organizations develop strategic alliance building as a permanent capability.
Our Approach
Effective alliance work is grounded in three principles we bring to every engagement.
Stakeholder incentives, not stated positions. Alliances that address what stakeholders actually need to protect, advance, or avoid are the ones that hold together under pressure. Alliances built on stated positions alone fracture the moment those positions are tested.
Honest disagreement, not forced consensus. Alliances that name where partners disagree, and design around those disagreements, remain stable across policy cycles. Alliances that pretend disagreement does not exist collapse when it matters most.
Long horizon, not comment-window urgency. The alliances that produce durable federal policy outcomes are built months and years before they are needed. Alliance-building capacity cannot be assembled during a crisis. It has to already be there.
What We Do
We work with pharmaceutical companies, patient advocacy organizations, trade associations, health nonprofits, and community-based organizations on the full lifecycle of strategic alliance work.
Alliance Design and Structuring.
We help organizations design new alliances with clarity of purpose from the beginning. This includes identifying the right partners, structuring governance and decision-making, defining shared and separate positions, and building the operating rhythms that alliances need to hold together across policy cycles.
Stakeholder Alignment Assessments.
We conduct diagnostic assessments of existing coalition dynamics, mapping stakeholder incentives, identifying alignment gaps, and surfacing the disagreements that need to be named for the alliance to move forward.
Cross-Sector Convening and Facilitation.
We convene and facilitate substantive multi-stakeholder discussions across biopharma, patient advocacy, hospital systems, congressional offices, community-based organizations, and adjacent constituencies. Our convening work has spanned bipartisan federal policy fights, national policy platforms, and community-based coalition building.
Coalition Strengthening and Governance Support.
We support existing coalitions in building the internal governance, communications architecture, and decision-making structures that let them operate effectively across sustained policy engagement.
Strategic Roadmapping for Collective Action.
We help alliances move from convening to coordinated action, developing shared roadmaps, position statements, engagement strategies, and accountability structures that translate alliance conversations into policy outcomes.
Recent Convenings
Sickle Cell Gene Therapy Access. Moderated a bipartisan policy discussion on federal reimbursement for gene therapy access, bringing together congressional staff from Representatives Bilirakis (R-FL) and Trahan (D-MA), Fulcrum Therapeutics, the Children's Hospital Association, and the RedMoon Project. Hosted by Black in Health Policy.
340B Program Integrity Discussion. Contributed to a national policy conversation on 340B transparency and patient access, hosted by USA Today and BlackDoctor.org, bringing together advocates, clinicians, and patient voices.
Who We Work With
Pharmaceutical companies navigating federal policy engagement across agencies and constituents.
Patient advocacy organizations building coalitions to advance access and affordability.
Trade associations coordinating multi-organization responses to federal & state policy developments.
Health nonprofits working across sectors to advance health outcomes & community-based priorities.
Community-based organizations engaging federal and state policy.
Let's Talk
If your organization is building strategic alliance capacity, strengthening an existing coalition, or convening cross-sector conversations on federal health policy, we welcome the opportunity to talk.
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