This manual is a how-to-do-it guide to building coalitions of health and human service agencies, organizations, businesses, churches, and other community-based groups for collaborative research, planning, and action to improve resident health and quality of life. Most of the information provided was discovered and developed during the 4-year life of the Madison Community Health Project, a community-based health initiative in Madison County, North Carolina, based on a model developed in South Africa in the 1940s. The manual includes six sections: 1) the nature, creation, and maintenance of coalitions; 2) tools for assessing community needs and evaluating program effectiveness (research methods, including surveys, interviews, and focus groups); 3) tools for building consensus and effective decision making, two panel discussions about local culture, power structures and promoting community empowerment while including the powerful, and facilitating and managing meetings; 4) guidelines for talking to potential funding sources; 5) a case study of the Madison Community Health Project; and 6) a bibliography containing 97 references. Appendices include a sample membership survey; a list of 78 grantmaking foundations with areas of interest, geographical and other restrictions, average award, and contact information; additional sources of funding information; and 17 2-page coalition-building tip sheets. (TD)