Philanthropy News reports on the merger trend.This can be an energizing idea--and right on strategy--for organizations that have been stuck or stagnating for the last few years...but are now confronting the economic crisis today. The idea is energizing because it's an interesting but tough idea: challenge + opportunity + strategic thinking + openness + hard work=excitement.
Because it's energizing, it is also a strategy that may be really attractive to funders (drama! innovation! cutting edge! Though of course the foundations themselves would never do it, you know, in the interest of efficiency and there being simply too many foundations! LOL).
Anyway, when funders really like an approach, they (bless their hearts) tend to recommend it to everyone. And that means, we (non-profit board members, executives, advisors) must be open, thoughtful, reasonable, "energized," but most of all both strategic and cautious. And while we should be open, we must not be overly influenced by the funding community to jump into a merger process without fully considering and then actively embracing the real cost of restructuring (in resources, time, emotion, culture, distraction).
Mission and money, together, must drive decisions about best opportunities impact (note: I did not say "survival," I said "impact").
Who is considering restructuring now, in this economic climate. What are funders saying?
Here are some excellent resources on nonprofit mergers.
And definitely, read the article by Priscilla Hung, "Time to Merge," which ran in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Grassroots Fundraising Journal (scroll down and click on the article to get the free download). She describes in practical terms, some of the issues and challenges, opportunities and successes of their recent merger.
Posts
1 comments:
Thanks for touching on the issues of merging and for referring to our article. We wanted to present an honest picture of what the process looked like for us, successes and failures. For those of you who don't see merger in your near future, I'd still encourage you to collaborate more with allied organizations for greater money and mission impacts. Ideas I've heard of include sharing staff, office space, or administrative services; putting together joint funding proposals; putting on joint fundraising events; and sharing donor lists. We'd also love to hear your "collaborative fundraising" stories, so please email me if you have one!
Post a Comment