It’s summer. The wedding season is upon us, and many nonprofits are likewise feeling the urge to merge. But should nonprofits couple up, take the plunge, and get hitched? In this SSIR special, three articles explore whether, why, and how nonprofits should undertake mergers or other alliances.
In “Go Ahead – Pop the Question,” Kevin T. Kirkpatrick, executive vice president of Metropolitan Group, argues that the nonprofit sector is so overrun with organizations that funders, clients, and the general public have a hard time telling them apart. Meanwhile, nonprofits are so busy competing with each other for money and attention that they lose sight of their missions. To improve the lives of nonprofits and the clients that they serve, he says, the nonprofit sector needs more mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations.
But in the second article, “Before You Say ‘I Do,’” Denise L. Gammal, managing director of the Stanford Project on the Evolution of Nonprofits (SPEN), warns that most organizations, like most couples, underestimate how much time, money, and cultural understanding it takes to make a merger work. Using SPEN’s findings, she suggests that nonprofits must closely examine their motivations, assets, and communities before taking that risky walk down the aisle.
The third article, “Uniting for Survival,” is a case study that follows four suburban cancer support centers in the Chicago area as they try on different kinds of alliances. Author Don Haider, a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, explores the different ways that nonprofits can combine forces besides mergers, just as many couples explore alternative ways of sharing their strengths besides marriage.
We look forward to hearing about your experiences with nonprofit mergers. Please add your comments below.
Read more stories by Kevin T. Kirkpatrick, Denise L. Gammal & Don Haider.