Is there a merger in your future?

    It’s no wonder that nonprofits are being encouraged these days to consider merging. Successful mergers can yield greater programmatic impact and increased efficiency, while reducing duplication of services and lowering operating costs. It’s also no surprise that mergers are not easy! After all, organizations are people and people tend to resist change.

    Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to present a session at the Colorado Nonprofit Association entitled Is there a merger in your future? We were fortunate to have several funders in the room…they’re very interested in the benefits of merger, but also concerned about the realities of life on the ground for merger participants.

    No matter how structured a merger process, it will produce surprises. To learn more, we pulled out our handy-dandy video camera and interviewed the leaders of three local nonprofits who have recently engaged in a merger process. You can watch the interviews in a piece we put together by clicking here.

    Some overarching themes emerged:

    Mission alignment is critical. If you all share similar values and a driving vision, you’ll be able to get through the ups and downs, power struggles, and just plain hassles of squeezing two organizations into one.

    Don’t be fooled into thinking that merging is about systems. Yes, you’ll have to get the databases and accounting systems aligned, but the cultural impact on the staffs and boards of merging nonprofits is where the real change must take place. As Catherine Underhill, Executive Director of the Colorado Music Festival/Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts put so aptly, “I would say it’s a slow, evolutionary process.”

    Diligence on the front end can save a lot of headaches. Barbara Pingrey, President & CEO of Foothills United Way and the board were very excited to acquire The Volunteer Connection of Boulder County, but they took care to conduct a thorough review of the organization, the impact the acquisition would have on Foothills United Way, and engage in lots of number crunching.

    Egos are going to come into play, so be ready. Joy Eckstine, Executive Director of Bridge House (formerly Carriage House Community Table) saw the identities and sensitivities of the merging boards come into full swing over the name of the newly formed organization. It wasn’t until a few years after the merger that the organization felt enough “oneness” to agree on a new name, independent of the earlier monikers.

    To help navigate the more human aspects of a merger, Front Range Source created a rubric, Anatomy of a Merger: What it will Take to Get in Shape for a Strategic Alignment? This tool will help you address some of the most essential elements of a successful merger:

    Vision: The Heart – What will this new collaboration accomplish in the future?

    Culture: The Soul – How will we align the two cultures of our organizations?

    Operations: The Head – How will we combine two organizations into one?

    Process: The Hand – How will we manage this process and still keep these organizations going?

    Mergers can be extremely beneficial and, when the right strategies are in place, the ride can be a little less bumpy and most certainly interesting! Let us hear about your merger experiences.


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