I love talking to the press, and have always been super-responsive when a reporter leaves a message with those fateful words: “I am on deadline.”

I drop everything to get back ASAP, because I know then they will call me again. It’s a free soap box, after all, why not make the most of it?

So, as you can imagine, I get my share of media calls. But I was still a bit surprised recently when I received two calls in as many days from New York City-based reporters wanting to talk about nonprofit mergers.

The first call came from the Financial Times, which seems to be ramping up its coverage of philanthropy. They were doing an in-depth investigation on mergers. The first article appeared on November 27th, ‘A merger of convenience’, and the second should appear on December 8th, ‘Books that lead to success’.

The next day the call came from Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine, which is doing a three-part online series on nonprofit mergers.

There is an unending fascination with mergers in the press, but it doesn’t stop there.

Recently, I’ve gotten a lot of requests to speak on the topic and also to conduct workshops for funders, nonprofits, and consultants. For example, just the other week I was in Phoenix and then Tucson giving talks to nonprofit leaders and their funders. Following that, I was in Cincinnati speaking with a similar group.

Closer to home, our merger business is skyrocketing. “Some days it seems that every time I answer the phone it’s a new merger client calling,” says Bob Harrington, who manages our practice in strategic restructuring (that is, mergers and other types of partnerships).

“While mergers have always been a strong part of our practice, right now it seems to be exploding,” Bob adds.

Buried on an inside pages of Monday’s New York Times is an article on Life After the Ford Foundation (LAFF).

It is an alumni network of former Ford staffers; 350 – 400 people are involved. It sounds like a cute and harmless idea, but is anything truly innocent these days?

Apparently, the Foundation is not very happy with LAFF, perhaps seeing it as a group of disaffected former employees.

LAFF leaders deny this, saying they just like each other, shared a lot of important experiences while at Ford, and want to stay in touch.

I guess we’ll see. The upcoming retirement of Ford’s President Susan V. Berresford gives LAFF an opportunity to recruit someone who can bridge those employee/former employee differences.

Ford is not alone. Retirees of Mott and the Asia Foundation are starting similar groups.

Pretty soon we’ll need a National Association of Former Philanthropoids.