Funded by the Deaconess Community Foundation and St. Luke's Foundation, this summary report, by Heather Gowdy, Jo DeBolt, and Melissa Mendes Campos, describes the Human Services Strategic Restructuring Pilot Project in Cuyahoga County. The pilot project brought together a group of 18 grantmaker organizations that were motivated by a common desire to offer struggling nonprofit with support "beyond a grant check."  Their initiative attracted leaders from 76 nonprofits throughout the county. The year-long pilot project provided 17 organizations with readiness assessments and helped 8 organizations develop restructuring plans, culminating in four nonprofit restructurings (including a program transfer, two parent-subsidiary relationships, and a common board and management structure). This summary describes the powerful scalable impact of collaboration and how a funder initiative can serve to transform the social sector. Download the PDF.

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After five years of research, training, and consulting in the area of strategic restructuring, Strategic Solutions and Chapin Hall Center for Children, a policy research center at the University of Chicago, offer In Search of Strategic Solutions: A Funders Briefing on Nonprofit Strategic Restructuring, written by David La Piana and Amelia Kohm, and published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) in January 2003.

This report revisits the questions first posed in Beyond Collaboration, and addresses them by drawing on findings from our recent national study on strategic restructuring, as well as learnings from other Strategic Solutions research and consulting activities.

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This Stanford Social Innovation Review article by Managing Partner, David La Piana, discusses the increasing pressure faced by nonprofits to merge. Yet mergers are not always the right path for nonprofits in financial distress.  David describes why funders should consider a wide variety of partnership options.  Download the PDF.

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http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/

Nonprofit mergers are on the rise as executive directors and board members discover the advantages: comprehensive service delivery, better finances, more powerful fundraising, and increased market share, to name but a few. Bottom line: mergers make more mission possible. But nonprofit leaders often dread the thought.

David La Piana’s first book — The Nonprofit Mergers Workbook Part I: The Leader's Guide to Considering, Negotiating, and Executing a Merger — shows that merger is not a last ditch survival move but an important strategic tool for organizations focused on doing their best for their community. From assessing reasons and readiness, to finding a partner, to negotiating the best path, to budgeting and implementation, The Workbook Part I guides you through the maze of options with a steady hand. Based on experience with more than sixty mergers, this handbook is the perfect starting point for any nonprofit exploring a possible merger—and a basic resource for all nonprofit managers. You’ll find:

• How to decide what kind of structure — from collaboration to merger — meets your goals
• How to know your own motivation and keep your mission forefront
• What kind of merger best fits your goals, structure, and financial situation
• How to seek merger partners and objectively assess the pros and cons of each
• How to manage the board’s essential role in merger considerations
• How to exercise due diligence and write the merger agreement
• How to deal with the rumor mill
• What you can do yourself, when to call in attorneys and consultants, and how to select them
• Typical roadblocks and how to beat them
• How to move past old history and build new traditions as you integrate staff, management, boards, systems, and corporate cultures
• How to budget for and raise funds to implement the merger
• And much more!

Full merger case studies, decision trees, twenty-two worksheets, checklists, tips, milestones, an extensive resource section and many samples — including the minutes of a completed merger negotiation — give you concrete assistance with your own merger plans and implementation. A special chapter written for nonprofit organizational consultants explains their roles and responsibilities in assisting clients interested in merger.