In 1999, La Piana Associates, in collaboration with the Chapin Hall Center for Children (a policy research institution at the University of Chicago ), conducted the largest ever national study on strategic restructuring in the nonprofit sector. The study was funded by the Nonprofit Sector Research Fund of the Aspen Institute and the Lilly Endowment.

Phase II of the national study was completed in 2002. It involves in-depth case studies of six strategic restructuring partnerships, as well as a survey of a random sample of nonprofits in two different cities to look at the prevalence of strategic restructuring in those areas. In addition, the research team conducted interviews with 20 national leaders in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, asking them to share their reflections on the implications of the preliminary results for the future of the sector.

The findings of this research are included in a book — Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations: Mergers, Integrations, and Alliances — by Amelia Kohm and David La Piana, published by Praeger Publishers in November 2003. The book provides nonprofit managers, board members, consultants, and foundation executives with research-based information to use in making tough decisions about whether and how to pursue a range of organizational partnerships — from jointly managed programs and consolidated administrative functions, to full-scale mergers.

Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations is available for purchase at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com

Download a PDF copy of the Phase 1 report from the Chapin Hall Center for Children website http://www.chapinhall.org

By Bob Harrington

This article published by CausePlanet, discusses strategic restructuring trends in the arts and culture sub-sector.

Written by La Piana Consulting and published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) in November 2010, Due Diligence Done Well: A Guide for Grantmakers has updated information to reflect new learning about effective due diligence and is accompanied by a new supplemental online toolkit for GEO members with detailed research questions, assessment criteria and more resources for grantmakers. The guide is based on The Due Diligence Tool, written by La Piana Consulting and published by GEO in 2004.

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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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