logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

What It Means When Nonprofits Merge

Jennifer Swan
September 26, 2014
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

 

Merger

September 24, 2014; Lancaster Online

There are many ways we compromise as nonprofit leaders. Our time, our budgets, our resources…all for the greater good of our organizations and the communities we serve. But when is compromise necessary? And, more importantly, when is it the right thing to do?

It was recently announced that the Lancaster Museum of Art and the Demuth Museum, both located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, will consolidate as one entity while maintaining their separate locations. The reason for the merger is to maximize resources, specifically staff and governance. (For a deeper discussion of the two museums, their histories, and their artistic missions, see Eileen Cunniffe’s newswire here.)

Sometimes the term “merger” has the connotation of failure. Contrary to that, many merger cases symbolize strength and vitality, especially when encouraged and endorsed by invested parties, such as elected officials and foundations. The National Council of Nonprofits refers to these nonprofit mergers as “collaborations,” “strategic alliances,” or even “partnerships” to defer any negative significance a merger could represent. In Lancaster, the museum merger has been approved both by a local foundation and the city’s mayor, furthering the positive impact this action will have on the community as a whole. So in this case, the merger is not due solely to a lack of resources, but to an outpouring of community attention and affirmation.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

A strategic alliance allows for growth and sustainability through cost-effective and low-impact measures. The Lancaster-Demuth merger demonstrates the need for shared resources and capacity-building efforts to enhance the mission and continuation of these two major community assets. But who really benefits from this consolidation—the organizations, the community, or both? There are many reasons to merge (such as financial struggles, governing resources, etc.) but the community that is served is essential to any nonprofit’s success. The community is why a nonprofit exists.

In a 2012 article from the Nonprofit Quarterly entitled “Creating Fertile Soil for the Merger Option,” Judith Alnes identifies the realities of major motivations of mergers. Ninety-three percent of organizations merge to increase service delivery and to ensure the long-term financial stability of at least one of the merging groups, while 75 percent do it to save programs and services that might otherwise be lost without the merger. These statistics demonstrate that the community component has a heavy influence on whether or not an organization should merge with another.

Though mergers are often set in place to the community’s benefit, there are some instances when obstacles arise—not all mergers conclude with a happy ending. If mergers are intended to give communities and audiences a more well-rounded and stable experience, then organizations planning to merge should exhaustively examine all data that may affect the merger. One example would be to investigate audience overlap statistics, which can be identified as a cost-saving mechanism, as was the case with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Sacramento Opera merger in 2010. The merger was meant to address gaps in spending, and the small overlap provided partial justification for the organizations to merge to cover certain costs. The reality demonstrated that this overlap was not enough to sufficiently increase revenues; a merger was not the answer.

There are many lessons to be learned from nonprofit mergers, and a variety of both success and failure cases. Clearly, the good of the community should be the result of any merger, as it is at the crux of any nonprofit organization. Why do we continue to strive and thrive as nonprofits? To give back and serve our communities. Alone, we are a voice; as a collective, we are a force. Whether that force acts for our community of nonprofits or for our supporters and patrons depends upon the ambitions and goals of the unified, merged organizations and their anticipated plans for the future.—Jennifer Swan

 

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Jennifer Swan

Jennifer Swan is currently the Associate Director for Arts Services Initiative of WNY (ASI). In this role Ms. Swan assists in positioning ASI as the link between the arts and cultural community and other sectors of the region. She provides outreach and administrative support to ASI’s partner networks including the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance (GBCA), Cultural Alliance of Niagara (CAN), and serves on the Arts Partners for Learning (APL) Leadership Team. Ms. Swan is the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization (DEC) Grant Program Coordinator for Erie and Niagara Counties. Previously Ms. Swan was the Business Manager for the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus where she was responsible for the day–to-day operations, working alongside the Board of Directors and committees. Major projects included the involvement of the Chorus in the Music Culture 716 collaborative and extending the Chorus’ regular season to include special performances at community events such as the National Historic Preservation Conference held in Buffalo in October 2011. Ms. Swan currently serves on the Chorus’ Concert, Marketing, and Nominating Committees. From 2009-2011 she managed and maintained the box office and front of house at the Lancaster Opera House, and orchestrated and organized an annual fundraiser for two years. Here she solicited donations and managed all aspects of the event from preparation to day-of activities. Her other arts and cultural work includes judging Congressman Higgins’ Congressional Student Art Competition in 2012, 2013, and 2014; past work includes Music is Art’s The Big Easy in Buffalo Committee, Volunteer Coordinator for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center’s Artists and Models: Nocturminal fundraiser, Marketing/Concert Crew for Slee Hall at Lippes Concert Hall at the University at Buffalo, and Music Librarian and Marketing for the Amherst Chamber Ensembles. Additional work in the for-profit sector includes Promotions for Citadel Broadcasting and Righteous Babe Records, and management and marketing for several individual music projects. Ms. Swan has presented at a variety of community-wide engagements including to Leadership Buffalo’s Arts, Culture, and Tourism Day (June 2014), Daemen College’s Art and Community Class (April 2014), University at Buffalo’s Management Career Development Class (November 2013), and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Evening with the Professionals at Buffalo State College (October 2012). Ms. Swan has a MA in Arts Management from the University at Buffalo and a BA in Communications/Broadcasting with a minor in music from Buffalo State College. While at the University at Buffalo she traveled abroad with NUROPE (Nomadic University for Art, Philosophy, and Enterprise in Europe) to Sweden and Finland, completing an intensive scholarly program entitled Beyond Bergman and Nobel: Scandinavian Cultural Policy and Performing Arts. As a result of that academic excursion, Ms. Swan co-wrote an article forUB International titled “Summer School in Arts Management Held in Finland and Sweden.”

More about: Arts and CultureManagement and LeadershipMergersNonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell
Gumbo for the Struggle: Recipes of Liberation from the Cultural Kitchen
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
Cooperatives as Ancestral Technology
B. Vanessa Coleman
Rebuilding a Cultural Economy: A Story from the Nipmuc Nation
Andre Strongbearheart and Carlos Uriona
Imagining New Worlds: Using Science Fiction to Build a Solidarity Economy
izzy sazak
How Philanthropy Can Show Up for an Arts Solidarity Economy
Cate Fox and Nichole M. Christian

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
An image of four men, from the waist down in athletic wear. The man in the front is wearing red sweatpants and holding a boom box.
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell
Bowl of gumbo with prawns, okra and sausage on a dressed table.
Gumbo for the Struggle: Recipes of Liberation from the...
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
Cooperatives as Ancestral Technology
B. Vanessa Coleman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.