Mergers as a Strategy for Success: 2016 Report from the Metropolitan Chicago Nonprofit Merger Research Project

By Donald Haider, Katherine R. Cooper, Reyhaneh Maktoufi

This study analyzes the use of merger strategies and their impact and outcomes in order to provide nonprofits and their funders with the information they need to conduct, support, and promote mergers that advance mission goals. Major goals of the study are to educate nonprofits and funders about how mergers can be used to achieve mission and increase impact; to raise awareness and educate nonprofits about different kinds of merger strategies; to determine how to increase strategic, successful mergers within the metropolitan Chicago nonprofit sector; and to show how grantors and grantees can work together to bring about mergers with positive outcomes.