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This report was prepared for Trellis Society for Community Impact
By James Stauch and Cordelia Snowdon
Institute for Community Prosperity, Mount Royal University

This is a framework for nonprofit organizations that may be considering embarking on a merger, or a similar form of amalgamation or consolidation. It is also for funders - government, foundations, corporate or individual donors - and other sector ‘capacity builders’1 interested in supporting or advising on mergers and amalgamations. It is also the final report of a two-part chronicling of the creation of Trellis, a newly amalgamated Calgary-based human service organization, and is gleaned both from stakeholder in-the moment feedback and from those who have had an opportunity to reflect on mergers in the rear-view mirror, many years out. Please note that, although this framework often uses the language of human service organizations - "clients", "clientele", "agency needs", etc., much of these tools and insights are equally applicable to other types of nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofit mergers are rare, and for good reason: They are expensive, they dramatically upset the smooth delivery of organizations’ missions (though this can be a good thing), they tend to thrive only under a particular set of ideal circumstances, and they cannot be forced, either by funders, or by economic necessity. However, as the effects and after-effects of the COVID 19 pandemic are profoundly affecting the financial health and governance of nonprofit organizations in Canada, the internal and external pressures to explore mergers and other forms of deep
collaboration is nevertheless growing. It is therefore essential to have a clear-eyed understanding of both the exciting potential and the many pitfalls and hazards of social impact amalgamations.

This framework captures and builds on learning and insights from the merger of two well-known nonprofit human services organizations in Calgary: Aspen Family & Community Network Society (Aspen) and
Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary (BGCC) into a new organization, the Trellis Society for Community Impact, or simply "Trellis". The Institute for Community Prosperity was asked to document this journey process, looking at questions of strategic fit and process, as well as the governance, financial, human resources, communications and cultural aspects of the merger. The Institute embraced this challenge, precisely because of its clear relevance and urgency for the social impact sector,
and the commitment of the amalgamating organizations to share the learnings of this journey far and wide. As such, the analysis falls somewhere between a real-time case study and a developmental evaluation. This approach, capturing stakeholder input as the process unfolds, is fairly unique. Most analyses of nonprofit mergers take place many years after the merger is complete. 

The learnings and questions raised in this framework draw on two rounds of conversations, months apart, with a selection of key stakeholders - management, staff, board members, consultants, funders and others with previous merger experience - as well as from the literature on nonprofit mergers and other forms of deep collaboration. A detailed chronicling of the early stages of this merger is provided in a report released in August, 2020: One Big Experiment: Chronicling a Nonprofit Merger in Action. This second document includes the key insights from this first report, but also captures what has been learned since, as the arduous journey of implementation unfolded.

The framework focuses on three main phases - CONSIDERING whether to merge, PLANNING the components and sequencing of the merger, and INTEGRATING the programs and operations. The framework surfaces questions to consider in each phase, and with respect to
specific areas of organizational governance, management and operations: Values and culture, board governance, legal and regulatory considerations, human resources, financial considerations, branding and external communications, funder and donor stewardship, internal communications, frontline programming, back-office operations, space, and social impact. Additional sections are included on finding closure,
advice for taking your first steps, evaluating amalgamations and on insights for funders specifically.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE FULL DOCUMENT.

Funding for this report is made possible by the Viewpoint Foundation.