MANKATO — Five years ago, when Louise Dickmeyer first told Anne Ganey that mergers of nonprofit organizations were going to become a hot issue, Ganey didn’t believe her.

That was back when the economy was solid, when grant money was plentiful, when it was a boom time for startup nonprofits.

Nonprofits need their identity, need to fill their niche, Ganey said. It won’t happen.

“I thought, ‘It’s going to be really hard to get organizations to do that,’” she said.

Today, Ganey is advocating for more mergers, and has even started doing it with her own nonprofit. She is the executive director of the YWCA, which just this month allowed the local Girl Scouts office to move into its modest quarters in the Northwest Office Building.

Dickmeyer, who has spent her career working for nonprofits, saw this coming nearly a decade ago. While working on her master’s degree at Regis University in Denver, she produced a thesis on the merging of nonprofits.

It gathered dust for a few years until now. Today, with the economy limping along and nonprofits struggling more than ever, Dickmeyer’s work, turned into a book, seems even more relevant than when it was written.

And mergers are happening. Just a few weeks ago Theresa House and Partners for Affordable Housing — two organizations that provide services to the homeless but have slightly different missions — came together to pool resources and hope to maintain the current level of services to their clientele.

But Dickmeyer says she’s not in favor of shutting down nonprofits.

“Part of the reason I’m such a strong advocate for mergers is that I’ve never met a nonprofit I didn’t like,” she said.

Her book uses the nonprofit merger she knows best as a case study: that of the Bloomington and Minneapolis chambers of commerce.

She was involved from the very beginning of merger discussion talks and followed it through to the votes in both cities that made it official.

One thing she says that may not be easy for nonprofits to hear is this: “The nonprofit sector has proliferated for years and there’s just too many of them.”

Roughly 36,000 new nonprofits spring up each year, and almost all of them need to raise money. In today’s economy, funds are harder to come by and it’s harder to pry dollars from donors’ hands when folks are getting laid off and wages, for many, are stagnant.

According to a report by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, 57 percent of Minnesota nonprofits reported reduced revenues. At the same time, many of them are seeing an increase in demand for their services.

So when times are hard, everyone looks for ways to save money. In the world of nonprofits, mergers are the hot topic.

“In speaking to others around the country,” she said, “there’s lots of chatter about it.”

Local nonprofits are talking about it, too.

AmyJo Lennartson, regional coordinator for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, said she regularly hears nonprofits talk about the generalities of mergers and how it makes sense. But when it gets down to the “nitty gritty,” she said, caution sets in.

“When organizations start talking about specifics,” she said, “it gets kind of personal.”

And that’s why, when it comes to mergers, some say it’s best to go slow.

Laura Bowman, executive director of the Greater Mankato Area United Way, said that, like any business, small nonprofits are sometimes best left on their own.

But Bowman says that if two organizations come along that have similar missions and they can benefit from sharing resources, a merger could be a good idea.

Bowman said she’s seen the Mankato area excel at sharing among nonprofits.

“We’re a community that has always done that. We’re ahead of the game,” she said. “When I go to conferences and hear from different United Ways, it’s not always that way ... I think we’re doing a great job. At the same time, it’s naive to think we won’t have some difficulties.”

Lennartson said that many organizations begin their relationship by jointly holding an event. From there the relationship can build and more resources can be shared. And down the road, if conditions are appropriate, a merger could be considered. Maybe.

“You have to start small and then move up the continuum,” Lennartson said. “We can do an event together, but that doesn’t mean we have to go to the altar.”

All nonprofits should make use of the resources available to them — including, Lennartson said, Dickmeyer’s book.



If You Go
What
Author Louise Dickmeyer will sign copies of her book, “No Risk-No Reward: Mergers of Membership Associations and Nonprofits”

When
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today at Pub 500.

The book includes information about the need for mergers as a strategy for shrinking financial and leadership resources, as well as how-to information on aspects of mergers.

Dickmeyer is donating a portion of the proceeds of each book sold to the YWCA’s Elizabeth Kearney Women’s Leadership Development Program.

The books are $24.95.