The article "Merging Wisely" is excellent. I appreciate having it brought to our attention. Though about 18 years old it, and the comments in response, are still very relevant not to mention eye-opening. As far as museums are concerned, several more recent mergers, or "take-overs" to consider include the dissolution of the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC and the transfer of its collections and art school; the take over of the failing Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA by the Worcester Art Museum, and the take over of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia by Drexel University. I have long rejected the idea that there may be too many nonprofit organizations. Frankly I think there are too many car dealerships but I don't hear a cry to merge them. About every ten years an argument is put forth to merge the Museum of the City of New York and the New-York Historical Society. Those ignorantly presenting this say the two entities are redundant. They aren't. There is more than enough New York City (MCNY) and New York City and US history (N-YHS) to go around. Fortunately the dumb idea vanishes as fast as it is proffered. "Merging Wisely" provides excellent explanations (through illustrations) about why a proliferation of charities may exist and the need for them in a given field. Certainly the sometime precarious state a museum may cause a merger and frankly I think there will be more in the future. If our field's past is prologue, as cited above, when wisely accomplished this will be a positive development.
Cheers,
Steve
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Steven Miller
Executive Director Retired
Boscobel House and Gardens
Garrison NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-04-2018 06:57 AM
From: Laura MacDonald
Subject: Merger Experiences
Greetings. I suggest that you start with this article from <g class="gr_ gr_100 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="100" data-gr-id="100">Stanford</g> Social Innovation Review. Although it's several years old, the information is still relevant. Merging Wisely (SSIR)
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Laura MacDonald CFRE
President
Benefactor Group, LLC
Columbus OH
Original Message:
Sent: 09-03-2018 11:01 AM
From: Benjamin Futa
Subject: Merger Experiences
Greetings colleagues -
My organization is at the early stages of exploring the possibility of a program merger (not a full operational merger) with another entity on our campus. We operate within a university context.
Does anyone have experience negotiating/navigating a merger process? Welcoming any and all words of wisdom or stories of challenges, pitfalls, opportunities, and surprises I should look out for.
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Benjamin Futa
Director
Allen Centennial Garden
Madison WI
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