MANDEL SCHOOL
NEWS AND EVENTS
June 07, 2011
Restructuring the Nonprofit Human Services Sector: Findings from an Innovative Pilot
In the fall of 2009, a group of 18 philanthropic funders in Cleveland, Ohio, launched a yearlong pilot designed to engage health and human service nonprofits in a process focused on significant inter‐organizational restructuring. The funders saw the context of economic crisis as a threat to the "collective ability to provide more and better human services despite rapidly diminishing resources," as well as an "unprecedented opportunity for the nonprofit community and its leaders to demonstrate extraordinary vision and ingenuity." These funders pooled their financial and human resources to develop a pilot project focused singularly on a group of nonprofit human services organizations in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
The Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development submitted a report on the pilot program to the Funders Collaborative.
Poverty Center Co-Director Dr. Rob Fischer, Center Doctoral Research Fellow Diwakar Vadapalli, and Center Co-Director Dr. Claudia Coulton authored the report.
Nonprofit agencies face increasing competition for scarce funding resources. Many agencies are considering ways to restructure themselves, often via mergers and acquisitions, as a way to become more effective and competitive. This study examines a pilot initiative in Cleveland, OH, in which funders supported nonprofits in the pursuit of significant restructuring efforts. Health and human service nonprofits were recruited into a three-phase facilitated pilot that assisted the agency executive directors and boards in determining what type of restructuring was feasible and desirable. The study highlights key learnings from the initiative.
Members of the Funders Collaborative:
The Abington Foundation
Charter One Foundation
The Cleveland Foundation
Deaconess Community Foundation
Dominion Foundation
Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation
The Frank Hadley Ginn and Cornelia Root
Ginn Charitable Trust
Fred A. Lennon Charitable Trust
The George Gund Foundation
John P. Murphy Foundation
Kulas Foundation
The Reinberger Foundation
The Reuter Foundation
Saint Luke's Foundation
The Thomas H. White Foundation
United Way of Greater Cleveland
Weathertop Foundation
The William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Foundation