#MergerMondays: People First Economy + Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum
Happy #MergerMondays 🎉 to People First Economy and SMSBF! This #mergerwithamission is a great example of how collaboration can be good for nonprofit and for-profit businesses! 🤩
As a small business myself that started in Michigan, we're all about sustainable business practices at The Kate Harris Group. The announcement was covered in Crain's Detroit Business 📰 - and I can't help but emphasize the first line in the article...."Two Michigan nonprofits are merging after working together for four years..." 4️⃣ years! That's what we mean by #sustainedcollaboration - it takes time to build relationships but it's worth it when you want to grow the impact of a worthy cause.
The article is worth a read because it emphasizes another aspect of nonprofit merger activity that I think is often overlooked: merger as growth strategy! We’re still fighting stigma around discussing merger as a survival strategy. But savvy leaders know it’s just another tool in the toolkit of mission growth and expansion. Merger can be a great way to expand the geographic reach of a program or service. Local partners often bring trusted relationships and knowledge about community needs - instead of airdropping a program into another city - merger can be a way of working with what’s already there.
