Economic Slump Likely to Mean M&A Surge among Nonprofits

The 11-year study conducted by The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit advisor to other nonprofits and philanthropy, evaluated merger filings in Massachusetts, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina and found that the cumulative merger rate for nonprofits, 1.5 percent (calculated by dividing the number of deals by the total number of registered organizations), was nearly as high as the 1.7 percent rate for for-profit companies. In terms of success rates, the study identified three nonprofit sector “market characteristics” that are instrumental to favorable M&A activity: