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Knowing when to collaborate and with whom to form a partnership are initial steps that set the stage for any future relationship. Executives and boards of nonprofit organizations aiming for growth and mission fulfillment should consider the range of opportunities on the collaboration spectrum from partnerships to mergers. McCormick Group is a seasoned nonprofit consulting firm who work as an extension of your staff to strategically, and delicately guide your organization through exploration and design of any new corporate structure or partnership. https://www.mcc-group.com/about daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/1583260134735-WCOI8TBSBAJA0QGL7DZU/IMG_2477.JPG About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/1583264875501-KIWP1B5ZXVGDEYVNKMZ9/Dan.jpg About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/1583264755159-VSRVT0Z1O826CM6ZW88N/DSC_0348piBMs-15.jpg About https://www.mcc-group.com/contact daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://www.mcc-group.com/services daily 0.75 2024-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/3d556ad0-fb05-439f-af4c-0fc78896edf3/IMG_1005.jpeg Services https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/1f5500da-6c40-467a-ac66-e22c63ca13be/IMG_0573.jpeg Services https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/97f43cb3-d039-4170-8026-48d9154202e3/IMG_0525.jpeg Services https://www.mcc-group.com/nonprofit-lifecycle daily 0.75 2020-03-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/1583272418667-IO0IJ2MINS3DDH3MW3Y6/NPOlifecycle.jpg Nonprofit Lifecycle - Nonprofit Lifecycle. What all this means is that organizational leaders that are willing to make an honest assessment of their health and recognize the impact of trends early will be better served. Entities start with enthusiastic charismatic leadership and begin to take off. Over time the entity begins to mature. Usually a different kind of leadership is needed here, one that knows hot to grow efficiently and sustain operationally. This is not the entrepreneurial period, rather a time of measured growth. If organizational leadership does not evolve, they tend to continue behaviors that have more risk and rarely survive. The leadership simply burns out. Those that make it through this life period tend to flatten out. Programs are mature and working. Brand image is fairly consistent and they are known widely enough to sustain. Organizations can go on in this mode for years. Then, usually one of two things happens. They either have some event, major change or spark that pushes them to a new level such as an unexpected influx of capital or one of their branded events really takes off and they begin to grow again, almost with the fire and enthusiasm of when they were first formed; or they start to decline. The phase of decline can also last for years. All their measurements such as gross funds raised, number of volunteers, cash reserves, return on investment in events and activities, and general economic and organizational health is trending down, year after year. If they are careful with expenses and willing to shed people from the payroll this period drags over time. Morale sinks to new lows and employee turnover rates soar. This signals that the end is near and the organization will either close or find a partner that will in essence help or take over their mission. Unfortunately, at this juncture, it is too late for the entity to have any leverage or negotiation postures with a viable partner. They have nothing but decline and debt to offer. They will try and say their brand is worth something. If that were the case, that brand would be bringing them money. The fact is, anyone that will take them will be taking on loss, devaluing their own company and potentially putting their organization at risk. The time to act on finding merger partners is early. Long before you are in decline. Building a relationship among peer entities that are in good health is a better to do early and carefully maintain than trying to find partners and merger when you are one breath away from turning out the lights. https://www.mcc-group.com/partnership-readiness-indicators daily 0.75 2024-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/d88b54d1-76f4-4104-924c-94e8c8dcd9f0/IMG_0764.jpeg Partnership Readiness Indicators - Readiness Indicators Increased demand for services. Desire to increase capacity in a short timeframe. Difficulty having a measurable positive impact on your mission. Needed cost cutting may significantly impact your ability to deliver on your mission Recently collaborated on a project with another nonprofit organization successfully. Your key financial and organizational health indicators are trending down and have been for 1+years. You need complimentary services to expand your reach that you know another entity provides. External environment shifts are beginning to, or may, have a negative impact on your organization. Recent changes, or loss, in senior or staff and volunteer leadership presents an opportunity to look at formal partnerships. You don’t see an easy solution to reaching the scale needed to react to critical market changes or opportunities. Competition among other NPOs in your field is segmenting the donor and constituency base. Recent consolidation among entities related to your mission results in loss of market share. Not enough resources, human and fiscal, to innovate and institute new programs and technologies. You feel some major reorganization shift from your national organization, or support base, is on the horizon and you wish to get in front of that movement. You and your sister entities have multiple redundant activities/programs and you are all seeking money from the same sources. https://www.mcc-group.com/clients daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/b2b24518-80d4-41cb-9d34-c6202897ebfd/IMG_7202.jpeg Clients McCormick Group has guided individuals and organizations through every nonprofit life cycle point - from creating new nonprofits and foundations, through strategic planning, and formal collaboration and merger. This work spans over 400 engagements in many industries and organizations of all sizes. We respect our client’s privacy and list only a few examples below: https://www.mcc-group.com/getting-started daily 0.75 2024-01-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e5e88fc2d18762565d1c267/8d4aea84-dc07-4600-a5b8-b44c33aee439/IMG_8312.jpeg Getting Started - 8 Tips to Begin Collaboration Discussions with a Potential Partner Tips for how to begin a conversation for a potential partnership, collaboration, or merger. Have the end in mind. Does the potential partner have something we want now? Does the potential partner have something that works and would take too long or be too expensive to build? Are we about to do something that will segment the field or produce more competition? Do we have something that others covet? Is our physical footprint too small? Lunch date. Take a fellow CEO/President to lunch, and simply ask the question, "What could we do better together?" Match up a foursome. Two CEOs/Presidents and two Board Chairs/Vice Chairs meet for a drink where you offer the opportunity to begin discussions of a potential partnership asking, "How would it benefit those we serve and are we a good match?" Let a volunteer lead the way. Discuss potential collaboration opportunities with your board leaders, and have one representative meet their peer for coffee to talk about how mission impact might grow if we worked together. Host a "neighborhood party". Invite several representatives from another organization, or several organizations, to a casual breakfast meeting where each group shares best practices and identifies opportunities for greater impact or effectiveness. Third party approach. Regardless of the outcome, preserving and protecting your relationship with peers is important. Having a third party reach out to potential partners on your behalf removes much of the risk. Listen to funders and supporters. If you and another organization are poised to collaborate, chances are that a current funder/supporter already knows this and is in a good position to begin the discussion as they may ultimately benefit. Consider the messenger. Many of our impressions of collaboration come from the for-profit world, where discussions of this nature start off territorial. In the case of nonprofits, the purpose for our collaboration is greater mission impact. Therefore, it's important to set a non-threatening, collaborative tone from the start. Who begins that conversation and what they say/ask is critical to moving forward successfully. https://www.mcc-group.com/resources daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://www.mcc-group.com/building-foundations daily 0.75 2024-01-17 https://www.mcc-group.com/new-page-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-23