The Pivotal Role of Grantmakers in Supporting Successful Mergers & Acquisitions Among Nonprofit Media Organizations

In a session from the 2024 Journalism Funders Gathering, three leaders in journalism and public media—Monika Bauerlein, CEO of Mother Jones; Kerri Hoffman, CEO of PRX; and Nico Leone, President and CEO of KERA—discuss the do’s and don’ts of supporting successful integrations between nonprofit media organizations, all in the name of financial stability, operational effectiveness, and serving audiences. Here are the key takeaways:

Do:

Convene Grantees: Funders have the unique ability to convene grantees who might not otherwise connect, creating opportunities for meaningful collaboration.

Publicly Champion Mergers: Funders can play a critical role in helping to generate broader awareness about the utility of mergers, attract additional supporters, and build momentum for an organization during a vulnerable transition period.

Ask Key Questions:

• When approached with a proposal for a new startup, funders should ask if the work needs to be standalone. Rather than defaulting to building an entire organization from scratch, funders can encourage grantees to explore whether their work could be more effectively accomplished within or in partnership with an existing organization.
• Instead of asking grantees where they’ll find success upon merging, funders should ask grantees what they’re hopeful about. Unlike success metrics, hope isn’t tied to specific outcomes, which allows for more honest conversation. This shift from outcome-focused questions to hope-centered dialogue fosters the trust and transparency essential for navigating a merger.

Create Safe Spaces for Merger Conversations: Boards and leadership teams often resist the idea of mergers due to fear of failure or loyalty to their organization’s independence. Funders can break this impasse by creating neutral ground for exploration and reframing merger discussions as strategic exploration rather than admissions of weakness.

Don’ts:

Don’t Force It: Funders should focus on convening interested parties and helping them identify opportunities to better serve their mission—whether by reaching broader audiences or operating more efficiently—rather than pushing unwilling organizations toward consolidation.

Don’t Overlook the Operational Cost of a Merger:  Structural change is expensive, and merger costs add up quickly. Funders shouldn’t shy away from funding the unglamorous operational expenses—legal fees, systems integration, HR transitions—that can otherwise burden a newly merged organization during its most vulnerable period.

Don’t Rush on Strategic Planning: Boards and funders often rush to fund strategic planning immediately after a merger, but this timing rarely serves the organization well. Mergers involve loss—particularly for people who’ve spent years building what’s being combined—and that requires space to process. Beyond the emotional transition, there’s an operational reality: Organizations often don’t truly understand their new structure until they’ve completed a full business cycle, which typically takes a year. Funders should let the dust settle before investing in strategic planning that will actually reflect the merged entity’s reality.