Reclaiming Our Interdependence

Many of us have long believed the nonprofit sector would be stronger if it were less fragmented, with too many organizations laboring on parallel tracks toward similar missions, duplicating services, and competing for the same pool of resources. That belief feels more urgent than ever in today’s funding environment. Federal cuts are forcing nonprofits to make painful decisions: scaling back programs, reducing staff, or abandoning entire lines of work. At the same time, foundations and donors are balancing the pressures of increased needs against limited resources.

Confronting challenges that are larger and more complex than ever, the sector must ask itself a difficult question: how do we ensure our impact endures in a landscape that is increasingly competitive and uncertain? The answer may not lie in doing more alone, but in doing more together.

Mergers as a Path to Endurance

The mere suggestion of a merger is often met with strong resistance. For many nonprofit leaders, the organization they’ve built represents not just a mission, but years of sweat, sacrifice, and personal identity. Mergers can feel like a loss of control, a dilution of vision, or an admission of defeat — symptoms of how deeply the logic of equating growth with success and independence with strength, borrowed from capitalism, has infiltrated our sector.

But if we shift our mindset from loss to opportunity, mergers are about endurance — they can ensure missions outlast any single leader or funding cycle. They demonstrate that nonprofits are willing to make difficult but disciplined choices, that they take sustainability and impact seriously, and that they are committed to ensuring community needs come first. After all, the greatest power of our sector lies in collective action, shared purpose, and the ability to put mission above market share.

Of course, mergers are not one-size-fits-all. The strongest partnerships happen when organizations share enough alignment to speak with a unified voice, while also bringing complementary strengths to the table. One might have deep community roots, while another has specialized expertise or strong operational infrastructure. Together, they create a whole that is sturdier than either could be on its own.

Amplifying Impact Through Collaborative Fundraising

Picture this: every mental health organization in your county coming together to host one flagship fundraiser rather than a handful of small, competing events. Imagine pooled sponsorships, shared visibility, streamlined logistics, and a single evening that reduces donor fatigue and galvanizes community support for the entire ecosystem of care.

Collaborative fundraising models like this are not only more efficient, they allow us to tell a nuanced story of the problem and the solutions at play. They show funders and the public that the sector is capable of the same kind of coordination and strategic alignment we so often ask governments and corporations to practice. And when done well, these partnerships don’t erase organizational identities; they elevate them by positioning each participant as part of a larger, more powerful movement.

Shared Infrastructure for Collective Resilience

Beyond mergers and collaborative fundraising, sustainability also lies in shared infrastructure — building the connective tissue that allows organizations to do more together without losing their individual identities.

Many nonprofits spend disproportionate time and money on administrative tasks that, while essential, divert energy from mission delivery: HR, finance, IT, communications, compliance, fundraising. By pooling these functions through shared service models, fiscal sponsorships, or “backbone” organizations, nonprofits can access professionalized support, reduce duplication, and free their staff to focus on what matters most — impact.

One example of this is taking root in journalism, with “hub and spoke” statewide organizations — like Wisconsin Watch — that oversee the business functions of several newsrooms. Their shared infrastructure doesn’t dilute independence; it strengthens it, creating the kind of operational efficiency that allows the editorial impact to remain the focus of the work for newsroom leads.

Strengthening Nonprofit Sustainability through Collaboration

If we want this kind of collaboration to take root, we must reimagine how success is measured and rewarded. Funders can help by incentivizing joint initiatives, supporting shared infrastructure, and reducing the administrative burdens that keep organizations siloed. Nonprofit boards can lead by asking not only how their organization can grow, but how it can strengthen the field as a whole. And leaders can model openness, seeking partnership not as a last resort, but as a first instinct.

In today’s environment, clinging to independence at all costs may be the riskiest choice of all. The future may belong to those willing to graft their roots together, building organizations that are sturdier, more efficient, and better able to weather the storms ahead.

Because in the end, the strength of our sector won’t be measured by how many organizations stand, but by how well we moved the needle on the issues facing our world.