Catalyst Fund to Promote Nonprofit Partnerships and Mergers

(9-27-10) Calvin Hennick for The Boston Globe:

The Boston Foundation, the biggest public philanthropy in New England, and three other nonprofits today unveil a new fund to help local charities work together, or even merge, to better serve their communities.

Over the next five years, the $1.7 million Catalyst Fund for Nonprofits will offer grants meant to help charities form partnerships, combine functions like bookkeeping or community services, or merge into new groups.

"What we’re looking to do is preserve or expand the impact these organizations have in their communities," said William Pinakiewicz, New England director for the Nonprofit Finance Fund, which consults to charities and is managing the new program.

The fund, sponsored by the Boston Foundation, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the Hyams Foundation, and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, will give nonprofits access to a stable of consultants, who will be able to perform feasibility studies for organizations looking to merge part or all of their operations.