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Sites that contain useful information for nonprofit managers: strategic restructuring. The site is maintained by David LaPiana, and funded by, among others, the Packard and Irvine Foundations. David LaPiana has been the consultant for many nonprofit alliances and mergers, and is currently assisting with the merger of 6 Legal Services Corporation funded programs in the Bay Area of California. The strength of the site is its emphasis on both the results and process of creating alliances or mergers. Strategic restructuring is defined as a "continuum of partnerships, including but not limited to mergers, joint ventures, consolidations and fiscal sponsorships, through which nonprofits attempt to anticipate or respond to environmental threats and opportunities. These partnerships differ from collaborations in that they involve a change in the locus of control of at least a portion of one or more of the organizations involved." A good place to start exploration of the site is with the Strategic Restructuring section, and specifically with Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQ's"), where "strategic restructuring" and other terms are defined, and the merits of strategic restructuring are reviewed. Then, check each of the subsections on key parts of the strategic restructuring process ("the mission", "the process", "the team", and "governance"). Then look at the "Tips" section, which contains descriptions of some of LaPiana's experiences and contains very practical information about overcoming common barriers to alliances or mergers. Lastly, check out the "Resources" section, with its long list of links to other sites with information for nonprofit managers. A quick overview of LaPiana's approach can be found at http://www.ncnb.org/beyond_collaboration/no_frames/index.html which contains the report Beyond Collaboration, that he wrote for foundations and other groups that invest in nonprofits. LaPiana describes four kinds of strategic restructurings: merger, acquisition, back-office consolidation and joint venture. He says that the critical roadblocks to effective consolidation are 1) loss of autonomy, 2) failure to take the self-interest of key parties (managers, staff, board members, funders) into account, and 3) culture clash. He notes that "improved quality of service, enhanced market position or market share, political advantage, and similar strategic benefits are the most significant outcomes" of strategic restructuring, while "cost reduction is seldom a short-term outcome of mergers and consolidations." He also says that "board and staff leaders likely to benefit from strategic restructuring already possess, at a minimum, a basic level of strategic sophistication that they bring to their thinking about the organization's future. If they lack this perspective, and cannot gain it quickly, the strategic restructuring effort is doomed to failure." Leader to Leader) with articles on nonprofit management by some of the most perceptive management experts. A list of Leader to Leader articles available for downloading is posted at http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/l2l/complete-text.html . The site also contains excellent reviews of management books. The Foundation wrote the The Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool, which can be used by boards of directors and staff to (as the title indicates) assess their organization. For more information on the Self-Assessment Tool, see the entry below for Jossey-Bass Publishers . For a list of locations and dates of workshops on the Self-Assessment Tool, see http://www.pfdf.org/leaderbooks/sat/index.html . The Foundation sponsors conferences, with appearances by management experts. In the past, the conferences were expensive, but this year's conference, held in November, 1998 in Los Angeles, was much more reasonably priced. This site is well worth checking on a regular basis. by Thomas A. McLaughlin

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