Funder‐initiated integration

The active role of funders in organizational restructuring and consolidation is becoming a more common area of study, because more funders—private and government funders alike—are moving in the direction of encouraging funded agencies to explore new strategies such as mergers and integrations. This research focuses on funder‐initiated nonprofit integration and explores the challenges and strategies demonstrated by a government grantor and nine funded agencies as they planned and developed a management service organization. This was an action research study, whereby all parties participated as co‐researchers to examine the integration challenges and the partnership strategies used to move the integration process forward.