Your board answers to a mission, not to shareholders. That changes every capital decision you make. At Oaklyn Consulting, we advise nonprofit executives and boards on the transactions that decide what happens to the mission next: merging with another organization, buying or selling an operating division, planning leadership succession, and negotiating with lenders or impact investors. We work as consultants, not brokers. You get independent advice and the confidence to know the decision you reach is the right one.
Who We Serve
Nonprofits
We Help With The Mission-Critical Decisions
You have built an organization your community depends on. Now the board is facing a decision it has never made before. A founder or long-serving executive director is preparing to step down. Funding no longer covers the cost of the work. Another organization has proposed combining, or a company has offered to take over one of your programs.
Nonprofit leaders face a decision like this once or twice in a career. We have guided more than 200 clients through theirs.
At a crossroads, a nonprofit has the same options as a business: merge, acquire, sell, partner, borrow, or stay the course. The measure is what differs. A business counts the return to its owners. Your board counts what happens to the mission. We help you weigh every option against that measure and move forward with a plan the whole board can stand behind.
Do You Work With Situations Like Mine?
Yes, if your board is working through one of these:
- A merger with another nonprofit, whether you are leading the combination or joining one
- An offer from a for-profit company to acquire a program or your operations
- An operating division you want to sell, or one you want to buy
- The departure of a founder or executive director, with no clear successor
- A negotiation with a lender or an impact investor
- Finances that point to a hard few years, and a board that wants to see its options while it still has them
Board members, donors, staff, regulators, and the people you serve all have a stake in the outcome. Complex governance and stakeholder management is where we do our best work. We are professional, accessible, and direct with every one of them.
The Mission Matters More Than The Legal Entity
A fifty-year-old home health and hospice nonprofit came to us with a discouraged board. Reimbursement trends told its leaders the organization would be out of business within a few years.
We asked a different question. What if success meant continuing the mission, and not preserving the legal entity the board had been stewarding? That question opened the door to mission-aligned private sector partners. The nonprofit sold its operations to them, netted $80 million, and put that capital back to work for the same community. It did not close. It changed how it serves.
Our nonprofit work also includes:
- Effie. We helped the nonprofit behind the Effie Awards negotiate the business terms of its transaction with Ascential, a publicly listed British company. The deal involved a U.S. nonprofit, its Chinese subsidiary, and a mix of cash, non-cash, and charitable payments. The proceeds fund the nonprofit’s continuing mission as The Effie LIONS Foundation.
- Eckerd Connects and Odle Management Group. We provided investment banking services for the merger that made Eckerd Connects one of the nation’s largest nonprofit workforce development providers, with $329 million in combined annual operating revenue.
Why Nonprofit Boards Choose a Consultant, Not a Broker
We do not charge success fees. We bill for our time, so our advice is never tied to whether a deal closes.
That matters to a board with a fiduciary duty. When the right answer is to stay independent, we will tell you. When the right answer is a merger or a sale, we will help you negotiate terms that protect the mission, the staff, and the people you serve.
We scope each engagement to the decision in front of you. Your attorney handles the legal work. We handle the business terms, the financial analysis, and the conversations with the other side of the table.
How We Help
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Sale or Purchase of Operating Divisions
- Strategic Alternatives Reviews
- Leadership Succession
- Partnerships & Joint Ventures
- Lender & Impact Investor Negotiations
Resources for Nonprofit Leaders
- How to Merge Nonprofits: Acquisition, Stakeholders, Post-merger Integration, and More
- How a Merger Can Strengthen Nonprofits for the Future
- Can a Nonprofit be Acquired by a Corporation?
- How to Assess Non-Profit Financial Performance: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Help Me Find the Right Leader to Continue Our Nonprofit’s Mission
We Help Clients Succeed At Their Most Complex Transactions
The right capital decision keeps your mission moving for the next fifty years. With Oaklyn Consulting beside you, your board gains the knowledge and confidence to make it.
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