Nonprofit Merger Case Study: MORE Group - MERS Goodwill

In early January of 2019, the Columbia-based Missouri Rehabilitation and Employment Group (MORE Group) merged with and now operates under MERS (Missouri) Goodwill. MORE Group offered employment services, vocational counseling, human resources, and benefits planning. The nonprofit opened in Columbia, Missouri in January 2009 and added a Jefferson City office in 2012. In order to increase its capacity for community focused employment, MERS Goodwill combined MORE Group’s services with its own, adding both financial and service assets. This nonprofit merger is an instance of two organizations coming together in order to better serve their community by expanding service through combined resources and expertise. 

With the completion of the merger, MORE Group closed its doors as a separate organization and fully merged into MERS Goodwill’s operations. Outlined in the terms of the merger, former president and CEO of MORE Group was appointed to serve as a vice president leading MERS Goodwill in Columbia, Jefferson City, and surrounding counties. Additionally, the MORE Group transferred all assets, including 15 employees to MERS Goodwill. In 2018, MORE Group operated with a budget of just under $950,000. This merger was a great example of how combining resources with another nonprofit organization immediately expands service capacity and range. Mergers in the nonprofit industry are often not about financial assets alone. Experienced nonprofit personnel is incredibly valuable, and bringing together experience and expertise from other organizations is often a driving factor of nonprofit mergers. The benefits of personnel focused merging will be illustrated in several other mergers in this series. 

While successfully completing a nonprofit merger and integrating two separate organizations and their staff is a great accomplishment, the success of the process depends on the ability of the nonprofit to enlarge its impact, fundraising, or geographic range in order to better complete its mission. Immediately following the combination of both organizations, Goodwill was able to serve 200 more individuals through employment. The merger also completed Goodwill’s goal of adding staff with vocational counseling skills and placement expertise in order to more successfully employ high-risk youth and those with disabilities. In addition to mission success through greater capacity and experienced staff, in 2018, MERS Goodwill’s gross revenue exceeded $170 million with $78 million in assets, and the merger added MORE Group’s assets including an operating budget of $949,008 in 2018. 

The MORE Group and MERS Goodwill merger is a prime example of how a shared mission can be better pursued when expertise and drive are brought under the umbrella of significant resources and a broader geographic range. MERS Goodwill employs 2,300 individuals and is the single largest youth employer in Missouri. Prior to the merger, the MORE Group’s mission focused on promoting individualized, quality services that result in successful relationships between persons with disabilities and businesses. They strive to help individuals create value through work and recognize them for the greater good of their work. Working in conjunction with MERS Goodwill’s broader focus of changing lives through the power of work, these nonprofits can work together to provide better access and success in finding jobs to empower youth. This nonprofit merger, similar to many others, works to bring service expertise together with resources in order to better serve a community.

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