Non Profits: Western Area Youth Services Case Study

Case Study 5: Western Area Youth Services

Lesson Learned-

A company merges when there is an increase in service demand and decreasing resources. An organization must externally examine its market and question if there are already too many similar services being provided by another organization. They must determine if both missions can align and can come to terms in order to solve a societal issue. When drafting a collaborative new mission they must focus on societal change and mission impact of both allotted resources.

1. Using the Wilder Study Success Factors in Nonprofit Mergers as well as your other readings, identify 5 steps that by Brenda Hall, executive director of WAYS could take to deal with the current crisis: Are their options other than merger? How could she maximize the potential of a achieving a successful merger if that is the route she chooses?

Option 1: Merge with Vanier for long-term youth development

Although Vanier’s resources in relation to residential treatment beds are far less then WAYS, Vanier has the financial reserves to provide primary counseling services to youths that WAYS does not. Vanier would oversee the residency and counseling services of the youth until the age of 16. Once the child turns 16 years old Vanier’s would refer the youths to WAYS who, rather than provide emotional therapy, would develop the children’s social and employment skills until the age of 24.

To maximize the potential of achieving a successful merger WAYS and Vanier should document a clear transition system for transferring youth medical/mental documents from each organization within the first 100 days of the merger. I noticed a fall in the number of students served from the age groups of 1-16 and 16-18. If WAYS implements a tracking system on the youths over the transitional period WAYS could serve a population size similar to Vanier’s. In return WAYS may be able to collect additional funding from the MCSS for the larger population served. As...