As expected, the Direct Marketing Association's board of directors at a meeting in Washington yesterday voted to approve the acquisition of the National Federation of Nonprofits, according to one source.
The two parties are expected to sign the merger agreement today.
DMA spokeswoman, Christina Duffney said the DMA refused to comment on the outcome of the vote but said the related press conference is still scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon.
As previously reported, the acquisition would create a new entity under the DMA's jurisdiction — tentatively named the DMA Nonprofit Federation — and would make nonprofits the largest special interest group in the DMA.
The board of the NFN, an organization consisting of roughly 400 members, met last month and unanimously voted to approve the merger. The two groups are expected to complement each other since the NFN has a stronger influence on Capitol Hill while the DMA focuses more on educational programs and conferences.
NFN Executive Director Lee Cassidy said the entire nonprofit and fundraising community would benefit from the merger.
“There is fairly little overlap between our two groups,” he said. “It would be an entirely positive community because there will now be more resources that we could bring to bear. The bigger your numbers, the better you can represent your community and the more people you can claim to represent.”
