The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities in Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee, Wisc. and the New York City-based Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services have completed their merger and rebranding. The resulting organization, rebranded as Social Current, is headquartered in Washington D.C.

The merger is the result of a year’s worth of exploratory and due diligence activity followed by a nine-month merger process. The two organizations had the missions of bringing together nonprofit organizations that fostered healthy society and created strong community support. The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities was one of the founding members of the Council on Accreditation during the latter’s 1977 launch.

Under its new moniker and brand, Social Current will similarly help enable social sector organizations to work in partnership and maximize their impact. Jody Levison-Johnson, who was previously president and CEO of Council on Accreditation, is Social Current’s inaugural president and CEO. Susan N. Dreyfus, the former president and CEO of the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, stepped down from her position this past March.

“We are incredibly excited to come together as Social Current with a mission to advocate for and implement equitable solutions to society’s toughest challenges through collaboration, innovation, policy, and practice excellence,” Levison-Johnson said via a statement. “At a time in our history where the need to do more and do better have never been so clear, Social Current will ignite change and spark greater impact across the social sector. With Social Current, we will bring together a unified, intrepid, just, and purposeful network that fuels each other’s knowledge, expertise and experience to make real and lasting impact.”

The merger comes after both organizations experienced recently rocky financial years. The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities had revenue of $5.9 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019, down from $6.2 million a year earlier, according to the most recent Form 990 on record at GuideStar by Candid. During the same period, the organization’s net assets fell from just under $3.8 million to $2.6 million.

According to its Form 990 for the same period, the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services saw its revenue slip from just under $10 million to $8.9 million, while its net assets ticked downward slightly from $7.9 million to $7.8 million. But for the year ending Dec. 31 2019, the Council’s expenses were nearly $1.3 million more than its revenue. 

The new organization will offer:

• Peer exchange groups in which nonprofits can exchange fund development, human resources, leadership and performance excellence ideas, as well as information on health, education and equity;
• Innovation and collaboration opportunities, including professional network-building programs;
• Advocacy, Policy and Mobilization services, including online campaign support, policy updates, toolkits and workgroups;
• Accreditation processes that help disseminate best practices in administration, program management and service delivery, support continuous improvement and provide regulatory/licensing relief and/or access to governmental funding;
• Strategic Vision and Planning Services, including programs that engage staff and key partners;
• Access to a library of more than 19,000 scholarly journals, books, and network-contributed materials; webinars and podcasts; self-paced and instructor-led courses; online-communities around a course or series; access to a learning management system with learning solutions and exchange; and,
• Potential participation in conferences and special events that offer learning, networking and leadership skill development.