TrueSense Marketing has acquired One & All Agency, the fundraising firm that was formed when Omnicom purchased both the Russ Reid and Grizzard agencies and merged them in 2017 and rebranded in 2018.

In an email to clients, TrueSense officials wrote: “As you already know, last year TrueSense took over a number of chapter-based accounts from One & All, including several of their rescue mission clients, The Salvation Army work in the U.S., various food banks, and animal care clients.”

The acquisition is for the remainder of the agency, including remaining accounts and staff. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Steven Busheé, president of TrueSense, said that the acquisition was not initially contemplated. “We did relationship in spring (2022). Continuing later in fall there was some discussion as to what they wanted to do in 2023. It was two very separate arrangements,” he said.

The earlier arrangement will make the transition “much easier than if we acquired someone we didn’t know anything about. Their people fit in the same structure as our people, immediately forming a quick bond,” said Busheé.

The deal brings TrueSense’s headcount at the agency to roughly 300, not counting staff at its 100,000 square-foot printing facility used exclusively for the agency’s work, Busheé said. One & All was running virtually, as is most of TrueSense, said Busheé, so there won’t be an official presence in One & All’s former Pasadena, California headquarters. Most of TrueSense’s staff also is virtual, with only a dozen or so people going to the Warrendale, Pennsylvania office on a daily basis.

The deal in early 2022, as reported in The NonProfit Times, was referred to by One & All in a news release as the “next chapter for One & All [as it] leverages its decades of experience in driving social impact, with an even wider array of platforms and possibilities.” The transition was described in the release as: “Recognizing that the needs of nonprofits are not all the same, a partner agency, TrueSense Marketing, will be made available to provide ongoing support to One & All’s co-op clients that require specific marketing services. These include small scale customization or scale production.”

One & All was part of the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group. Omnicom still has Changing Our World and ONEHUNDRED Agency in the nonprofit space. Insiders told the nonprofit times that fundraising profit margins are thinner than the other marketing agencies and Omnicom kept One & All on a tight leash. The other companies bill on a retainer-based model, similar to traditional advertising agencies, thus giving Changing Our World and ONEHUNDRED more leeway.

At one point One & All’s clients included more than 70 humane societies and more than 250 rescue missions and food banks. There had been issues at One & All since the merging and rebranding of the Russ Reid and Grizzard. There had been at least three chief executives since 2017 and several senior people left to join competitor agencies. There was also a substantial reduction in force.