Tech Impact, a nonprofit provider of technology services and education to other nonprofits, has acquired the for-profit digital firm Message Agency.
Leaders of the two organizations, both based in Philadelphia, declined to disclose financial terms of the merger but were in discussions about it for the better part of a year, said Tech Impact’s CEO Patrick Callihan. Under the agreement, Message Agency will be dissolved and its 17 employees will become part of Tech Impact’s staff, which currently has about 120 people. Marcus Iannozzi, founder and principal of Message Agency, will join Tech Impact as its chief digital officer.
Tech Impact has provided data management, cybersecurity and cloud computing services to more than 1,000 organizations since its inception in 2003. The nonprofit also provides IT training programs to underserved youth.
Message Agency, founded in 2007, assists nonprofits, foundations, universities and mission-driven enterprises with interactive website design, brand development, and other digital solutions. It is also a certified “B” corporation, a designation that stands for “beneficial.” B Lab, a nonprofit in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, awards the designation to businesses that voluntarily meet ESG (environmental, social, and governance) standards of transparency, accountability, diversity and sustainability.
The shared focus on serving similar types of clients across the nonprofit sector made a marriage between them seem like a natural fit, according to leaders of both organizations. “They (Message Agency) only work with nonprofits and in the local government and education space, and we only serve nonprofits as well,” Callihan told The NonProfit Times. “We’ve referred work to them, they’ve referred work to us, and we’ve both worked together on projects for 15 years. So, at some point, it just made sense to think about combining our organizations.”
Iannozzi echoed the sentiment. “It enables continued growth and allows us to offer a broader array of technology services to our clients and theirs. It was also important to me that the next stage in our agency’s evolution honored our values and supported the commitment of both our staff and clients to social change.”
Tech Impact’s most recently available Form 990 filing with the Internal Revenue Service showed it with annual revenue of $15.3 million and annual expenses of $11.9 million, resulting in net income of $3.4 million. Its net assets were just shy of $9.6 million.
Gates and Company, a management consulting firm in Greenville, Delaware, and New York law firm Holland & Knight LLP served as merger and acquisition advisors to Tech Impact.
