Seattle-Area Children’s Services Organizations Achieve Efficiency Through Merger

Childhaven, Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS), and Art with Heart (AWH) are human services organizations operating in the Seattle metropolitan area. Childhaven provides early learning programs and early intervention therapies for children with special needs; RAYS serves children and their families through counseling, education, and development programs; and AWH uses a trauma-informed approach to deliver art therapy to children. In response to changes in government and insurance funding of children’s services in Washington, the organizations began discussing a formal collaboration and ultimately decided to merge. Upon merging, Childhaven serves as the parent entity with RAYS and AWH operating as subsidiaries, which has resulted in greater administrative efficiency and integration of programming. The SeaChange-Lodestar Fund for Nonprofit Collaboration provided a grant to help cover the one-time transaction costs of merging.

Grant Information

Grant Amount: $13,100

Year Granted: 2020

Grantee: Childhaven

Location: WA - Washington

Grantee Website: Childhaven