Pax World Service Joins Mercy Corps

Two international humanitarian organizations with a long history of working together have decided to merge.

Pax World Service, in Washington, created in 1972 by the founders of a socially responsible investment fund called Pax World Fund, has agreed to become an affiliate of Mercy Corps International, a Portland, Ore., relief and development group founded in 1979.

“We felt that, because of our basic compatibility, strategically there was a great deal to be gained by both organizations,” said Larry Ekin, president of Pax World Service, who is now vice-president of Mercy Corps.

The merger gives Mercy Corps a stronger presence in Washington, as well as Pax World Service’s expertise in taking high-level delegations on fact-finding tours of troubled regions like Bosnia and the Middle East.

Pax World Service gains the reduced administrative costs and economies of scale that a larger organization enjoys, as well as access to Mercy Corps’ network of field operations in more than 20 countries in Asia, Central America, and the Middle East.