Should Charities Consider Consolidation?

According to this recent article in the New York Times the number of charitable organizations in the United States between 1994 - 2004 increased 64%.

Furthermore, according to Charity Navigator President Trent Stamp there is currently more than 700 breast cancer related charitable organizations in the United States. His blog post suggests we may all be better off with less charities focused on the same cause.

In the for-profit sector only the strong survive but it doesn't appear to be that clear cut in the not-for-profit sector. I am sure many of the 700 breast cancer causes are doing good work and probably a few things that other organizations could learn from. What if ten, twenty or fifty of those organizations merged, built a new business plan using the best practices taken from each organization and leveraged the top donors from all of the organizations to support one unified cause?

I envy those who are willing to pour their heart and soul into a cause they believe in and start a their own non-profit but I also believe in the law of diminishing returns!