2c - to merge, to collaborate or to partner - claudia mcvie
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Speaker at CFG's Annual Conference 2012TRANSCRIPT
Mergers, Partnerships and Collaboration
Claudia McVie May 17th 2012
The voluntary sector today
• £56 billion income
• £54 billion spend
• 941,465 trustees
• 828,089 employees
• 2,894,340 volunteers
• 189,000 charities in England & Wales
• 95% have income less than £500,000
• The voluntary sector delivery of public services rose from 20% to 31% between 2010/11
• Cut in public spending, competition in tendering process
• Competition for limited resources, reduction in real terms in individual giving
Oxford Dictionary Definitions
Merger A combination of two things into one
Partnership An association of two or more people
Collaboration The action of working with someone to
produce something
2002
=
2008
=
Who do you want to merge with and why?
‘Desire to reduce duplication and allow the organisation to speak with one voice that can better
serve the needs of older people than
the existing two.’ - Age UK
Reasons• 58% of mergers are conducted to improve service
delivery
• 37% for solvency
• 5% combination of the two
• 50% of commercial mergers fail
Steps
• Discussions between Chairs of the Boards• Secrecy and due diligence... is this right! • Will we be stronger not weaker together?• Set clear goals, be realistic • How is it all going to work?• Do our grass roots supporters believe in it?• THE NAME?
=
Watch out! Post merger integration
• The culture- what do you want it to be? spend time getting to know each other
• First 100 days are key • Trustee Board- are they brave, will they work to their own
demise?• Resources, systems mergers• Who will lead the organisation?• Clear strategic communication• Keeping staff motivated………..grass roots• Retain the day to day business
Post merger integration• Competing for roles – 1 Chair, 1 CEO, 1 FD. The
recruitment process needs to be open, fair and transparent. Whoever is at the top sets the culture – watch out!
• Location – Where is Head Office? How many outreach centres are there? What are the true costs of taking your eye off the ball during negotiations during critical times? How do you merge financial information? Systems and resources, costs of TUPE?
• Will it really make a difference to your beneficiaries?• Legacy income – do you hold aims and objectives in
common? A lady leaves all her money to an environmental charity- would she be happy for it to go to a religious charity?
Mergers• Culture – What do you want it to be like? Spend
time getting to know each other
• Trustees imagination – will they work to their own demise? Does it need external support and help?
• Discussions over the merger between Help the Aged and Age Concern started 3 times in the last 10 years, recent ones started in 2006 and took 2 years
An association of 2 or more people
partnership/collaboration
• Why are you doing it?• Invite involvement from the beginning• What’s in it for me? Be clear• Establish leadership roles and responsibilities• Communicate• Establish clear joint vision at the start • Be flexible and get to know your partners• Don’t choose partners whose interests conflict with
your own• Never agree to deliver something you know you
can’t do!• Review and laugh a lot!!!
Partnership/Collaboration
Increases capacity
Provides insight
Shares experiences
Adds new dimension
Inspires great ideas
Helps reach new audiences
Provides expertise
Provides opportunities
No Smoking Day 2011
• Tenovus, Communities First, Stop Smoking Wales, Health Alliance and health visiting teams.
Why?• Smoking is the largest preventable cancer killer in
Wales – one death every 20 minutes
Where?• Target audience: residents in poorest area of
Merthyr in South Wales Valleys
• Tenovus Mobile Unit, Health Check and volunteers
• Communities First links and access to local community – Asda vouchers and packs
• Stop Smoking Wales trained Advisors
• Health Alliance stop smoking kit and free sports passes
Impact
• 100 people attended on the day• 20 signed up for the stop smoking group• 15 people have given up• Group sessions now being run on a weekly basis• Follow up taking place• This model is now being used to design other
initiatives • Radio, TV and newspaper coverage
Ssssshhhhh!!!!!!!!
Takeover • An act of assuming control of something
• Dirty word in the voluntary sector, be honest it is easier in the long run
• Childline and NSPCC- financial instability of Childline sorted by Takeover, and led to survival – they have learnt about the things that are worrying children and are able to shape their service delivery and Childline retain their name
Final thoughts
Partnerships and collaborations, if planned well can be great fun and achieve a lot!
Take overs can save something very precious
Mergers………
In my world
The cancer patient is at the heart of everything we do….
0ver 800 cancer charities in England and Wales
Surely there is duplication but are we brave enough and is big really the best?