Mergers - pursing principles with pragmatism

Merging is getting to be the thing to do for the voluntary sector. Since Rainer and Crime Concern announced their intention to merge in April 2008, there have been a series of third sector mergers including RNIB with Action for Blind People, Shaw Trust and Employment Opportunities and Age Concern with Help the Aged. According to a report from consultants* in March this year, enquiries about mergers had risen by 50% in the previous three months as more charities looked at imaginative ways of improving what they do for their beneficiaries.

Coming together as Rainer and Crime Concern, we made a conscious decision not to talk about acquisitions, takeovers or mergers. Instead we spoke about creating a new charity, how to get the best out of both organisations and about how together we could become stronger. And very early on we set clear success criteria or drivers for the merger - reaching out to more young people and communities, to be innovative in what we could offer, be more influential in order to change policy and be as efficient and effective as possible.

Right from the start the Trustees were very conscious that we were creating something new and they agreed that we would have a new identity and new name that could build on past successes but also take us forward.

That's why our new name and new brand was such an important thing to get right. We brought in brand consultants Figtree to help and they really got under our skin. After a lot of work both with staff and with organisations and people we worked with, they helped formalise the new charity's core belief: that every young person should have the chance to get on life, no matter what. This belief is borne out by everything we do, everywhere we do it. We then worked with staff to find a new name - a process which was fun, fresh and always inclusive. The result was Catch22 - edgy, innovative and bold. Just like us!

All this change was underpinned by constant communication with staff and volunteers, including weekly bulletins on the intranet, staff conferences, discussions with the staff forum, a regular blog from the Chief Executive, consultation on all structural change and a policy of visiting all projects and services.

The shorthand we used for our approach, which saw us make the most of the strengths of both organisations, was that, one plus one must equal three. The whole is always more than the sum of its parts.

Examples of what we believe created a relatively painless move from two organisations to one include:

• The first decision - even before the final agreements to go ahead - was to agree the chair and the (shadow) Board. Seven trustees from both charities came together seamlessly and formed the new Catch22 Board in July 2008
• The two management teams worked well together prior to any announcements being made despite knowing they would have to compete for jobs
• Cost savings were never a driver for the merger so only a handful of redundancies (almost all among senior managers) were made
• A pragmatic recognition of retaining those bits of each organisation that work was borne out by our approach to HR policies and procedures where we discussed with staff those that worked best and kept those - all done in a systematic and agreed manner
• Maintaining levels of service provision through projects and services throughout the country by reorganising and rebranding in a planned and informed way

In short our merger was about pursuing principles with pragmatism - ensuring our values - passion, commitment and belief in evidence-based practice - are protected at all costs, while maintaining a pragmatic, non-bureaucratic approach so we can move things on apace.

Joyce Moseley
Chief Executive
Catch22
http://www.catch-22.org.uk

*BlueSpark Consulting, reported in Third Sector magazine 10 March 2009

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