New Charity Commission guidance on collaboration and mergers
Howard Lake | 18 September 2009 | News
The Charity Commission has published two new toolkits for charities on collaborative working and merging; Choosing to Collaborate and Making Mergers Work.
The toolkits are designed to provide charities with a clear framework within which to decide whether collaborative working or merging would help them and their beneficiaries. They include practical tips and case studies to set out the risks, challenges and opportunities that collaborative working and mergers can bring.
They draw on the experience of the Commission which set up a mergers unit in 2005 to assist charities on the legal and constitutional aspects of merging.
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The publications have been announced as the Charity Commission published its third annual Economic Survey of Charities. This survey of 1,001 charities in England and Wales found that only nine per cent of charities have considered collaborating, forming a consortium or merging with other charities in response to the economic downturn. Although charities with an income of £1 more or more are more likely to have considered these issues, 77% have not.
Andrew Hind, Charity Commission Chief Executive, said: “It is vitally important, particularly at a time when economic uncertainty requires all organisations to work smarter, that charities think regularly and imaginatively about how they can do more for those they help.
“We’re urging every board of trustees to look creatively at ways of collaborating with others in order to make their funds work harder and to provide better value for their beneficiaries. Our new collaboration toolkit is designed to be a practical resource for trustees deciding how collaboration can work for them. Some charities may wish to go further and merge; for them, the mergers toolkit will be invaluable.”
www.charitycommission.gov.uk
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.