‘Vital ingredients when collaboration and merger are on the menu’ an LVSC/VSF case studies report.
Launch event Monday February 4 th report.
 69 people came to the event
 47 evaluation forms returned
 23 said the event was excellent
 24 said the event was good
Programme for the event
09:30 Registration
10:00 Start - presentation of research
10:15 Case studies
 Cynthia Dize – Chief Officer, Age UK Kensington and Chelsea and
Sixty Plus
 Angela Dias – Chief Executive, Harrow Association of Disabled
People
 Vivienne Hayes – Chief Executive, Women’s Resource Centre
(Violence against Women and Girls Consortium)
 Claire Barry – Director, Mind Yourself
11:15 Break
11:30 Discussions based around four questions
 What is your reaction/response to the case studies presented?
 What is your experience of collaboration or merger?
 Which models of collaboration suit which organisations?
 What support can a 2nd tier organisation provide to better facilitate collaboration or merger?
13:00 Lunch and networking
14:00 End
The event was chaired by Sakthi Suriyaprakasam.
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Eithne Rynne – LVSC CEO made some introductory comments.
Tim Brogden, Policy and Networks Development Officer at LVSC presented the research.
This was a 6-month London Councils funded project that will inform our
Transforming Local Infrastructure work.
Objectives were to:
 Review a range of models of collaboration and merger
 Produce case study examples
 Review the learning from these examples
 Make recommendations for VCS organisations, policy makers and funders
The report demonstrates the resilience of the VCS in London and the way in which it is adapting to the continual changes foisted upon it.
Introduction
Rationale – evidence from LVSC’s Big Squeeze research (which looks at the impact that the economic and policy climate is having on the voluntary and community sector) suggested to us that:
 43% of respondents wanted more support with collaboration and partnership working
 21% wanted more support with the development of consortia
 11% wanted more support with mergers and
 27% wanted more support to work with the private sector
We also think it is important to document and tell the stories presented in the case studies.
Method
 Desk-based research in 2 phases (review of literature and review of models of collaboration)
 14 semi-structured interviews of senior staff where collaboration/merger had been carried out
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 Writing of 15 case studies and development through consultation with participants
 Report drafting and review
Models and Case studies
Mergers (4 case studies)
 Age UK Kensington and Chelsea (incorporating Sixty Plus)
 Disability Rights UK – RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and
Rehabilitation), National Centre for Independent Living and
Disability Alliance
 Harrow Association of Disabled People – Community Link Up and
Harrow Healthy Living Centre merged into HAD
 A failed merger
Group Structures (3 case studies)
 Carnival Village – 4 steel bands and black arts organisations in West
London
 Age UK East London – Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham
 Finsbury Park Homeless Families Project – small organisation working with homeless families coming together with a large HA and an organisation working with people with learning disabilities
Partnerships and collaboration (7 case studies)
 Nia and the Children’s society - partnership
 Advice UK and Action for Advocacy – secondment/shared Head of
Policy
 Solace Women’s Aid and the AVA project – inter-agency working
 Eaves, Scarlet Centre – a woman’s centre/one-stop-shop
 End Violence Against Women coalition
 Pan London VAWG Consortium (facilitated/co-ordinated by WRC)
 VSF/HEAR - networks
The last case study looks at an organisation called Mind Yourself, which couldn’t find an ideal partner that shared their values and ethos and following much discussion decided to go it alone.
The case studies all follow a similar format:
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 Give some background to the collaboration, the decision to merge or collaborate and the process
 Reasons why the model was chosen
 The benefits
 Some lessons and challenges
Lessons can be taken from these case studies and applied to other organisations/sectors/situations.
Key findings and learning
Reasons for collaboration:
When I asked nia’s Chief Executive (Karen Ingala-Smith) why collaborate?
She answered “to end violence against women, we can’t do it alone, it helps to use allies”.
Cynthia Dize, Chief Officer of Age UK Kensington and Chelsea
(incorporating Sixty Plus) says that merging was the “intelligent thing to do” to improve services for older people in the borough.
The most important consideration when collaborating or merging is the beneficiaries.
Financial drivers often underpin decisions to merge but improving benefits for service users is the main reason why people collaborate.
Sirtaj Rahman from Finsbury Park Homeless Families Project says “the funding situation is too difficult at the moment. There has been a lack of stability over a long period of time. It is heart breaking to close services that people rely on and make staff redundant. If I can prevent that happening I will”
Secondary benefits of merging and indeed wider collaboration include building a stronger voice.
Sue Bott, Director of Development at Disability Rights UK says “it will be harder for the government to ignore us, the organisation will work more effectively and the sum of parts makes for a better whole”.
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Shared ethos and values is important when people consider collaborative work – assessing these before embarking on collaboration is important.
Viv Hayes, Chief Executive at WRC which facilitates and co-ordinates the pan-London VAWG consortium recommends adopting ‘underpinning values, ethos and principles’ when forming a consortium. “There are issues of power sharing and a shared approach is important for the model you choose. There isn’t one model and the main thing is building and maintaining relationships”. (The document that all members of the consortium signed up to is at the end of the report)
Time is an issue in collaborative working and merger. All the participants talked about the huge amounts of time, energy and resources that merger and collaborative work take.
Other areas that participants talked about as fundamental to effective collaborative work are:
 Building trust and building relationships
 Assessing and analysing organisational culture
 Understanding the psychological impacts (particularly of merger) on staff
 Communicating effectively with staff and funders and;
 Consulting with all stakeholders
Recommendations
For VCS organisations:
 Service users come first – make sure that you are sure that everything you do has them at its heart – consider partnership or merger as a solution, in cash-strapped times, as long as it benefits service users
 Don’t underestimate the time it takes to collaborate or merge. Build relationships and establish trust. Seek support and advice and share learning
 Have the courage to do what’s right for your organisation
 Use this report and the resources at the end and contact VSF for support if you need it
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For policy makers:
 Be sure that when you talk about partnership working as a solution you understand what it entails by asking VCS organisations about their experiences and learning the lessons from case study examples like the ones in this report
 Just as VCS organisations must put service users before organisations it is vital that policy makers also have beneficiaries at the forefront of policy making
 Try to measure the impacts of your policy decisions, especially those that seem to encourage partnership working and collaboration: are these improving services for the most disadvantaged in London at a time of significant cuts?
For funders
 Don’t cut the funding that provides good quality support and capacity building for VCS organisations, if you wish to ensure more effective partnerships, efficiency savings and reduce duplication
 Recognise that collaboration, partnership working and merger take time and money to see through effectively – invest money to enable groups to work more effectively together
 If partnership bids are a condition of funding, allow the appropriate time for them to be developed and afford opportunities for independent support and partnership brokerage
Conclusion
None of us knows what will happen to the VCS in London once the dust settles on public sector cuts and welfare reform, having carried out this research and talked with all these passionate, inspiring and committed people I am sure that something pretty wonderful will remain.
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Tim also drew delegates’ attention to:
 LVSC’s HR service PEACe, which continues to receive increasing numbers of calls from groups requesting assistance in handling redundancies, restructures and TUPE transfers, mostly in relation to the ending of a contract and the change of service provider. If you
want any support with TUPE contact Shirley Briggs at LVSC. http://www.lvsc.org.uk/peace.aspx
 Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has launched a fund to support organisations in the early stages of thinking about a merger. The fund aims to help organisations and their potential merger partner(s) to think through the decision to merge, rather than to cover the costs of any subsequent merger.
Tim thanked Chloe Roach and Alison Blackwood at LVSC for support with editing, proofing and formatting the report and all LVSC staff at the event. He also thanked the participants and the case study presenters who generously gave their time to this project.
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First case study – Cynthia Dize, Age UK Kensington and Chelsea and Sixty Plus
Cynthia led the process of the merger between two older peoples’ organisations in Kensington and Chelsea.
Cynthia started by saying that “the report is useful and crystallizes the learning from our experience for me. Seeing a description of our experience has enabled me to see the process differently/clearly”.
She talked about the process and the experience, which can be read in the case study in the report. She drew out some key points:
 An interim manager was engaged by Age Concern who had the primary brief to work on the merger
 Pay attention to how people feel. It is possibly something that we didn’t do so well and often gets ignored or apportioned less significance in these processes
 We want to build on close partnerships with Age UK partners across the tri-borough arrangement in West London (Hammersmith and
Fulham, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea). “This report can give us some ideas about models”.
Second case study – Angela Dias, Harrow Association of Disabled
People
Angela led the process by which two small community
organisations in Harrow merged into the user led DPO HAD.
She talked about the process and the experience, which can be read in the case study in the report. She drew out some key points:
 Community Link (one of the organisations that merged into HAD) made a prudent decision to merge before crisis hit
 The mergers were supported by members
 The amount of work was extraordinary and at the same time as merging, organisations have to continue to deliver services
 It is possible to keep the identities of organisations that are merged or taken over. HAD did this by creating departments based on the legacy organisations
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 Think about merger before finding a partner
 Know what the non-negotiables are
 Think and act form a position of strength
 The 2 organisations that I took on had no power in the negotiations
– HAD had all the power
 Do it while you’re strong, not when you have no negotiating power
 Get really good due diligence done
 Some people love change and find it exciting and others can’t bear it and want to keep everything the way it was
 Use legal support – don’t guess
 We rationalised terms and conditions by getting staff on better ones to sign compromise agreements
 I don’t regret the mergers even though it was such hard work – they are fantastic organisations and they would have closed down
Third case study Vivienne Hayes, Women’s Resource Centre
WRC facilitates and co-ordinates the Pan-London Violence against
Women and Girls Consortium, Vivienne played a key role in the
development of the consortium. The Chair of the event, Sakthi
Suriyaprakasam facilitated part of the process.
Vivienne talked about the process and the experience, which can be read in the case study in the report. She drew out some key points:
 It is a journey and it is hard work
 VAWG consortium started organically
 The women’s sector is facing unprecedented challenges
 Big is not necessarily beautiful – quality of service suffers
 We had to ensure that small equalities organisations were not excluded from the development of the consortium
 Key things for success:
 Vision – you have to have a clear notion of what you want to achieve
 Time and commitment
 Belief
 Relationships
 Power – don’t leave the elephant in the room to trample all over you
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 Address disagreements and difference – fear
 We are challenging patriarchy, racism, homophobia and the way in which we work has to address these
 We had a fabulous facilitator – Sakthi
 Holding partners to account is important
 The end product is just amazing
 Process is crucial – not only what you do but how you do it
 Ensuring that partners have the ability to negotiate
 The consortium means that we are speaking with one voice
Sakthi – mentioned Open Space as a good vehicle for holding discussions about collaboration
Fourth case study Claire Barry, Mind Yourself
Claire led the process which saw the closure of the London Irish
Women’s Centre, discussions regarding partnership with other
Irish organisations in London and the establishment of a new organisation, Mind Yourself.
She talked about the process and the experience, which can be read in the case study in the report. She drew out some key points:
 Very quickly we decided not to merge or collaborate because the patriarchal/church influenced Irish organisations we had discussions with did not share our ethos or values
 Values were the deciding factor for us – not congruent with what
LIWC was set up to do – we have taken some of what LIWC was and stood for with us to Mind Yourself
 London Irish Women’s Centre was at an end
 I was new in the organisation and could say the unsayable
 We were in a position of privilege – we owned our own building, which we sold – if we hadn’t the organisation would have closed
 We are talking with people about collaboration but saying no and doing nothing is sometimes the right thing to do
Sakthi said that leadership comes up strongly as a key issue.
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Questions
There was time for six questions. The first three were:
 Richard Eason – to what extent does gender and gender style play a part in successful mergers?
 Rebecca Lynton – we are a year into the process of merging could the panel give me their top 2 dos and don’ts
 Jonathan Sandall – if you want to merge/collaborate is it best to make a direct approach or go through a third party?
Viv
 Gender is important but stereotyping is dangerous
 There are gender stereotypes of leadership
 Leadership is an issue for us when we are challenging patriarchy in decision-making
 Knowing when to do nothing is a useful skill. I needed to sit back and let others find their journey during the consortium development
 It is an interesting question and we need to unpack that
 VCS fights poverty and inequality and we can’t do it by adopting patriarchal ways
Claire
 Collaboration and merger – takeover – our fear was about being subsumed
 Fear of a women’s organisation being taken over by the church – we would be criticised as the women who couldn’t keep the organisation going
 We need to recognise this idea about being subsumed
Sakthi
 Collaboration requires a different kind of leadership – as a CEO you might have to let your organisation go but the system says that we are not successful if we lose our organisation
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Cynthia
 Men use different language about winning and losing – we need some honesty about power
Angela
 You need the right people whether they are men or women – the sector needs to understand the power challenge
Top 2 dos and don’ts
Angela
 Do it from a powerful position
 Get legal advice
 More time
 CEO – you may not keep your job – the reality is that if you do the best thing for your organisation it may not be the best for you
Cynthia
 Take people with you
 Pay attention to service delivery – you can get so focussed on the merger that you miss the services that need to be delivered
Question 3 – Angela – don’t use a broker talk personally with organisations – build relationships - CEO to CEO
The next three questions were:
 Beth Crosland, The Forum – what is the pre-work that needs to be done before you merge?
 Kirsty Palmer, GLV – how do you engage the Board in discussions when it may all be hypothetical at the beginning (and lead to nothing?)
 Carl Allen – is the sector being repositioned forever – maybe we should look more at being competitors (as in the private sector where competition is good) rather than collaborators
Claire – Beth’s question – we were involved in a 15 month conversation with other Irish organisations about the possibilities of merging – some of
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them were not being honest – 2 orgs that were involved in the merger conversations, whilst the rest of us were putting our cards on the table, were simultaneously carrying out a due diligence process with a view to merging themselves – honesty is vital
Viv – we opened it out to ask who might be interested in getting involved in the consortium – how do you stop people shafting you? Clarity about expectations and adopting underpinning values
Sakthi – a group of people get together and an organic process ensues
Sakthi – Boards are ultimately responsible and need to be involved throughout the whole process
Cynthia – Board and CEO need to work closely together – a merger should not be a surprise to a board
Angela – I was constantly telling the board that SLAs would be cut and that we would be in crisis – 2 organisations that merged with us couldn’t negotiate or discuss because they would have closed
Sakthi – minute everything and produce reports so that Boards can see and remember everything
Cynthia – set up a working group with 2 Board members to feed back to other Board members
Claire – our Board was extremely risk averse – make decisions whilst you have the power
Sakthi - trustees are liable for the decisions you make – get the right
Board to take you through the process
The last question – Viv – we don’t have to be repositioned – we have choices- the consortium is a better choice – to be competitive but sustain the small organisations whilst addressing the issue of power
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Group discussions
The discussion groups focussed on four questions:
1.
What is your reaction/response to the case studies presented?
2.
What is your experience of collaboration or merger?
3.
Which models of collaboration suit which organisations?
4.
What support can a 2nd tier organisation provide to better facilitate collaboration or merger?
Most organisations do a lot of informal partnership work and belong to various networks. These are a good place to start in terms of setting up formal partnerships, but it’s dangerous to assume that the organisations you work with informally have shared values. These issues need to be talked through. Formal collaboration will still present a big challenge.
Personalities of key individuals are key at the outset of the process.
However, it is important to develop written agreements and processes so the collaboration can have life after those key individuals have moved on.
For user-led organisations, merger presents particular issues. Ownership of the organisation and core values must be retained by users.
Employees, trustees, etc. have enormous emotional investment in the organisation. It may help to identify some ‘deal breakers’ – some absolute lines that won’t be crossed, to help articulate the shared vision and values, and to give assurance to users involved.
It’s getting harder to fund voice and campaigning work. Local authorities and other commissioners do not want to fund campaigning. This is an area where second tier organisations need to collaborate to support frontline organisations in the sector.
When you’re working through a merger, trying to keep the organisation on-side, it can help to ‘play to the sceptics’. That is, to focus on bringing the most resistant people into the fold.
There is a need to balance a consultative approach with a directive approach. Too much of one or the other will cause problems.
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It’s important to bring funders on board early in the conversations – to give them some assurance over what’s going on. Commissioners should know they might not save money in the short term when two groups merge, however, in time there will be increased effectiveness, e.g. more services delivered for the same investment. And the commissioner’s life is made easier by having fewer contracts to manage.
The process of merger consumes vast amounts of time and resource. It will have a huge impact on chief exec and senior managers and the amount of time they have to do the rest of their job.
1.
What is your reaction/response to the case studies presented?
Feedback indicated that people appreciated and found helpful the diversity of approaches and models presented. Some people said that the case studies were reassuring in that they confirmed some of what they were thinking or doing. There was also a good reminder of the personal as well as organisational consequences for key staff. Several participants said that it was good to have the non-merger case studies because it is not all about merger but about collaboration.
Some key points:
 Do some pre collaboration work on potential partners
 Identify a crisis before it happens
 Collaboration takes time and effort at all levels
 It is useful for effective collaboration to work together (on the same vision) over a long period of time. This experience can help with trust
 There is no magic formula but respect and trust are important
 Set up a staff working group to work on issues
 Effective communication is important
 Effective collaboration depends on levels of trust amongst staff
 Think about the emotional, human, ‘messy bit’ about people’s feelings – not just staff but volunteers and other stakeholders
 Managing people effectively needs teasing out in case studies
 Organisational culture is important in collaboration: threat and resistance
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 Focus on the non-negotiables as part of acknowledging culture and look at core values
 CEO must recognise and respond to working in isolation focussed on the merger process
 Importance of vision and working on principles – taking time to do this
 Consult with stakeholders – don’t leave anyone out
 Think about the impact of individual personalities on discussions and merger negotiations
 Think about the pros and cons of keeping individual organisations’ identities
 Bring skills together – making new organisation greater than the sum of its parts
 Do ‘donkey work’ when you’re strong and don’t leave the work until you have no power
 Boards have ultimate responsibility – is it the right board to take this forward – takes time to refresh boards
 It is important to get proper legal advice and know where to access
2 nd tier support
 The case studies did not look at cross-borough collaboration it would be useful to have more cross-borough support to look for natural partners elsewhere in London
 It would be useful to have more examples from grassroots and small community organisations
 Some organisations seem to be moving away from service delivery and seem to be responding to external pressures/short-termism
 Voluntary sector is now more closely associated with local authority or other agendas in terms of delivery of services
2.
What is your experience of collaboration or merger?
Delegates talked about a wide range of collaborative activity, some of the key points raised were:
 We have to take the difficulty of collaboration on board and work with it
 WRC is getting more call from organisations forced into collaboration i.e. by commissioners
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 People want to hold on to their organisations and values and agendas
 It is often easier to start a service from scratch than hand it on – rather than collaborate on an existing model
 There is a need for 2 nd tier support
 Focus on success stories e.g. Age Concern and Help the Aged but concerns re: funding/because too big
 Experience of being taken over but the process being called merger
– presented as adding value to more powerful organisations
 Collaboration between youth organisations through shared values and an agreed way of working
 Association of Panel Members is at the beginning of a collaborative process – a shared service across 4 organisations
 Southwark Law Centre does much collaboration work:
 It was the lead agency through London Councils’ commissions until they were cut in 2011 and collaborates
 With the Citizens Advice Bureau
 With Law Centres Network
 With Lewisham
 Challenges:
 Just starting to deliver Legal Aid contracts in Peckham – working together historically – we are different in organisational culture and the way we approach clients but both are committed to it
 For other organisations there are questions about how organisations interact e.g. organisations work in different ways, 2 nd tier at desks and easy to contact whilst 1 st tier clinical and working with people – so difficult to contact and balance expectations
 It might be useful to think about:
 How do you interact?
 What are expectations?
 Who interacts with whom i.e. CEO to CEO, officer to officer?
 In any collaborative work understanding how people work is vital
 WRC – anticipating opportunities with Clinical Commissioning
Groups – coming together to put together a Healthy Living Centre- propose something to CCG and say we can offer things from this great centre
 There are also organisations that prefer to close rather than merge
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 But this doesn’t appear to be putting service users first
 There is a need to carry people with you through the process of collaboration
 Experience of collaboration can be influenced by the commissioning environment which makes it competitive and excluding
 Contracts are often based on price not ‘best provider’ or quality
 Often larger organisations with better infrastructure are successful at winning contracts and that excludes small specialist groups
 It should not always be larger organisations leading. We need to recognise the capacity of smaller organisations and be practical and realistic
 Organisations are focussed on delivering services and therefore territorial and protective of services and users
 There is often not enough time to collaborate well
 Strategic collaborative work is under-resourced
 The VCS needs leadership on collaboration as well as leadership development
 Work with funders to keep them informed and influence them
 Importance of organisational culture and values
 Importance of informal collaboration to surface potential
 Pressure from Local Authorities on organisations to merge as well as requirements from funders to work in partnership makes collaboration more stressful
 Experience of exploring options, doing a feasibility study using an independent consultant, which was very important
 Merger can be a very expensive process
 Our experience was very time consuming, there was a lot of paranoia and game playing – the process was quite painful
 Leadership is important, there needs to be a high level of emotional competency
 Horrible images of hostile takeover world, not enough experience of how to do transition smoothly
 In voluntary sector we don’t usually have HR process in place – we do it for the love! So HR issues need to be dealt with well
 Experience of a forum consisting of equal partners
 There is a need to be clear about the expectations of partners by the lead organisation and to understand the capacity of partners
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 Lead org needs time/expertise/money for capacity building
 Pressure (particularly in timescales) from funders has been mentioned and groups need time in order to plan and build a partnership. But is it sometimes helpful if a funder forces the pace?
 PQQ – adapt this model within VCS group – to be ready to respond to funding opportunities
 E.g. of Advice Transition Fund – need to build trust between potential partners at first stage
 Think laterally about who your partners could be
 Manage communications carefully to avoid misinformation as well as communicating widely
3.
Which models of collaboration suit which organisations?
The general consensus seemed to be that there is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to models of collaboration and some of the key points were:
 The model is often prescribed by the funder/commissioner
 Payment by results e.g. prime/sub-contractor relationship – enforced collaboration
 Competition with the private sector
 Model of different people taking leads for different parts of a service e.g. VAWG Consortium
 Model needs to be informed by the values and led by a clear vision
 There is no formula and the choice of model should not be prescriptive but appropriate to the organisations
 Personal relationships between CEOs can be useful in initiating model of collaboration
 Using systems approach can help
 Whichever model organisations choose service users must benefit
 Choose a model based on experience and trust
 The model needs to be informed by the choice of the right partner
 The model must specify boundaries and costs
 It is necessary to build relationship to work together – previous history of working together/relationship is ideal – better to have wanted to work together before identifying an opportunity
 Addressing the power balance informs what kind of collaboration model is chosen
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4.
What support can a 2nd tier organisation provide to better facilitate collaboration or merger?
There was a good deal of feedback during the discussions about what support LVSC and other 2 nd tier organisations could provide groups with in relation to collaboration and merger. The feedback from evaluation forms at the end of this document is also extremely useful.
Suggestions during discussions included:
 Project Leading resource – someone independent who will facilitate
– take out the personal/messy stuff i.e. CEOs losing jobs, organisations losing their ID
 Managing Transition service perhaps by tapping into Esmee Fairburn fund
 Change, conflict, risk management
 Something around problem solving
 Skilling people up to take partnerships forward
 Finding models of collaboration that are appropriate and sustainable amongst funding cuts
 Legal advice
 Brokerage of technical support - e.g. legal advice – to support merger process once underway. This could be pro bono but sometimes it’s better to pay a nominal fee. Organisations will require this kind of support over months/years, not on a one-off basis
 Brokerage of facilitators to support initial high-level strategic conversations between organisations. These facilitators need to understand VCS values (more so than a professional offering pro bono legal or financial advice, for example)
 Please no more toolkits and guides
 Help groups to understand the range of models of collaboration including building networks and natural alliances
 Bringing people together to share information and explore issues
 Bringing chairs of organisations – boards see it as operational – should they be more involved?
 Training for trustees on current environment of collaboration and merger
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 Building CEOs internal capacity to collaborate – dealing with relationship issues – being objective
 Using service users to lead/inform the change re: collaborate/merge
 Need point by point process to follow
 Something physical (e.g. 2 sheets of A 4) to give to your council so that they become aware for need to plan
 A one stop shop collaboration helpline would be useful
 Guidelines/process of what needs to be considered
 Facilitators to support
 Independent advice and support whether to provide consultants or money to use consultants
 2 nd tier has been facilitating talks between organisations and funders etc.
 Link voluntary orgs to private sector
 Independent project management resource
 Independent facilitation
 Project leadership
 Funding for initial scoping
 Change management
 Conflict resolution
 Problem solving
 Self-sustaining skills
 Free legal advice
 Skills facilitation – tried and tested – especially for early stages
 Communicate messages back to funders
 Work with clusters of organisations going through the process giving insight and depth
 Lewisham model – understanding the range of models before supporting – building up networks and alliances – first steps process
 A checklist of guide to do the right thing in the right order
Some key additional points that were raised during the final feedback session
 Don’t underestimate the cost particularly of merger which carries huge legal fees
 Have an agreement to collaborate based on values and principles and then find something to collaborate on
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 Informal collaboration helping to surface the issues to underpin other collaboration
 We need to work together to support specialism, quality and collaboration
 A document could be produced giving funders ‘Top 10 Tips to understand what collaboration means for VCS organisations’
 Don’t assume that informal collaboration means that you share values etc.
 Don’t underestimate the role of personalities
 Get things written down (in case people leave) and so you can communicate effectively what has been said and agreed
 Challenges for user-led organisations include values and emotional attachments
 Pressure re: voice and campaigning, which is less funded and collaboration itself (which takes lots of strategic capacity) isn’t funded
 LVSC could send out a survey to bring together partners
 One of the commonalities across the case studies is the desperate need to adapt
 Special type of leadership and a high level of emotional competence is needed to collaborate well and to see through a merger process
 There are guiding principles but no magic formula – no one size fits all – depends on organisational culture
 Help organisations to understand collaboration
 Collaboration to avoid merger and identity loss and for sustainability
 More cross-border working – look for common identity and purpose, wherever they live
 Support to alert trustees to context/environment – relationship building – effective communication with orgs/trustees – support for organisations at different points in the journey
(consultancy/online/face-to-face training/mediation and facilitation)
 Trustee qualities and capacities, background experience, diversity and succession
 Clarity on commissioning landscape and funding – focus on lead-in time – manage organisation’s expectations
 Preparatory relationship for smaller orgs
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People were asked to leave details if they wanted to work in partnership or share their experience – the following details were left.
Are you interested in working in partnership?
 We’re a training/employability organisation working with disabled people, including people with learning difficulties interested in collaboration/creative partnership – anniem@sharecommunity.org.uk
Who is willing to share their experience of working to a partnership agreement?
 Annie McDowall – Share Community – experience of running a partnership project and experience of pulling a consortium together around common issues
What you said about the event – some of the comments on evaluation forms and by email include:
“Conversations like these today are so useful – it has been encouraging and inspiring to come here today and hear these case studies”
“I’ve really appreciated the breadth of these examples”
“The case studies have been useful and reassuring in relation to our work”
“Thank you, it’s in sharing something that you come to understand it better”
“I'm going to do a 5 minute presentation on the report and learning from the event at our AGM next week where we are discussing future options for our organisation.”
“I found the event very informative and useful. I really think the report will be of value to London DDPOs.”
“It’s a great piece of work and I’m sure that it will prove to be a really useful and practical point of reference for organisations who are considering collaboration and how to do it effectively.”
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“Thank you, hearing presentations from those involved in collaboration from the report was very helpful in driving messages home.”
“Useful and a good range of examples used.”
“Very well organised and an excellent venue.”
“It was great – really well organised. Great, informative and personal presentations, really helpful report and helpful to have a chance to talk to colleagues.”
“Useful, practically so!”
“A very interesting range of case studies and discussions.”
“It was a very good event with knowledgeable and interesting speakers.”
“Very good, I wish it had happened earlier regarding what is happening for us.”
“Excellent as far as it went but it needed a full day to allow us to talk through the ideas in more detail.”
“I wish there had been more information about the mechanics of merger.”
“Very interesting and stimulating and an excellent breadth of delegates.
The report looks like an essential reference/learning document.”
“Hearing people’s direct experience was valuable.”
“Very informative and well managed.”
“Too short!”
“Useful event as a starting point and it would be good to have follow up.”
“Very useful topic, excellent resource, people and speakers. I felt dissociated in the discussions with big organisations monopolising the talking and excluding my views. What chance have small organisations in collaboration? We don’t want nor need merger!”
“Great event but needed more time for discussion. Well chaired!”
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What actions LVSC should take forward following this event?
The evaluation forms completed indicate that delegates want LVSC to focus (in order of preference) on more:
 Networking opportunities
 Support and advice
 Resources
 Sharing the report and feedback from the event
 Training
 Work with CVSs and other 2 nd tier
 Small/community/grassroots organisations
 Brokerage
 Lobbying/campaigning/advocacy
Networking (12 suggestions)
 Cross borough networking
 Linking organisations
 Forums allowing organisations to network
 Facilitate sharing information, templates amongst organisations
 Perhaps set up an e-group like COIN TLINET
 Support/information and bringing together groups already involved to help understanding of the process and work through difficulties and crises
 Networking opportunities for CEOs/boards who are thinking of merging or collaborating
 Facilitate a network
 Introduce organisations to each other
 Create a support network for CEOs, trustees and chairs
 Peer learning network for other 2 nd tier organisations supporting
VCSOs in this process, or another event?
 Facilitate further networking events
Support and advice (11 suggestions)
 Support and advice for organisations merging or setting up collaborative working
 Advice about pitfalls to be avoided
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 Advice and guidance
 Provide guidance and advice
 Help with legal advice
 Co-ordinate pro-bono support, especially legal advice
 Access to specialist support re: legal advice, due diligence, negotiations, mergers arising out of financial crises etc.
 Provision of advice on peer capacity building
 Look into support options for the sector
 Do something on leadership in collaboration
 Promote best practice from those organisations with their varying experiences
Resources (10 suggestions)
 Lists of resources to support groups
 Producing a ‘how to’ document
 Create a list of facilitators who can help
 A checklist for the process
 Offer trusted list of facilitators for collaboration discussions
 Mergers toolkit
 Identify sources of support in one place
 Gather case studies
 Keep adding case studies
 Provide a list of 2 nd tier organisations who can help with partnership working and facilitation
Share feedback from this event (10 suggestions)
 Write up and share feedback from this event and discussions (is the scope to help local areas/boroughs further?)
 Make sure report is available widely (case for an executive summary?)
 Summarise and share key points raised in discussion groups
 Take on board all the suggestions
 Hope points from feedback can be captured – so good
 Follow up points raised during group discussions
 Make sure report is free –write up notes from discussions and circulate
 Write up report and send to delegates
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 Consider what future support LVSC can offer re: question 4 in group discussions
 Consult over options to help to prioritise what to do next
Training (8 suggestions)
 Training for trustees and chairs
 Training for key decision makers in organisations – CEOs, trustees and chairs
 Organise some ‘open space’ training focussed on collaboration/partnership and merger – provide facilitators to lead discussions
 Information session on ‘how to’ e.g. what does due diligence mean?
What do you have to remember? (checklist)
 Training for chairs/trustees around collaboration and merger
 More workshops for advisors
 Opportunities for CEOs, chairs and trustees to work on the emotional aspects of collaboration and merger
 Mentoring with others who have successfully undergone the process
Work with CVSs and 2 nd tier (6 suggestions)
 Support to 2 nd tier organisations around merger/collaboration
 Work more closely with infrastructure organisations such as CVSs
 Follow up recommendations for 2 nd tiers
 I think it would be useful if LVSC could hold a session just for CVSs and umbrella bodies on how they could support their local organisations. In the borough I work in, Southwark, CAS are holding an event to find out what kind of support small voluntary and community organisations need to help support them in merging/collaborating. They also supported my organisation in developing an informal consortium with fellow providers – I felt that impartial advice was extremely useful
 Scope to offer practical support and ensure skilling up/draw on existing skills in borough CVSs
 LVSC should link with other 2 nd tier organisations (like NYCVS) and we should do some collaborative work together – call me Javina to discuss 020 7843 6453 – thanks!
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Small/community/grassroots organisations (5 suggestions)
 A specific event around small unfunded organisations and collaboration
 More grass roots organisations to attend but not sure how LVSC could encourage them to attend
 What’s on offer for small and new organisations? We can’t collaborate with organisations who want us to be their project and yet we have to fundraise for the project! We have done informal collaboration where our service users were asked to fill in forms on their training needs. Thank you but we need a share of the grants too to provide on-going support to the learners which collaborations don’t provide (Linda Colclough
[Ecprovision] ecprovision@btinternet.com
)
 Should take steps into account mergers may not work for grass roots work, in which case collaboration may be appropriate – question – merger or collaboration?
 Provide support around the legal framework and make it more accessible for smaller groups
Brokerage (4 suggestions)
 Brokering bespoke support
 Broker discounted legal and other professional support
 Set up informal mentoring for people going through mergers to create more support for directors and trustees
 Broker advice and technical support
Lobbying/campaigning/advocacy (4 suggestions)
 Advocate on behalf of VCS to LAs that the process can’t be rushed
 Lobby other funding bodies to extend activity in this area as this will still be needed post 2013
 Present the report to London Councils for further 2 nd tier funding support e.g. further support on the mergers/commission area
 Identify collaboration with ACEVO/NCVO/SEUK to bring this to a wider audience and develop consultancy support
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Any further information or if you’d like to contact LVSC with regard to this report, please contact:
Tim Brogden
Policy & Networks Development Officer
London Voluntary Service Council
200a Pentonville Road London N1 9JP
DD: 020 7832 5813
E: tim@lvsc.org.uk
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