E-MergingThe Way Ahead for the Third Sector

Managing a merger successfullyFay Heatley

A case study: Disability Rights UK

ALWAYS THINKINGFay HeatleyProject ManagerTelephone 0751 3332839fay.heatley@alwaysthinkingonline.com

Business and IT Solutions

AVAILABLE FUNDING / DEMAND FOR SERVICES

SISTER “NOT FOR PROFIT” ORGS

LITTLE OVERLAP = SHARED SERVICES?

SOME OVERLAP = COOPERATIVE COMMISSIONING?

SUBSTANTIAL OVERLAP = MERGER!

The Scale of the Project

Legal assistance: Taylor WessingDue diligenceInterior Designers: Ghost ProjectsConsultants (KPMG)Recruitment (Prospectus)IT4Comunities (me!)Esmee Fairbairn FoundationFidelity TrustComic ReliefDept of Health

iT4Communities.org.uk

3 years, 30 pro bonos, £300,000 funding

NFP Technology Conference

2008/2009

AGM

AGMAGM

FUND RAISING/COMMISSIONING

SYNCHRONISED AGMS APPROVAL

JOINT WORKING/MERGER EXPLORATION AGREED

PLANNING PROCESS AGREED Ceased Trading but Functions

Saved

Branding, premises, Finance, HR, CRM & Web

Very tight deadlines

RADAR DISABILITY ALLIANCE SKILL

TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS

NCIL

INFRASTRUCTURE ELEMENTS – ACCOMMODATION, NEW FINANCE SYSTEM, FULL SUPPORT FOR HRIT – MUST BE SECURE, REMOTE ACCESS

Mem

bers

Staff and

Volunteers

Online Advice

FundraisingCam

paignsPublications &

SalesKEY BUSINESS

PROCESSES should be

interactive and fully supported

INFRASTRUCTUREAccessible, easy to use and a smaller proportion of total budgets

IT Systems Review: What was the brief?

Brief criteria

Efficiency: to reach more disabled people, to be able to scale up servicesJoined up systems, where customer/funder/corporate name can be linked to all previous contacts and conversations

Simplicity: Existing systems had very little automation, no integrationMust support modern fundraisingIntegrated customer contact system crucialTo ensure effective and simple working for the new charity

Innovation: Innovative ways to reach more disabled peopleMarket segmentationTailoring of responses

EPOS to encourage access to guides

Accessibility: Must be accessible for people with visual impairment

The Plan

1. Involve staff: set up panels for evaluation of new systems (one for Finance and one for CRM)

2. Establish 'long list' of possible systems3. Agree specification + business processes to be supported4. Request for Information to suppliers5. Agree shortlist for testing/prototyping6. Testing/prototyping7. Due Diligence (take up references)8. Procurement decision9. ContractImplementation

www.sayervincent.co.uk/

Essential Applications Identified

INTERACTIVE WEB SITE

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

MANAGEMENT

FINANCE MANAGEMENT

INTERACTIVE WEB SITE

INTERACTIVE CRM DATABASE

FINANCE MANAGEMENT

The Market and The OutcomeThere is a wide range of CRM products available/suitable for the NFP/charity sectorAim was 'best of breed' off the shelf, for example IRIS Donor StrategyCRM's are now part of Web 2.0: the days of selecting 'back end databases' that are not integrated with the web site are overParticularly for membership, subscriptions, private social networks, and sales of products.

civicrm.org

The most innovative are Open Source led from America:CiviCRM and DrupalDisability Rights UK have gone with CiviCRMAdvantages are low cost of ownership, scalability, massive international user community My output was a successful process and the outcome of the process was a successful procurement. Implementation is the next stage.

Putting it all together

Next steps: Phase 3 Implementation

Disability Rights UK will start trading in January and be launched in Spring 2012

• Systems work• Staff recruitment• Re-branding• Accommodation: co-location of RADAR, NCIL and DA in

December 2011

"This stage is actually making it happen“ (Richard Gutch)

  

More mergers predicted in the sector, large national (group structures or mergers to form new charities)Or bigger national charities taking on smaller local ones (take overs)Will all mergers be as well resourced?Are there any shortcuts?Collaboration/consortia/co-ops?Shared services? (IT, Finance, HR, shared business processes)Questions?