Sponsored by:

Jules Mason: MerlinHelen Burgess: Save the Children

When two organisations come together: bringing supporters, funders and staff with you

Today’s session• Learn about the vision for why

Merlin joined Save the Children• We will focus on:

– Our supporters within the voluntary fundraising arena

– Detailed planning that is required to make this a success

– How to bring supporters along with you on this journey

– Key learnings • You will take away:

– Better understanding of what is involved in a project like this

– Practical things you should think about

Save the Children & Merlin: Who are we and what do we do?

Vision for the ‘partnership’

• Our vision:– Build a world class humanitarian health and

nutrition capability• How:

– Combine Merlin’s expertise with Save the Children’s global platform

The key drivers

• Programmatic benefits• Strategic plan• Funding model • Brand awareness

Brand case studiesInteract and Plan UK were semi-merged in October 2009, and Interact was a fully owned subsidiary of Plan UK. Interact previously retained a separate legal identity, with a separate Board of Trustees and separate charity number, but this is no longer the case as the full merger took effect in July 2013.

Plan UK will continue to use the Interact brand to describe the ongoing work in sexual and reproductive health within Plan UK

NSPCC and ChildLine merged in 2006. ChildLine was incorporated as a distinct service within the NSPCC to enable it to answer many more calls from children.

The ChildLine name has not changed. All except two of ChildLine’s trustees (President Esther Rantzen and BT’s Carol Borghesi) stepped down when the charity merged with NSPCC. The merger saw several replacements at ChildLine’s senior management level. HR and finance operations are now integrated with those of the NSPCC. ChildLine’s fundraising team stayed in place until early 2007, to smooth relations with existing funders, but following that fundraising operations have now been integrated with the NSPCC’s fundraising team.  At the time of the merger, the ChildLine service enjoyed a very strong reputation in the field, and among children themselves, and the NSPCC had one of the best charity brands in the UK

In April 2009, Age Concern England and Help the Aged joined together to create a new charity – Age UK. "We've brought everything together under one roof: one organisation, one website, one database, one name and brand," said Chief Executive Tom Wright. "Two-thirds of people in the country are now aware of Age UK.  The charity operated under its original charity names as "Age Concern and Help the Aged" until the new brand launch in April 2010. The two brand logos from the merged charities gradually disappeared once the new Age UK brand was launched and new brand-awareness developed.

The question of two brands

This helped inform the debate about whether we continue with a separate brand within the UK fundraising market: however it identified an important question about the brand within our country programmes and how this directly relates to the quality of Merlin’s work.

High brand awareness

Low brand awareness

Small supporter base

Large supporter base

Brand: (May 2013)*

- No spontaneous awareness-6% prompted awareness

Brand: (May 2013)*

- 17% spontaneous awareness- 92% prompted awareness

Supporter base: -RG = 10,000’s

Supporter base: -RG = 100,000’s

* Brand Stats – Charity Awareness Monitor May 2013, nfpSynergy

Drivers impact decisions

• All Merlin country programmes will transition over to Save the Children International

• Merlin’s Marketing & Communications Department transitioned into Save the Children November 2013– Physically moved into Save the Children offices

and sit within our existing structure• Save the Children is now managing Merlin’s

supporters in-house• No new fundraising activities are happening

under the Merlin brand

Our journey to date

July October November

December

Quarter 3 2013

Quarter 4 2013Septemb

erAugust

Partnership Launched

Transitioning Merlin Marketing & Comms activities & new activity development:-Merlin fundraising staff transitioned : 1st November-Ongoing transition activities-Educating staff on new proposition-New proposition development-New appeals to Merlin supporters

Intelligence gathering – mapping ways of working & cross over

Merlin Xmas Appeal- 25th November

Philippines: Emergency Appeal

Save the Children - Winter Reception

January

Transfer of supporters

group work:

Focusing in on the supporter, what are the challenges you think you are likely to face when two organisations come together and how would you over come them?

The partnership

• Communicating your vision– Need to be very clear about why we came together– Need to be able to speak to supporters about what

the partnership means• Need to establish joint ways of working in the short

term– How do you approach the same donors?– Funding priorities– Multi year grants when programmes are transitioning– What happens when a humanitarian emergency

strikes?

activities

• Ultimately want to preserve the value that was created

• Decisions need to be made about which activities should stop & those that will transition:– Acquisition of new supporters– Specific activities– Restricted funding proposals when

programmes are about to transition – International fundraising

Supporter Journey• Aim:

– Transfer supporters and keep attrition to a minimum• Think before, during and after

– When, how (letter, e-mail, phone call) and by whom• Think about your audience

– The approach will be different• Over communicate?• Consider the legal requirements • Educate staff on the partnership• Think about joint & individual opportunities during

transition

Merlin and Save the Children established 9 mobile clinics that are supporting affected communities both in Leyte and Panay. The activities carried out by these clinics include: -As of December 16, the mobile clinics have seen 3,557 people across 14 barangays in Iloilo province, Panay. -As of December 13, the Merlin health team in Leyte has visited 5 Barangays in Palompon municipality and carried out mass vaccination for 391 children. In addition, the mobile clinic in Bantigue, Isabel, served 113 patients.

Save the Children and Merlin deployed a 12-people specialist medical team that arrived in Cebu on 18 November. Staff in Tacloban have been working with the Australian field hospital and have provided them with special trauma support, while the other team members headed to the north coast of Panay island to reach some of the remotest islands and people.

20 November: “A four-year-old boy who had his leg amputated was among children wounded after Typhoon Haiyan. The charity Save the Children has been working in the Philippines to help sick and wounded children. Workers have been at the field hospital in Tacloban, capital of the Philippine province Leyte, and it was there they met William who had suffered terrible injuries.”

Realise the opportunity: the phillippines - Our Enhanced emergency capability

And don’t forget the small stuff……

• Transferring phone lines – especially your Supporter Care line

• Forwarding e-mail addresses • Updating your website – relevant links to each other

sites, up-to-date information and the donor experience• Accessing information – Folders, photos, case

studies, supporter info• Managing your supporters – what system will you be

using• Transferring licence agreements

group work:

With your supporters in mind, what are the practical steps that you will do when you go back to your organisations?

Key steps to keep in mind

• Don’t underestimate the importance of PLANNING

• Identify JOINT WAYS OF WORKING early on

• Using the RIGHT LANGUAGE with supporters

• Consider ALL THE STAGES of the supporter journey

• Realise the OPPORTUNITY• DON’T FORGET THE SMALL STUFF• MAP OUT key milestones, your

interactions with donors and key risks • Articulate what is/would be your NEW

PROPOSITION

Questions……

• Jules Mason – Head of Chief Exec’s Office, Merlin– jules.mason@merlin.org.uk

• Helen Burgess – Head of Supporter Value - Stewardship, Research & Risk, Save the Children– h.burgess@savethechildren.org.uk