Project
Eastside People had been working with Richmond Fellowship on their strategy for an extended period. While the charity was running effectively, the management team and board acknowledged that any unforeseen external changes could have a potentially severe impact on their long-term sustainability.
They also had a dependence on mental health service delivery and wanted to diversify to meet the broader complex needs of their service users. This was also true for Humankind.
In addition, significant people changes were taking place at Richmond Fellowship with Derek Caron, CEO of Richmond Fellowship close to retirement age and Helen Edwards, Chair reaching her 9 year limit and handing over to a new chair.
Richmond Fellowship initially engaged Eastside People to help them develop a new strategy for partnership or merger. After a break in planning during the COVID pandemic, activities resumed in January 2022 when our merger experts started working with Richmond Fellowship’s management team. The team’s role was to bring independent view on the best partners in the sector, and to map how a merger might look like and the potential risks and benefits.
As a result, Richmond Fellowship and Humankind began discussions. Humankind’s then CEO Paul Townsley and now the CEO of Waythrough, along with others in the leadership team, had successfully managed multiple mergers. Both Humankind and its leadership team had extensive experience with mergers, collectively believing that a merger was a beneficial option.
Humankind and Richmond Fellowship had a lot in common – a determination to support people to get their lives back on track, approaches that started with people’s strengths and a belief that people’s needs don’t fit into neat boxes. They also shared a joint aim to help people unlock the sometimes-closed doors of Health and Social care services.
After initial meetings between the key people of both organisations, Eastside People was then jointly commissioned to project manage the pre-merger programme including:
- Creating a merger working party with terms of reference
- Managing continuous engagement and review with both boards
- Developing a merger plan, strategy and timeline
- Building the business case
- Evaluating potential legal structures
- Supporting the due diligence of both parties
- Facilitating the decision-making process by both boards
- Establishing an integration plan.
Eastside People acted as an independent 3rd party throughout the large complex process to make sure that everyone was represented. All negotiations and agreements were handled as a genuine partnership of equals.
“It was good to have an independent 3rd party in this large complex process to make sure that everyone was represented and that knotty problems such as roles and responsibilities are discussed and resolved. The Eastside People consultants had a wide range of expertise and were able to provide someone with the skills to manage every area of the project”. Paul Townsley, CEO Waythrough.
The journey from agreeing to merger to completely the merger was challenging, we needed to agree the service model, governance changes, any staff implications, the merger implementation plans and ensure that during the transformation business was delivered as usual. Eastside were pivotal in ensuring all these balls remained in the air and were completed as agreed.
This included involving the service users, who were part of a service user group for the merger contributing to the design of the services to be delivered via the merged organisations. The group also were involved in the creation and development of the new identity including the brand, website and communications.
“Eastside People provided invaluable independent support for Richmond Fellowship and Humankind throughout the merger discussions, development of the case for merging and the ongoing integration. As a large and complex merger, we could not have done this without their support. In all conversations, they helped us to stay focused on improving impact for the people who we work with.” Paul Townsley, CEO and Carolyn Regan, Chair Waythrough.
Solution
The organisations legally merged in June 2024 with Aquarius as a subsidiary. Paul Townsley, CEO of Humankind became the new group CEO and the chair of Richmond Fellowship Carolyn Regan became the group chair.
In October 2024 they became Waythrough, a new charity that brings together the best of both organisations. Its vision is to break down the barriers that stop people getting the support they need to live a life they value, helping more people where they are, whatever their needs.
“We very much wanted this to be seen as a merger not a takeover. Rebranding to become Waythrough was part of this process. It was critically important for Humankind and Richmond Fellowship to have a new name.”
“Completing a merger is by no means the final step. There is always so much work to do to bring everything together and there is still a massive programme of internal work for us to manage. Don’t assume that when the legal merger is completed that the process has finished.” Paul Townsley, CEO Waythrough.
“Eastside People provided invaluable independent support for Richmond Fellowship and Humankind throughout the merger discussions, development of the case for merging and the ongoing integration. As a large and complex merger, we could not have done this without their support. In all conversations, they helped us to stay focused on improving impact for the people who we work with.” Paul Townsley, CEO and Carolyn Regan, Chair Waythrough.
Some top tips from Paul Townsley for any organisation considering a merger of this size:
- Every charity should have a merger strategy, regardless of whether you are considering a merger in the near future
- Focus on the longer-term strategic benefit not just the organisational benefit. If the strategic benefit outweighs the challenges and risks involved, then the merger process should progress
- It is important to get service users’ involved in the process at an early stage. It is easy to become obsessed with finance and corporate and programme issues and overlook what’s best for the people who your charity aims to serve
- Make sure to understand the reality of the timelines required to manage and work through a complex project (especially where the boards are volunteers). Aligning board meeting dates early in the process can help to facilitate faster decision making
- Get the messaging and timetable right for your employees
- It is important to get the pace right to allow everyone to keep up on the journey but not to let it take too long
- Implement an effective iterative process using a flexible framework for guidance, ensuring it maintains momentum without being overly rigid
- Make sure to include succession planning for your senior roles
- Discrepancies in the levels and roles of project awareness within merging organizations are inevitable. It is crucial to stay focused on reaching agreement in a timely manner to minimize information creep, speculation, and uncertainty amongst staff, volunteers and service users
- Consider getting independent support, especially if your merger is large or complex merger or you do not have the skills in-house. They will help you stay focused on improving impact for the people who you work with.
