Mergers & Partnerships
Eastside Primetimers provides professional advice and thought leadership around charity mergers and partnerships, which we believe can be crucial if the not-for-profit sector is to be effective and sustainable.
Our advisory service has been honed through more than 80 projects for charity mergers and housing association mergers, and we actively search for the best partners and complete deals efficiently.
Read about our services and what support is available at each stage of the merger process: partner search, deal facilitation, and integration.
Successful not for profit and charity mergers we have been involved in:
- The merger of Age Exchange into Community Integrated Care
- Evolve Housing + Support and Grenfell Housing and Training coming together to create the third largest homeless accommodation provider in London
- The merger of Oxford Deaf and Hard of Hearing Centre into Deaf Direct, facilitated with funding from the Big Potential Fund
- Raynaud’s and Scleroderma Association Trust and Scleroderma Society merging to become Scleroderma and Raynaud’s UK (SRUK)
- Addaction adding mental health services through the acquisition of KCA
- Disabled Living Foundation merging into Shaw Trust, to expand and develop their services
- Abbeycroft Leisure Trust and Anglia Community Leisure merging to secure their leisure facilities for members
- Warrington Community Living and Warrington Community Care coming together to protect services
Merger roundtables
Alongside our direct consultancy services, we also host a series of regular, free roundtables exploring merger as a topic. These are closed events conducted under Chatham House rules which we aim to limit to around 20 chief executives, senior managers and trustees per session.
We believe that in light of continuing challenges in the sector, more management teams and boards should be in a position to better understand possible merger opportunities. Our roundtables are designed to be development sessions; they are a chance to learn from your peers and to discuss both the challenges and opportunities charity mergers can present. As leading experts in the sector, we at Eastside Primetimers can also share our unique experiences of the marketplace with you.
Contact d.garratt@ep-uk.org if you are interested in attending a session.
Thought leadership
We have also produced a Good Merger Guide, a practical guide outlining the stages of merger, and the Good Merger Index, an annual first of its kind look at merger activity in the sector.
How can we help you?
Please contact us on 020 7250 8334 or email dawn@ep-uk.org to discuss how we can help your organisation make a transformational change by providing specialist advice and support.
Community Christmas“Community Christmas were looking for the right organisation to partner with to take our concept to the next level, but we knew that we didn’t have the skills to do this ourselves. Working with Eastside Primetimers enabled us to explore possibilities that we would never have thought of in isolation and added a degree of professionalism and structure to the process. The support we received at all stages of the process was exceptional and everyone was a pleasure to deal with”
Caroline Billington, Chief Executive Evolve Housing + Support“Having attended one of their regular merger roundtables to learn about the landscape and explore our options, we chose Eastside Primetimers to help us find the right partner for us, in line with our new business plan. The experience and process they brought to the table enabled us to open up discussions with Grenfell”
Jeremy Gray, Chief executive Association of Air Ambulances Charity“We worked with Eastside Primetimers on a difficult merger and were delighted with the process they used and with the final report. They worked to a tight timetable that we imposed and met every deadline. They fulfilled the brief we set and engaged with all of the people/organisations we recommended. I would use them again and would definitely recommend them to other charities”
Liz Campbell, Chair Disabled Living Foundation (now part of Shaw Trust)“We chose Eastside Primetimers because they have a highly credible track record in advising charities on partnerships and mergers. Their expert advice, negotiation and co-ordination of all parties, together with their experience of the merger process, has been invaluable in steering the DLF Board to reach what I believe will be a truly good outcome for the organisation’s mission far into the future”
Paul Baldwin, Chair, Disabled Living Foundation (now trustee, Shaw Trust) Age Exchange“We set out to find a partner that provided both the infrastructure we needed to grow and synergy in terms of values and ambition. Without the support of Eastside Primetimers we would never have approached Community Integrated Care, who ended up being the perfect partner. Eastside Primetimers’ initial research into potential partners was invaluable, and they have been professional, supportive and helped us to stay focused on our goals. This partnership will allow us to replicate the work we already do in our Blackheath centre all across the UK, dramatically increasing the number of beneficiaries we reach”
Rebecca Packwood, Chief Executive Scleroderma & Raynaud’s UK“As a chief executive with limited experience of mergers, I very much valued working with Eastside Primetimers. They allowed SRUK to tap into a range of expertise, gave us independent and unbiased assessments of the situation and brought to the table their extensive knowledge and insights from supporting previous mergers”
Sue Farrington, Chief executive
