Something that is happening increasingly across the charity sector, which we have been involved with across a number of projects, is a range of mergers between similar organisations serving a common need. In these times of economic austerity it makes a lot of sense to rationalise skills, services and overheads.
The merger
We've been working with The Princess Royal Trust for Carers for several years now. They are the UK's leading provider of information and support services for unpaid family carers. The Trust was approached by Crossroads Care, who specialise in respite care provision services, about the potential for a merger.
The process began in Autumn 2011 and was formally complete on 1 April 2012, with the new name and brand of Carers Trust. Even though they've dropped The Princess Royal from the name, she is still a highly active and committed President for the new organisation.
The project
Given the complex nature of mergers and bringing people together under a new banner, the digital aspects of the merger project were left till quite late in the day meaning we had a very short window in which to deliver. The key elements we were concerned with were:
- Re-architecting the homepage and key user journeys/pages such as the local services map
- Implementing the new brand and visual identity to the main website and campaign sites.
The results
This was a project which required really collaborative working with the digital team at Carers, headed by Michele, to ensure that all the review cycles and deliverables were implemented and approved in super-quick team; even harder to achieve given all the new stakeholders involved following the merger.
We delivered the project bang on schedule which is a testament to the strength of the partner relationship we have with Carers, that meant we all mucked in together to beat the clock!
"We’re extremely happy with the end result; a bold and fresh new site, which really reflects the vision and needs of the new charity."
Michele Lambert, Web Manager, Carers Trust