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Restructure at the Dialog Group

Fundraising | Becky Slack | 3 Apr 2008

Fundraising services supplier, the Dialog Group International, has gone through a major shake-up following the voluntary administration of its UK operations: DialogueDirect Fundraising UK, Face2Face Fundraising UK, NTT Fundraising, Dialog Services and Integrity Recruitment.

These companies were put up for sale but after no offers were made, they were bought by a new company, The Dialog Group Operations Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dialog Group International. The former companies will continue to use their name and brands, and will continue to deliver existing and planned campaigns for clients.

“There was a financial and organisational burden to existing UK companies as a result of their continuous self-funding of new companies, particularly overseas organisations, rather than focusing this income on our core business here in the UK,” the company said in a statement. “Timely action now means the new organisation can take advantage of far better economies of scale and make it – and its brands – far more efficient and cost-effective internally and externally.”

The Dialog Group is one of the largest fundraising suppliers and counts the British Red Cross and Mencap among its clients. Today these charities were rallying round the organisation in support.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s business as usual,” said Liz Williams, senior campaigns manager at the British Red Cross. “It certainly hasn’t put us off either using them or face-to-face fundraising. It is one of most successful tools and we have fundraisers out on the street working hard as usual.”

Reassuring noises are also coming from the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, which deny claims that face-to-face is suffering from public backlash. “There is absolutely no indication of a downturn in the market,” said spokesperson, Nik Earl. “There are still as many people applying for sites through our allocation system as there has ever been and charities are achieving roughly as many sign-ups.”

But while Dialog Group’s clients are secure, the same cannot be said for its suppliers. The UK companies have debts outstanding and there is currently no guarantee these will be paid. A spokesperson for the group said: “We are currently talking to suppliers and seeking to reach agreements with them. Where possible, TDGO hopes to continue having ongoing relationships with many of them.”

All the 350 staff are to remain in post and no redundancies are planned.

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