NCVO and Volunteering England have agreed upon the first details for the soon-to-be merged organisation's structure, agreeing to put volunteering "at the heart" of the new organisation.
A new role of executive director of volunteering and development will be created to head a new directorate within the organisation. NCVO could not confirm whether Justin Davis Smith, CEO of Volunteering England would step into that role. A spokeswoman advised the announcement of who will step into the role will be made once the appointment has been made.
The details were released following separate meetings held yesterday by the two boards of the organisations.
A strapline for the new organisation, already known to be taking the National Council of Voluntary Organisations' name, was told to be "Championing Volunteering and Civil Society".
The first glimpse of a new board structure also emerged with the revelation that two trustees from the Volunteering England board will be appointed to the NCVO board of 12 trustees creating a board of 14. The spokeswoman told civilsociety.co.uk that "one trustee will come from a volunteering centre and the other from a large volunteer-involving organisation".
A further Volunteering England trustee will join the Nominations Committee which selects candidates for the NCVO Board.
Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the NCVO, said: "I am very pleased that our conversations with Volunteering England are going well. We have worked hard to ensure that we put volunteering at the heart of NCVO going forward."
Davis Smith commented: "This agreement is tribute to trustees and colleagues in both organisations who have worked together constructively with mutual respect and shared commitment to the cause. Our members will benefit from establishing arrangements to maintain and improve our services, and to promote excellent leadership and management for volunteering."
Volunteering England is responsible for 263 volunteer centres nationally while NCVO's reach extends to 8,300 organisations of varying sizes in the voluntary sector in England.
Annual elections for the elected trustees on the NCVO board are currently taking place with voting for three vacancies set to take place on 8 November at Regent's Wharf in London.
Current trustee Jamie Dear has advised he will stand down after reaching the end of his first full term, and Tom Mullarkey stood down earlier this year. Jonathan Moore has also reached the end of his first full term but is to stand for election again.
NCVO and Volunteering England announced their merger plans in June. The merger is subject to due diligence.
