Ten infrastructure charities in Suffolk plan to merge in order to become more sustainable.

The merger is expected to go through on 31 March and the charities hope to be operating as Community Action Suffolk from 1 April 2013. The new organisation has already appointed an external chief executive, Nicola Thompson, who has previously worked for NCVO. 

Anne Moynihan, who has been project-managing the merger told civilsociety.co.uk that: “Eighteen months ago, 13 organisations came together to bid for a grant from the Transforming Local Infrastructure Fund.”

They were successful in the bid and “from this time last year they had been working much more closely together”.

She added that merger was the next obvious step as the organisations wanted to make services more accessible and ensure sustainability.

A transferee trustee board is currently looking at the finances for the new organisation and no decisions have been made regarding redundancies.

Alex Skailes, chairman of the board said that by merging the charities "would be stronger in terms of infrastructure" and that "obviously the financial climate is a key consideration but it is not the only one" and that the new organisation would also "deliver better services". 

The ten organisations set to merge are:

1. Babergh Communities Together
2. The Community Forum
3. Framlingham Volunteer Centre
4. Haverhill Association of Voluntary Organisations (HAVO)
5. Haverhill Volunteer Centre
6. Ipswich Council for Voluntary Services (ICVS)
7. Lowestoft Volunteer Centre
8. Suffolk Action with Communities in Rural England (Suffolk ACRE)
9. Suffolk Association of Voluntary Organisations (SAVO)
10. Young Suffolk

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