To merge or not to merge?

Lucinda and Russ are joined by Keith Valentine, chief executive of Fight for Sight, to look behind the scenes of the sight loss research charity’s ongoing merger with the Vision Foundation.Keith describes how the merger was motivated by a quest for growth, responding to the absence of a national funder that combined scientific research with service delivery for visually impaired people.He talks about the operational practicalities of bringing two organisations together, as well as his personal experience of being the only visually impaired chief executive working in the national sight loss sector.The interview is preceded by a discussion on the findings of the recently published Good Merger Index, which revealed a sharp dip in the number of charity mergers in the past year. And Third Sector’s news editor, Steven Downes, provides analysis on his top stories of the week, from Islamic Relief’s response to the Turkey-Syria earthquake to the fake football ticket sale by scammers impersonating the Sick Children’s Trust.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here.Read the transcript. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.