The British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK are planning to merge, which the two charities say will result in annual savings of £2m.
“Our proposed partnership builds on the successful collaboration between Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation over the last few years,” said Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation.
“As we develop our joint vision and strategy, we will continue to explore opportunities for closer working, doing so where we believe we will have more impact together. We are confident this proposal would bring lasting benefits for those affected by asthma and other lung diseases.”
The proposed merger will create the Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership. Both existing brands will be kept and fewer than 20 redundancies are expected as a result of the move, Civil Society News understands.
Kay Boycott, chief executive of Asthma UK, said: “Supporters and other beneficiaries of our work would not see any major change in their day-to-day links with us. We would keep our focus on and maintain the profile of asthma within the merged charity as we know this is important to our supporters.”
Both sets of trustees have approved the merger and Asthma UK members will vote to change the organisation’s articles of association at an extraordinary general meeting on 2 December 2019. If members support the change, the charities would formally join forces by the end of the year.
Boycott will become chief executive of the new organisation with Tessa Blackstone as chair. Woods will remain on in another capacity to support the new board of trustees. It is expected that the board of the new organisation would be evenly split between representatives of both charities.
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