NFP Mergers and Effective Communication Tools Within an Organisation

The Not For Profit Podcast

Goals play a large part in any organisation—they serve as the driving force in moving forward. Having a goal makes it easy to see where a company is headed. However, what happens when the goals you’ve set turn out to be unachievable and quite unrealistic?

Our guest for today, Scott Watkins, Chairman of the Board for Pollinate Group Australia will answer the question we’ve mentioned above. Along with that, we will be discussing two more things: 1) Mergers of NFPs, and 2) Having effective communication tools within the board and volunteers.

This is going to be an interesting and valuable conversation so make sure to tune in until the end.

About Pollinate Group Australia (2:44)

• What is the Pollinate Group?
• What does the Pollinate Group do?
• Pollinate Group focuses on training women to be entrepreneurs.
• Scott talks about the main focus of Pollinate Group and the story behind why they do what they do.
• Scott shares the spark that led to the decision of an NFP merger.

Merger (5:48)

• The controversy behind a very rare NFP merger.
• What were some of the challenges and stereotypes they had to face and breakthrough when the merger started?
• Seeing the merger as an opportunity to scale and accelerate growth.
• What NFP did Pollinate Group merge with?
• Stepping away and sacrificing to make room for better operations.
• Scott talks about the benefits they gained from merging two NFPs.
• Lessons—things that they could have done before the merger.

Adjustments and Challenges (12:43)

• Scott reveals that the Pollinate Group gladly accepted the changes that the merger brought about.
• Acceptance came easily because the board could see clearer options ahead.
• Being understanding about the changes made it easier for everyone to move forward.
• Language and cultural barriers.

Overcoming the Challenges (14:41)

• Technology made working with different cultures a success.
• Maximising digital platforms for all sorts of communication—project planning, record keeping, documentation meetings.
• Tech-savvy board members have played a huge part in making it all work together.
• What happens to members who are not very tech-savvy?

Scope of Work (18:00)

• Who mediates between the board and the ground personnel?
• Board members are involved in specific aspects of the operation.
• Scott shares the different functions of each member of the organisation.
• Board members at the Pollinate Group participate largely in the organisation’s operations.

Who is Scott Watkins?

Scott Watkins is the Chairman of the Board for Pollinate Group. Pollinate Group is a Not For Profit organisation that focuses on empowering women and improving the lives of people who live in India and Nepal. Their aim is to develop women into becoming the leaders of their communities. The Pollinate Group is one of the rare NFP organisations that merged with another NFP to scale and accelerate their growth. Scott is also involved with another NFP organisation namely Parkrun.

Contact Scott Watkins:

LinkedIn

Pollinate Group

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