We started this year with an ambitious new strategy driving towards a vision of a future where nobody has to worry about their MS getting worse. To support this, we developed our three goals and some supporting focus areas. These set out how we propose to transform and adapt so we can achieve even more for people living with MS. One of these areas is ‘forging creative strategic partnerships’.
During the recent phase one restructure consultation many of you suggested that we work together more closely with other charities. This could help us identify where we can share knowledge to better serve the MS community.
In the coming months, we’re excited to be holding a series of exploratory conversations with Parkinson’s UK to see if we can work more closely together. Some collaboration may offer us the chance for new approaches as we each work towards more effective treatments and an improved experience for those living with the two conditions.
Why Parkinson’s UK?
As two leading neurological charities in the UK, we’ve recognised that by working together, we may be able to achieve greater impact and deliver even more benefits for our respective communities.
We have a long history of working closely with Parkinson’s UK, from research at the jointly funded Brain Bank / MS Tissue Bank through to our policy and campaigning work. The initial phase will be a three-month exploration of each charity’s areas of focus, processes and systems, and programmes of work. This’ll likely start in autumn.
The project will hopefully lead to recommendations on opportunities for collaboration, which could help both our charities to deliver on ambitious strategic aims.
What will this explore?
The exploration will uncover the experience and expertise that each of our charities has, and could share with the other, in how we operate externally and internally.
While it’s early days, we’re excited about the possibilities and benefits this could open up for each charity and our communities. However, we don’t yet know where this will lead and it will of course be sometime until we have any findings to report back to you on.
Importantly, the exploration is not linked to the changes we are making this year or the £4M annual reduction in expenditure we are looking to achieve. This is about being bold in our approach and trying new things, especially where we think they could have better outcomes for people with MS.
If you have any questions, please contact Supporter Care:
Tel: 0300 500 8084
Email: [email protected]
