Hearing loss charities to merge

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and Hearing Link are to merge.

Hearing Dogs’ chair Faith Clark announced the plans at the charity’s annual general meeting yesterday. The merger will formally take place on 1 August 2017.

In a statement, Hearing Link said the challenging and competitive fundraising environment had proved extremely difficult for the charity, and the merger will secure the future of its work and allow it to plan with confidence.

The charity said its name will not change after the merger, and its services will continue to run as before as a distinct service within the larger charity.

The two charities share a patron in HRH The Princess Royal. Hearing Dogs said the two charities have always enjoyed a close connection, with a number of applicants and hearing dog recipients also using Hearing Link’s services.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People had income of just over £7.5m in the year to March 2016, according to accounts filed with the Charity Commission. Hearing Link had income of £671,257 in the year to December 2016, and income has fluctuated over the past several years.

Hearing Dogs chief executive Michele Jennings said the merger secures the future of Hearing Link, and the charity’s services will now be made available to more people through the agreement.

Both charities will maintain their identities after the merger, Jennings said, as both are “well-loved and well-recognised” organisations.

“The merger will provide logical cost benefits by efficiently combining back-office functions, such as finance and administration, to ensure our donated funds are used in pursuing our core purpose as much as possible. Hearing Dogs applicants and recipients, and deaf people in general, will all enjoy wider access to the extremely well-developed suite of services Hearing Link offers,” she said.