Read the original announcement.
1. Ramblers Holidays (RH) and its holding company Ramblers Association Services Ltd (RAS) were originally set up by the Ramblers in 1946, but became a separate organisation in 1969. However for many years the Ramblers and RH remained closely intertwined with, for example, some directors sitting on each other's boards.
2. Until early 2009, marketing support and publicity was freely provided by the Ramblers to RH on an informal and ad hoc basis, without any formal agreement in place, nor any written down terms of engagement or detailed analysis of the value of this support, from either a Ramblers or RH perspective.
3. This marketing activity supported sales of holidays by RH but of itself yielded very little income or membership recruitment; it was a very one sided arrangement.
4. Meanwhile, RH set up a charitable trust - Ramblers Holidays Charitable Trust (RHCT) - to which it would give its profits, which would in turn donate them to the Ramblers. This was done to ensure that a smooth flow of funds would be given to the Ramblers - evening out the ups and downs of the profits that RH would make year by year.
5. However, the Charity Commission ruled a few years ago that the arrangement between RH, RHCT and the Ramblers was no longer appropriate under charity law. It insisted the organisations had to operate independently, and that the Ramblers could not be seen to 'own' or be tightly linked to a commercial organisation such as RH. This led to a separation in terms of the boards of the organisations.
6.The Charity Commission also said that RHCT could not donate money to the Ramblers. Instead it should invite bids for specific funding, and had to consider bids from other organisations too.
7. From then on, RH made donations to RHCT, which operated independently in determining how its funds were to be spent. It is under these arrangements that RHCT has funded Ramblers projects, including Get Walking Keep Walking, in recent years. No funds whatsoever move directly from RH to the Ramblers and the charity has to bid to RHCT alongside other organisations. Some of our bids have been unsuccessful, and RHCT is now increasingly funding other charities.
8. There was no direct linkage whatsoever between the number of bookings made with RH and subsequent funds flowing to RHCT or the Ramblers.
9. In recent years RH has provided very little surplus income to RHCT.
10. Although significant funds have been provided over the years by RHCT for Ramblers projects, looking forward the flow has now essentially stopped except for the remaining agreed contributions in 2011 for the Get Walking project, and with only £17,000 scheduled for the Ramblers for 2012.
11. Completely separate from RHCT there was an urgent need to fully review and refresh the Ramblers’ approach and way of working regarding RH and the marketing activity programmes aimed at the walking holiday sector; this began early in 2009. Any such programmes had to deliver for the charity.
12. Therefore the Ramblers has moved to professionalise and formalise its work with RH (matching how it works with many other partners) as requested by trustees; this includes written joint agreements in terms mutually beneficial marketing activities. This is usual practice for such arrangements but had not been in place as far as RH and the Ramblers was concerned previously.
13. Following much discussion with RH, an agreement was duly reached and both parties were tasked to explore opportunities to develop this as appropriate over time.
14. From the Ramblers perspective, however, it became very clear that the agreement was not able to deliver the income or membership yield the charity needed.
15. Notwithstanding the Ramblers’ best efforts to develop our agreement with RH, over several months we were unable to obtain new marketing initiatives, including for example direct donations triggered by holiday bookings, or any data on RH sales and bookings that would be of assistance to both parties.
16. The Ramblers therefore had no choice but to begin to look elsewhere (alongside its other growing and successful partnership activities) to ensure we maximised income and membership potential for the future. Hence the new partnership with HF came to fruition with the announcement on 18 August and launch to the public scheduled for 1 October 2011.
17. This partnership developed after several weeks of highly confidential negotiations between the Ramblers and HF, and a formal paper on the partnership, with a business model and financial projections, was presented to the Ramblers Board of Trustees and approved unanimously for implementation.
18. The Chief Executive and marketing staff at the Ramblers then worked on the details to prepare for the launch, in close cooperation with HF staff, which led to the announcement on 18 August 2011.
19. The details of this partnership contract, the financial information and projections have to remain confidential, as they are commercially sensitive. The Ramblers and HF boards and management are both totally committed to this new partnership.
20. The initial partnership agreement is for three years. In each year the Ramblers will be promoted as HF's 'Charity of the Year'. Further information on the benefits this new partnership has for Ramblers members, HF customers and members, and also the general public will follow as part of the public launch on 1 October 2011.
21. None of this is to suggest that the longstanding support provided by RHCT, using surpluses from RH, is not highly valued. RHCT’s support over many years has been of immense benefit to the Ramblers charitable work as well as to those members of the public who have directly benefitted from the various initiatives and programmes it has funded.
22. It is hoped that the Ramblers can continue to have an ongoing relationship and dialogue with RH, but this will be on a different basis from now on.
23. We recognise RH has also directly supported Areas and Groups in the past, for example by buying advertising in walks programmes. HF Holidays will welcome the opportunity to support Areas and Groups in this way; alternatively they are welcome to maintain any existing relationship with RH.
24. It is also hoped we will continue to maintain our relationship with RHCT alongside the relationships we have since developed with other funders including other charitable trusts, delivering successful projects that further the outcomes of both the Ramblers and the funder.
A hard copy of the above is also being mailed to all Area and Group chairs.
If you have any questions please contact marketing@ramblers.org.uk
Tom Franklin
Chief Executive
