The Centre for Youth Impact, which aims to help youth organisations improve their effectiveness, has taken over Project Oracle, a training and validation provider for organisations working with children and young people.
The two organisations are now operating under the Centre for Youth Impact brand, with its current director Bethia McNeil due to head both bodies from November when Project Oracle director Sue Holloway will retire.
McNeil said the long-term sustainability of both organisations was at stake without joining forces, but the primary reason for the merger was that the two organisations could achieve more through working together, rather than financial reasons. She confirmed there would be no job losses as a result of the move.
"It's true that, as two organisations, it's a difficult time to survive," she said.
"It was felt Project Oracle has a better long-term home with The Centre for Youth Impact to support its legacy. Having two organisations that appear to be doing the same thing ran counter to our mission."
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Project Oracle was originally launched as a one-year initiative in 2012 by a consortium of organisations led by the London Metropolitan University and funded by the Greater London Authority.
At the time it was part as a series of programmes designed to address youth violence and reduce knife crime. By 2013 it described itself as a youth evidence hub that aimed to understand and share what worked in youth and education programmes in London. It became an independent charity in 2016 with the same mission.
The Centre for Youth Impact was similarly launched by a partnership of organisations in 2014, which included Project Oracle, alongside the Dartington Social Research Unit (now the Dartington Service Design Lab) and the National Council for Voluntary Youth Service (which merged with youth charity Ambition in 2016). The Centre for Youth Impact also became an independent charity in 2016.
McNeil said Project Oracle's activities will be integrated into the Centre for Youth Impact but remain identifiable, such as its standards of evidence against which youth organisations can gain validation, and its role to facilitate academic research placements in youth organisations.
Project Oracle's ongoing work is set to continue and all contracts or grant funding remain the same.
It is the latest in a long line of mergers in the youth sector in recent years. In January it was announced that youth mental health charities Place2Be and The Art Room would integrate services.
In September 2017 UK Youth announced a merger with Ambition.
