According to Baker, as we enter a new era of economic austerity, the benefits of working together become increasingly attractive. "Together we can achieve far more than one organisation on its own", he says. He believes the example of the Consortium that he set up almost ten years ago can be duplicated in other sectors.

Martin explains that the idea for the Consortium formed when a charity L&D manager fell off his chair laughing at the proposed cost of eLearning. Together they set up a group of six charities to share the cost, and so the CLC was born. "It's a great example of necessity being the mother of invention", says Martin. "And in the current economic climate, all organisations need to be inventive."

The power of the Charity Learning Consortium itself - which now has 75 member charities and counting - lies in simple collaboration, which makes eLearning cost effective for all members.

"Although the cost savings of a consortium may be the most obvious, there are other benefits that may not at first be apparent", adds Martin. These include benchmarking, working towards common goals, learning from others' mistakes, and sharing resources and knowledge. A refreshing openness amongst members and a willingness to collaborate, share, and learn together is at the heart of the CLC.

Martin will be addressing Online Educa on 03 December 2010 at 2.15pm, talking about the ten benefits of working together in a consortium. He'll be taking part in an interactive discussion to explore practical, innovative ideas on how to successfully deliver greater efficiency demanded by business while still improving the quality of learning demanded by staff.

Martin will be joined by Lesley Price, Head of Regeneration and Skills at Becta, who will be talking about the eLearning lessons learnt from fifty case studies, and Cynan Houghton, Capacity Building Coordinator at Oxfam, who will be talking about establishing strategic business change under pressure.