Last December a membership survey was conducted. This is a short summary of the (fully anonymised) report, which will be emailed out in the near future. This survey is part of an ongoing process to find out what people’s needs are and to respond to them.
Three main questions were asked:
Strengths:
One of the main strengths of the ESTA network is the ease at which members can get in touch with each other, allowing members to share ideas, information and expertise. It also makes it easier to “find partners to work with”. For others, being a member of the network helps reduce feelings of isolation, as one member pointed out, it “brings isolated freelancers together.”
ESTA’s ethical principles are appreciated, as one respondent remarked, “explores how what we do changes and affects us and others”.
Other aspects of the ESTA network are appreciated too, including business support, the meetings, low membership cost, workshops, the feeling that it’s “safe to share ideas” and the emphasis on “economic wellbeing, social wellbeing and personal development”.
Weaknesses:
Exploring negative aspects of the ESTA network is important too. Some members would appreciate more active engagement. However, some people are simply too busy to attend meetings and the meeting day and / or time does not suit everyone. Although most respondents found the meet-ups helpful, a few people thought meetings needed to have more structure.
A few people felt that the ESTA network needs more publicity - publicising the overall vision of ESTA, the benefits of membership and publicising its existence: “the biggest weakness is our cloak of invisibility”.
A small minority of members do not like ESTA’ s ethical philosophy, “I have reservations about its underpinning New Age philosophy”, while another person has concerns that the ‘ethical’ side of ESTA couldn’t be ‘policed’ and viewed this as a weakness.
What do you understand the aims and purposes of the ESTA network to be? Are these values important to you?
The opportunity to network and share ideas with like-minded people is viewed as one of the main purposes of ESTA and is seen as particularly important:
“I understand it to be a supportive network for ethically minded business; aimed at supporting co-learning, collaboration; improvements in practice regarding ethics whilst also developing a solidarity economy. I 100% subscribe to all these values.”
Most survey respondents are fully aware of ESTA’s ethical aims and view them as important too. For some, doing business in an ethically-focused way is more important than making a profit at any cost, though other respondents mentioned the obvious importance and need to build up their own businesses along with generally supporting the local economy.
“To build relationships with other local businesses and help each other build the local economy. To make business in the area sustainable. These values are important to us as it is important to ensure that the local economy thrives and this has a knock on effect throughout all our businesses.”
Julie Billsborough
ESTA Researcher & Admin Support
Three main questions were asked:
- What do you most appreciate about the ESTA network: what are its biggest strengths?
- In what areas do you think the network could see improvements: what are its biggest weaknesses?
- Clarity of purpose: What do you understand? the aims and purposes of the ESTA network to be. And are these values important to you?
Strengths:
One of the main strengths of the ESTA network is the ease at which members can get in touch with each other, allowing members to share ideas, information and expertise. It also makes it easier to “find partners to work with”. For others, being a member of the network helps reduce feelings of isolation, as one member pointed out, it “brings isolated freelancers together.”
ESTA’s ethical principles are appreciated, as one respondent remarked, “explores how what we do changes and affects us and others”.
Other aspects of the ESTA network are appreciated too, including business support, the meetings, low membership cost, workshops, the feeling that it’s “safe to share ideas” and the emphasis on “economic wellbeing, social wellbeing and personal development”.
Weaknesses:
Exploring negative aspects of the ESTA network is important too. Some members would appreciate more active engagement. However, some people are simply too busy to attend meetings and the meeting day and / or time does not suit everyone. Although most respondents found the meet-ups helpful, a few people thought meetings needed to have more structure.
A few people felt that the ESTA network needs more publicity - publicising the overall vision of ESTA, the benefits of membership and publicising its existence: “the biggest weakness is our cloak of invisibility”.
A small minority of members do not like ESTA’ s ethical philosophy, “I have reservations about its underpinning New Age philosophy”, while another person has concerns that the ‘ethical’ side of ESTA couldn’t be ‘policed’ and viewed this as a weakness.
What do you understand the aims and purposes of the ESTA network to be? Are these values important to you?
The opportunity to network and share ideas with like-minded people is viewed as one of the main purposes of ESTA and is seen as particularly important:
“I understand it to be a supportive network for ethically minded business; aimed at supporting co-learning, collaboration; improvements in practice regarding ethics whilst also developing a solidarity economy. I 100% subscribe to all these values.”
Most survey respondents are fully aware of ESTA’s ethical aims and view them as important too. For some, doing business in an ethically-focused way is more important than making a profit at any cost, though other respondents mentioned the obvious importance and need to build up their own businesses along with generally supporting the local economy.
“To build relationships with other local businesses and help each other build the local economy. To make business in the area sustainable. These values are important to us as it is important to ensure that the local economy thrives and this has a knock on effect throughout all our businesses.”
Julie Billsborough
ESTA Researcher & Admin Support
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