Freegle Reps Report 2013-02-28
This Report covers the period of February 2013 up to 10 March 2013.
ABANDONED GROUPS
We continue to monitor reports of groups that are abandoned. We were asked to sanction the promotion to GO of a mod on a thriving group where the GO had abandoned the group and was not replying to emails. Reps, however, do not have the remit to do this. We’ve discussed some of the issues surrounding abandoned groups and owners who do not reply to emails from Reps or GAT.
IT
Web Hosting
We approved a change to our level of web hosting which will result in increased resilience and less input from the geeks. The cost will be £74 a month.
SSL Licence
We’ve agreed to renew our SSL licence, due on 23rd April 2013 at a cost of $107.99 (approx £72).
Mobile App
Edward has been liaising for some time with a professional app developer. This has got further than other volunteers and there is a reasonable chance we will get something within a few months. We have agreed to set up an IOS developer account for Freegle at a cost of $99.(approx £67).
PUBLICITY
EcoBuild and Waste Totem Pole
5/6/7 March 2013
http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/attractions/waste-totem.html
Cat carried out a huge amount of work on helping to build and paint the waste totem pole. As a result of this Freegle had three large logos on the pole which we did not have to pay for and we have received tremendous publicity.
Cat also helped to run the #ecototem twitter campaign and competition which resulted in several Freegle mods having their slogans emblazoned on the eco totem pole. She also manned seminar space
http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/attractions/waste-totem/wastezone-at-ecobuild.html
and gave talks on Freegle.
Cat also screened the film Trashed
Any mod interested in showing this film in their community can contact Cat - this could be a good fund raising / awareness raising event.
Community Eco Day 9 March
Cat also attended this community Eco day event on a housing estate in Westminister. Some positive feedback was received but also reports of the difficulty of joining/using yahoo groups and a desire to have an alternative from some existing Freegle members.
Guardian Competition
Edward has entered us for a Guardian competition for which the prize is a bespoke animated video.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/competition/2013/feb/04/whats-your-story
Observer Ethical Awards
Cat is doing a nomination for us at the end of this month.
British Heart Foundation Newsletter
We’ve had a mention in this:
http://www.bhf.org.uk/heart-matters-online/march-april-2013/activity/cycling.aspx
Woman’s Own Magazine
Freegle will be featured in an article due to come out on 18 March.
WRAP Reuse Materials
WRAP have produced publicity materials for reuse.
Watch this Space - we’ll post some more information soon on how Freegle can use use these materials.
StartUK - Freegle Day - 28 May 2013
Cat met with StartUK to discuss a month long campaign in May and how Freegle can be involved[e].
We have been allocated 28th May as Freegle Day. Details will follow. They will promote Freegle for the month as well as on 28th. Other days are allocated to M&S, Waitrose, B&Q other businesses (who all pay for their 'day’) and a few other non-profit organisations
Big Break
Freegle has been entered into the The Big Break Competition for March. We agreed to send out a bulk admin to groups asking mods to encourage their members to vote for Freegle.
OTHER
Donations
We’ve received some very generous donations recently. Amongst others, we’ve received £5,500 from an anonymous donor. This will be used to put Freegle on a more sustainable footing. The details of all the donations and the Freegle accounts can be seen at:
http://freegle.in/accounts and
http://www.ilovefreegle.org/supporters/
Appeal For Funds
We posted a message on Central explaining that we need extra money to cover running costs and asking for extra donations so that we can continue at the existing level of website hosting and media coverage.
The message explaining the details is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreegleReps/message/3163
How you can donate to Freegle:
http://www.ilovefreegle.org/donate/
Give As You Live
Help Freegle get £250
If we are able to get 50 new shoppers who go on to spend £25 or more by the end of June Freegle will receive a payment of £250. Give As You Live provides a way of raising money for Freegle without any extra cost. Details of this are also on the Wiki.
http://Wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Donations_for_Freegle
USEFUL CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR FREEGLE
can be found on this wiki page
http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Contact_Details
Back to Freegle Reps Report 2013-01-31
