AGM Board Annual Report 2025 - Revision history

Jacky: /* Media Report */

2025-09-21T16:05:29Z

Media Report

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:05, 21 September 2025
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	*Mentoring others to run pop-up Free Shops, with a pilot in Peckham (Sept–Dec) in partnership with a food bank.		*Mentoring others to run pop-up Free Shops, with a pilot in Peckham (Sept–Dec) in partnership with a food bank.
	*Completed six live BBC Radio Sussex interviews on environmental topics. Am always introduced as Cat from Freegle and manage to get a plug in for us :-)		*Completed six live BBC Radio Sussex interviews on environmental topics. Am always introduced as Cat from Freegle and manage to get a plug in for us :-)


	Cat<br>		Cat<br>

Jacky: /* Media Report */

2025-09-21T16:04:58Z

Media Report

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:04, 21 September 2025
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	=====Media Report=====		=====Media Report=====
	Publicity and public engagement for Freegle UK has been much reduced over the past year compared to previous 15 odd years. In the latter part of 2024 because of my personal circumstances and health issues and in 2025 because my contract has been reduced to max 8 days pcm (was previously 12ish) but on average now it is just 1.5 days per week; so less events attended, thus less networking and less time to instigate new stuff.

	~~We have ceased posting to X formerly Twitter, as~~ the ~~algorithm and other changes made the platform less relevant, quite toxic and not worth the effort of posting especially due~~ to ~~a vast array of other users we would align and want to connect with, all leaving X over~~ the ~~past few~~ years. ~~The account~~ is ~~still monitored (in case anything needs follow up). There is not an obvious alternate platform to migrate to; but to engage with a new audience for Freegle the platform~~ to ~~work on would be Tik Tok - but this is not something I am skilled at~~ and ~~unfortunately the video maker I was~~		Public engagement for Freegle UK has significantly reduced over the past year compared to the previous 15 years. This decline is largely due to personal health challenges and a reduction in contracted hours —from approximately 12 days per calendar month to a maximum of 8, averaging just 1.5 days per week. As a result, fewer events were attended, limiting networking opportunities and the capacity to initiate new projects.
	~~working with early 2024 to assist with making Tik Tok content moved away (~~a month ~~or so before my house burnt down) and thus that alliance came~~ to ~~an end sadly before anything came~~ of it. ~~I am~~
	~~hoping to recruit new (younger!) volunteers to assist with social media; to both support local groups with their existing social media but also to set up and create content for a FreegleUK Tik~~
	~~Tok~~. ~~Have registered with~~ a ~~few University Volunteer programmes which will hopefully elicit some~~ new ~~energy to help with this after the start of the upcoming academic year~~.

	~~Facebook and Instagram remain stable.~~ We ~~have around 82,000 followers~~ on ~~FB which remains about the same as last year, as unfollowers pretty much match any new followers we attract~~ (~~annoying!~~)~~. The insights from January~~ to the ~~end of July are below (~~the ~~META system unfortunately~~ no longer ~~allows me to generate~~ a ~~12 month set of analytics or~~ to ~~go back as far as I want~~, as was previously possible). So although we have over 80,000 followers, less than 5,000 (on average) see our posts - this is because we do not ‘boost’ (pay for) our content. Our Facebook posts have been seen by around half a ~~million people this year; on average 70% are our followers~~ and ~~30% non-followers~~. ~~Previous experiments haveshown that we cannot afford~~ to ~~‘boost’ our posts that would justify the expense. We do however get a similar level of engagement and ‘likes’ as similar ‘un-boosted’ pages~~ to ~~ours - so we plough on. We create our own content, share other content that is relevant and~~ support ~~campaigns around waste prevention, reuse and recycling; other environmental and community projects and generic ‘of interest’ posts~~, ~~so that there is a variety of~~ content ~~published that has a broader appeal than just ‘Freegle’ to engage with more people~~.		We discontinued posting on X (formerly Twitter) due to algorithm changes and increasing toxicity on the platform. While the account remains monitored, it is no longer active. TikTok has been identified as a potential platform to reach new audiences, but progress was halted due to the departure of a video collaborator and personal setbacks. Efforts are underway to recruit younger volunteers through university programmes to support social media efforts, including TikTok content creation.

	~~The two exceptionally popular posts in January~~ and ~~February? (25K~~ engagement..~~.about 20k more than most) One about ‘obsolete stuff’~~ and ~~the other about ‘new~~ blister pack ~~recycling’~~. So completely random~~. No more interesting or different~~ from ~~most of what we post~~. ~~Which~~ is ~~why it is not straightforward to repeat!~~		Facebook and Instagram remain stable. Freegle has approximately 82,000 Facebook followers, with engagement levels consistent despite not boosting posts. Insights from January to July show that fewer than 5,000 followers see posts on average. Two standout posts in early 2024 — on obsolete items and blister pack recycling — achieved 25,000 engagements each. So completely random! Instagram followers increased from 1,000 to 1,200, with a 65% rise in engagement. The audience is predominantly women aged 25–64. Multi-image posts with background music perform best.

	~~We have 1~~,~~200~~ followers ~~on Instagram~~, ~~up from 1K a year ago. We have had a 65% increase in engagement this year over last.~~		Goals for the coming year include attracting more male and under-35 audiences, doubling followers, and producing more polished content.
	*78.8% are women
	*
	~~19% (of total) aged 25-34~~
	*25.~~7% (of total) aged 35-44~~
	*24.3% (of total) aged 45-54
	*19% (of total) aged 55-64

	~~I've experimented with single images~~, ~~multi images and reels~~. Multi images are best by a big margin and we’ve been adding background music latterly which helps gain more reach too. As with Facebook we follow and share other content and accounts that are relevant to ~~us too~~.		Due to personal circumstances, summer 2024 saw limited activity. Thanks to Kathryn Bird for stepping in to support media tasks during this period.

	~~Aims for coming year:~~		Key Engagements and Achievements
	*to attract more male and ~~more under 35’s to our content in the future.~~
	*to double our followers in the coming year and to generate slicker content to do so.

			September 2024:

	~~Other things~~		*Attended the RWM exhibition at NEC Birmingham. Delivered a seminar on council work in Wandsworth and networked with reuse organisations and councils.
			*Recognised in “The Environment 100” list for influence in the waste industry.
			*Brighton Freegle Free Shop won Highly Commended at the BBC Make a Difference Awards. Coverage included BBC Radio Sussex and local press.
			*A short film about the Free Shop was produced by Natalie and Anna.

	~~Due to personal circumstances not a lot of extra things happened over the summer of 2024. Many thanks to Kathryn Bird for covering some of the Media tasks at that time.~~		October 2024:
	~~September 2024~~
	* We attended RWM - The annual Recycling and Waste Management exhibition at NEC in Birmingham.. Natalie, Anna and I delivered a seminar session on the council work with Wandsworth in London. Networked with The Reuse Network, Warp-It, Suez, some councils and others involved in Reuse. Edward and I were voted by Industry heavyweights to be part of ‘The Environment 100’ a group of people from big and small business, government, and a few from the community sector considered to be most influential in the Waste industry.
	* Attended BBC Make a Difference Awards night in Mid-Sussex. The Brighton Freegle Free Shop won Highly Commended. Good coverage on BBC Radio Sussex and a bit in local press.
	* Natalie and Anna organised making a short film about the Free Shop. Freegle Free Shop Worked with Natalie to put together Free Shop case study and other supporting assets. October 2024
	* Attended an evening forum at Arup in London with the Chartered Institute of Waste
	~~Management. “Accelerating the Transition to a Circular Economy”. Excellent networking with London councils and other businesses and organisations.~~
	* Did filming with ITV for National Reuse Day - broadcast across every region in England. Excellent mainstream coverage for Reuse and Freegle.ITV News: ~~Freegle Free Shop, Brighton + The Recycle Shop, Birchington~~
	* Did a talk at the Circle shop for a “Climate Women” event in Brighton.
	~~November 2024~~
	* Contributing lecturer and mentor for Global Challenges Project at Brighton University -across a few day with 100+ students from all faculties..
	* Confirmed partner on city-wide Lottery-funded Climate Action 3 year programme. 8k funding to instigate pop-up Freegle Free Shops across Brighton & Hove and to embed more freegling into community action and projects.

	~~2025~~		*Participated in CIWM’s forum at Arup London on circular economy, with strong networking outcomes.
	* ~~Organised to deliver a talk to several hundred students~~ at Roedean College in Brighton for Climate Action Week in June (outcome: very positive feedback and was a great opportunity to influence some young and wealthy (= high consumers) women and many teachers too. ~~https://roedean.co.uk/sustainability-at-roedean~~		*Filmed with ITV for National Reuse Day, broadcast nationwide.
	* ~~Worked~~ with ~~Ingka (IKEA HQ) to support their Clothes Swap~~ for Slow Fashion week at Churchill Square Shopping Centre in Brighton. Freegle collected all their leftover fashion items (70Kgs of it) and redistributed on Ikea’s behalf in March. Ikea have bought the Centre and thus it is a good connection to have made, ~~as a new Ikea store to be opened there in the summer - so we now have a good Ikea contact for anything in the future~~.		*Delivered a talk at the Climate Women event in Brighton.
	* ~~Recruited~~ a ~~volunteer from Defra for the Free Shop. Working with her to put together documents and a package to host a Learning and Development Volunteer Day~~ at the ~~Freegle Free Shop to get us back on Defra’s radar and to influence policy. More on that for the end of 2025.~~
	* Working on mentoring others to do pop-up Free Shops (ongoing). First pilot to happen September to December in ~~South London - Peckham area in alliance with an existing Food Bank~~.
	* Have done 6 live to air pieces for BBC Radio Sussex in the past year covering subjects like food waste, littering, recycling, pollution and reuse. Am always introduced as Cat from Freegle and manage to get a plug in for us :-)

			November 2024:

			*Lectured and mentored students at Brighton University’s Global Challenges Project.
			*Joined a Lottery-funded Climate Action programme with £8,000 funding for pop-up Free Shops in Brighton & Hove.

			2025:

			*Delivered a talk at Roedean College for Climate Action Week, receiving positive feedback.
			*Partnered with IKEA HQ for Slow Fashion Week, redistributing 70kg of clothing and establishing a valuable contact ahead of a new store launch.
			*Recruited a Defra volunteer to help develop a Learning & Development Volunteer Day at Freegle Free Shop.
			*Mentoring others to run pop-up Free Shops, with a pilot in Peckham (Sept–Dec) in partnership with a food bank.
			*Completed six live BBC Radio Sussex interviews on environmental topics. Am always introduced as Cat from Freegle and manage to get a plug in for us :-)

			Cat<br>
			Media Director

	Links:		Links:

Jacky: /* Media Report */

2025-09-21T14:57:44Z

Media Report

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:57, 21 September 2025
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	I've experimented with single images, multi images and reels. Multi images are best by a big margin and we’ve been adding background music latterly which helps gain more reach too. As with Facebook we follow and share other content and accounts that are relevant to us too.		I've experimented with single images, multi images and reels. Multi images are best by a big margin and we’ve been adding background music latterly which helps gain more reach too. As with Facebook we follow and share other content and accounts that are relevant to us too.

	~~Aim~~ for coming year:		Aims for coming year:
	● to attract more male and more under 35’s to our content in the future.		*to attract more male and more under 35’s to our content in the future.
	● to double our followers in the coming year and to generate slicker content to do so.		*to double our followers in the coming year and to generate slicker content to do so.


	Other things		Other things
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	Due to personal circumstances not a lot of extra things happened over the summer of 2024. Many thanks to Kathryn Bird for covering some of the Media tasks at that time.		Due to personal circumstances not a lot of extra things happened over the summer of 2024. Many thanks to Kathryn Bird for covering some of the Media tasks at that time.
	September 2024		September 2024
	* We attended RWM - The annual Recycling and Waste Management exhibition at NEC in		* We attended RWM - The annual Recycling and Waste Management exhibition at NEC in Birmingham.. Natalie, Anna and I delivered a seminar session on the council work with Wandsworth in London. Networked with The Reuse Network, Warp-It, Suez, some councils and others involved in Reuse. Edward and I were voted by Industry heavyweights to be part of ‘The Environment 100’ a group of people from big and small business, government, and a few from the community sector considered to be most influential in the Waste industry.
	Birmingham.. Natalie, Anna and I delivered a seminar session on the council work with		* Attended BBC Make a Difference Awards night in Mid-Sussex. The Brighton Freegle Free Shop won Highly Commended. Good coverage on BBC Radio Sussex and a bit in local press.
	Wandsworth in London. Networked with The Reuse Network, Warp-It, Suez, some councils		* Natalie and Anna organised making a short film about the Free Shop. Freegle Free Shop Worked with Natalie to put together Free Shop case study and other supporting assets. October 2024
	and others involved in Reuse.Edward and I were voted by Industry heavyweights to be part
	of ‘The Environment 100’ a group of people from big and small business, government, and
	a few from the community sector considered to be most influential in the Waste industry.
	* Attended BBC Make a Difference Awards night in Mid-Sussex. The Brighton Freegle Free
	Shop won Highly Commended.Good coverage on BBC ~~RadioSussex~~ and a bit in local
	press.
	* Natalie and Anna organised making a short film about the Free Shop.
	Freegle Free Shop
	Worked with Natalie to put together Free Shop case study and other supporting assets.
	October 2024
	* Attended an evening forum at Arup in London with the Chartered Institute of Waste		* Attended an evening forum at Arup in London with the Chartered Institute of Waste
	Management.		Management. “Accelerating the Transition to a Circular Economy”. Excellent networking with London councils and other businesses and organisations.
	“Accelerating the Transition to a Circular Economy”. Excellent networking with London councils		* Did filming with ITV for National Reuse Day - broadcast across every region in England. Excellent mainstream coverage for Reuse and Freegle.ITV News: Freegle Free Shop, Brighton + The Recycle Shop, Birchington
	and other businesses and organisations.
	* Did filming with ITV for National Reuse Day - broadcast across every region in England.
	Excellent mainstream coverage for Reuse and Freegle.
	ITV News: Freegle Free Shop, Brighton + The Recycle Shop, Birchington
	* Did a talk at the Circle shop for a “Climate Women” event in Brighton.		* Did a talk at the Circle shop for a “Climate Women” event in Brighton.
	November 2024		November 2024
	* Contributing lecturer and mentor for Global Challenges Project at Brighton University -		* Contributing lecturer and mentor for Global Challenges Project at Brighton University -across a few day with 100+ students from all faculties..
	across a few day with 100+ students from all faculties..		* Confirmed partner on city-wide Lottery-funded Climate Action 3 year programme. 8k funding to instigate pop-up Freegle Free Shops across Brighton & Hove and to embed more freegling into community action and projects.
	* Confirmed partner on city-wide Lottery-funded Climate Action 3 year programme. 8k
	funding to instigate pop-up Freegle Free Shops across Brighton & Hove and to embed
	more freegling into community action and projects.

	2025		2025
	* Organised to deliver a talk to several hundred students at Roedean College in Brighton for		* Organised to deliver a talk to several hundred students at Roedean College in Brighton for Climate Action Week in June (outcome: very positive feedback and was a great opportunity to influence some young and wealthy (= high consumers) women and many teachers too. https://roedean.co.uk/sustainability-at-roedean
	Climate Action Week in June (outcome: very positive feedback and was a great opportunity		* Worked with Ingka (IKEA HQ) to support their Clothes Swap for Slow Fashion week at Churchill Square Shopping Centre in Brighton. Freegle collected all their leftover fashion items (70Kgs of it) and redistributed on Ikea’s behalf in March. Ikea have bought the Centre and thus it is a good connection to have made, as a new Ikea store to be opened there in the summer - so we now have a good Ikea contact for anything in the future.
	to influence some young and wealthy (= high consumers) women and many teachers too.		* Recruited a volunteer from Defra for the Free Shop. Working with her to put together documents and a package to host a Learning and Development Volunteer Day at the Freegle Free Shop to get us back on Defra’s radar and to influence policy. More on that for the end of 2025.
	https://roedean.co.uk/sustainability-at-roedean		* Working on mentoring others to do pop-up Free Shops (ongoing). First pilot to happen September to December in South London - Peckham area in alliance with an existing Food Bank.
	* Worked with Ingka (IKEA HQ) to support their Clothes Swap for Slow Fashion week at		* Have done 6 live to air pieces for BBC Radio Sussex in the past year covering subjects like food waste, littering, recycling, pollution and reuse. Am always introduced as Cat from Freegle and manage to get a plug in for us :-)
	Churchill Square Shopping Centre in Brighton. Freegle collected all their leftover fashion
	items (70Kgs of it) and redistributed on Ikea’s behalf in March. Ikea have bought the Centre
	and thus it is a good connection to have made, as a new Ikea store to be opened there in
	the summer - so we now have a good Ikea contact for anything in the future.
	* Recruited a volunteer from Defra for the Free Shop. Working with her to put together
	documents and a package to host a Learning and Development Volunteer Day at the
	Freegle Free Shop to get us back on Defra’s radar and to influence policy. More on that for
	the end of 2025.
	* Working on mentoring others to do pop-up Free Shops (ongoing). First pilot to happen
	September to December in South London - Peckham area in alliance with an existing Food
	Bank.
	* Have done 6 live to air pieces for BBC Radio Sussex in the past year covering subjects like
	food waste, littering, recycling, pollution and reuse. Am always introduced as Cat from
	Freegle and manage to get a plug in for us :-)

Jacky at 13:30, 21 September 2025

2025-09-21T13:30:50Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:30, 21 September 2025
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	====AGM 2025 Team reports====		===AGM 2025 Team reports===
	=====Ombudsman Report=====		=====Ombudsman Report=====
	We recruited 7 volunteers to serve on the Advisory Panel for this year. They assisted in dealing with the one complaint received and we are grateful for their advice and contributions in this matter.		We recruited 7 volunteers to serve on the Advisory Panel for this year. They assisted in dealing with the one complaint received and we are grateful for their advice and contributions in this matter.

Jacky at 13:29, 21 September 2025

2025-09-21T13:29:16Z

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2025-09-05T15:48:52Z

Created page with "coming very soon!"

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