An update on The Seeker - and how you can get involved 😎

Hello, we've just done our first reader survey and the results were really interesting.👇

📣 What you said

The survey showed widespread support for turning The Seeker into a non-profit, funded by small monthly donations from readers.

Almost two-thirds of you said you'd consider making a monthly contribution - which is great because realistically that is the only way The Seeker is going to become sustainable.

The most popular amount to contribute was between £1 and £5 a month, with 83% of you going for that option.

And when asked what would help convince you to make a monthly donation, almost half of you said turning The Seeker into a non-profit, while 35% said you would be happy to support it in its current format. A quarter said they'd like more content or paid-member only content.

In terms of getting the word out, 98% said they would recommend The Seeker to a friend so please keep doing that as that is the best way to let more people in Norwich know about us.

We're aiming to hit 500 members by the end of the year and are currently closing in on 300 so we have some way to go, but I think we can do it with your help. 🤞

What you liked - and what you wanted

Thanks for all the kind comments about what you enjoyed about The Seeker. The phrases which kept coming up were the quality, in-depth and local, as well as the lack of adverts (this is why making a monthly donation will be so important). I've included some below:

"Good facts and details. I like the focus on one particular topic affecting Norwich each week."

"In depth, well-researched, thoughtful content that can be trusted."

"Good depth of information on the subjects and exposing the problems."

And my favourite, because it sums up everything I want The Seeker, to do:

"Independent journalism focused on the city I live and work in, by people who are trustworthy and experienced."

Finally, in terms of what improvements you'd like to see, many of you had lots of story suggestions so thank you for those. More environmental stories was a popular choice and a few people mentioned more family-focused and education articles.

Some of you also wanted to see more frequent stories. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen until I can secure some funding/help, but I do hope to do that in the future.

👣 Next steps

So, based on all that, here is what I'm planning to do next:

1) Explore the feasibility of turning The Seeker into a non-profit;

2) Investigate how a subscription model could work, while still keeping The Seeker free to access;

3) Review story ideas and look at how we can produce more and better content.

I can't do all this alone and The Seeker is not going to fulfil its potential with just one person working on it their spare time! So I'm looking for people to help with these next steps.

If you have a background or interest in non-profits, social enterprise and/or local journalism and would like to get involved in The Seeker at this early stage then please email me at editor@thenorwichseeker.co.uk

Many thanks,

Tom