# UPDATE 6 Monday 11th July
Together we did it! What a huge achievement! Thanks to all who pledged to our Guild and to everyone who worked so hard!
Because we made our target within the deadline our campaign is now ‘in demand’! So its not to late to pledge membership or show your support! We aim to make our Guild fully sustainable, so anything we receive now will help us to achieve this.
There was a small but dedicated team of volunteers who worked tirelessly to make sure that our campaign was a success. Big shout outs go to Juliette Tuke –Milagros, Simon Mooney, James Brown, Kate Higham and Anda Coca-Cozma from Splice, Brooke Frost –Tracey Neuls, Alex Donne-Johnson – Dazzle Ship, Jane Smillie – Herb Lester, Laurie Sherman and Dana Airapetjana and Jana Mills from Small Axe.
Also, massive thanks to everyone who appeared in both our films and to those who donated rewards to our backers – The Gentle Author, Ally Capellino, Lily Vanilli, Rosie Wolfenden –Tatty Devine, James Brown, Raj Chawla – Mama Thai, Luke Coster – Luke Jacob, Philip Pittack – Crescent Trading, Paul Gardner – Gardners’ Bags, Carol Burns –C E Waste Paper Merchants, The Duke of Uke, Cafe Caribbean and Baddeley Brothers.
Enormous gratitude goes out to everyone who shared the campaign and who talked about it with their friends and family. The cumulative effect of everyone’s contribution no matter how small, or how big has made sure that we we’re successful. Together we did it!
# UPDATE 5 Thursday 7th July
Hackney Borough Council have committed to pledge £2,000 towards our campaign! Thank you London Borough of Hackney! They cannot process the payment in time for our deadline, but have no fear, we have a loan lined up that we will pay onto the page tomorrow, taking us just over 17k on our final day!
Thanks to all our wonderful supporters we're now well over the 15k hill and can see the finish line! View the full list of businesses to support us thus far on our
website.
The deadline to join or support our Guild is tomorrow, Friday 8th July at 11.59pm, so get your skates on if you’d like to be included on our new map and with East End Independents’ Day. If you don’t own a business you can also receive some beautiful rewards as thank yous for you generosity. See the gallery for pictures.
# UPDATE 4 Sunday 3rd July
“We joined because it’s really important to keep the heart and soul of the East End. We’ve always had change but we don’t want it to become homogenised and all the same. I think everyone with all their little quirks, it’s what makes the East End and we need to keep that heart and soul alive. Otherwise it will become like everywhere else with all the chain stores. It needs to be a mashup of anybody and everybody, we need to keep the roughnecks like the Pellicci’s here!” Anna Pellicci. E. Pellicci, 332 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 0AG.
Paul Gardner and Krissie Nicolson were in conversation with Daniel Giacopelli from The Entrepreneurs on global radio station the Monocle 24 last week! You can listen to the show here: - https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-entrepreneurs/246/the-value-of-independents/
# UPDATE 3 Tuesday 28th June
11 days to go! We're over 60% of the way there! Lets get to 15k by Monday! Watch this call to action by beloved founders Paul Gardner - Gardners' Bags, Philip Pittack - Crescent Trading and Carol Burns from C E Waste Paper Merchants. Please share this new film as often as you can using this link:
http://bit.ly/29mhqAu
# UPDATE 2 Wednesday 22nd June
Together we can do this! We're exactly half way through the campaign and more than halfway to our target!
There's been some great press this week. We've seen our film in
Spitalfields Life, members Tatty Devine were quoted in the
East End Citizen, today our founding organiser - Krissie Nicolson talks about the Guild for
The Holborn Magazine and tomorrow, Paul Gardner is being interviewed by global radio station the
Monocle!
We're busy creating a new film and will have a preview of our Herb Lester map to show you soon!
# UPDATE 1 Monday 13th June
These are the businesses that pledged last week and helped to give us the strong start that we needed;
A. Gold, Ally Capellino, Baddeley Brothers, Bernsteins', Cafe Caribbean, Caravan Style, Caroline Bousfield - Master Potter, Crescent Trading, Dazzle Ship, Deli Downstairs, Duke of Uke, Fabrications, Five Points Brewing Company, Gardners' Bags, Genesis Cinema, GH Cityprint, Ince Umbrellas, InSpitalfields, Johnston Architecture & Design, La Bouche, Labour & Wait, Leyden Gallery, Lily Vanilli, Luke Jacob, Luna & Curious, Mama Thai, Milagros, Nelly Duff, Play Vinyl, Plot London, SAS HR Ltd, Source Lifestyle, Splice TV & Film, Tatty Devine, Urban Species, Whitechapel Coffee Company.
Thank you so much to all our friends and members who've supported us so far!
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Our Friends of the EETG brooch, one of a limited edition run of a hundred. Especially hand made by members Tatty Devine. These are for supporters who don't own a business. Pick our Friends of the EETG reward to get your hands on one!
Join the East End Trades Guild!
The EETG is a community of small independent businesses
We want to work with all the small businesses that pledge their advance membership
to develop bespoke events, talks and walking tours on Small Business Saturday 3rd
December for our new initiative - East End Independents' Day! And with your help produce a new map with James Brown and Herb Lester so that the world knows exactly where to find
them in time for Christmas.
If you don’t own a business you can now get involved as a Friend of the EETG, or show support by snapping up one of our unique rewards.
Our members know an average of 80 customers by name and many take on social and community responsibilities. In total they have a turnover of £77 million, yet the forces that shape urban development, combined with inflated rents and taxes can overwhelm even the most viable of small businesses.
If we reach our funding goal we can celebrate the diversity and value that small independents bring
to our neighbourhoods, and simultaneously grow the capacity and collective voice we need to innovate for positive change.
£20,000 might seem ambitious but if all our social media followers choose our £12 tote bag reward from Gardners' Bags that would exceed the target!
Business membership benefits
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Marketing inclusion to the new EETG Independents' Day and map + a new improved website listing
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A welcome pack will include; welcome letter, a tote bag, window sticker and schedule of 12 EETG social events for the year and copies of our Herb Lester maps
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Monthly social events designed to meet the needs and ideas of the membership
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Being involved /or represented in policy initiatives and network innovation at borough and London region level
- Apprenticeship opportunities
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Professional legal advice workshops on lease terms, security of tenure and rent reviews
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Internal trading & collaboration
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A strong voice for small independent business that can compel positive change for the membership and the neighbourhoods to which they belong
There are 4 ways you can get involved!
1. Become a member: If you own a business with up to 50 employees and are based in the East End then sign up for advanced membership to feature on our map and help us to launch East End Independents' Day. Your membership will last for one year from the 1st December and you will receive your welcome pack in October 2016.
2. Become a friend: If you don't own a business but you care about the independents that give the East End its distinctive identity then sign up as one of the first Friends of the EETG, and benefit from special rewards from our members, you too will get your welcome pack in October this year.
3. Show that you care: If you would like to show your support with a one off donation then choose any one of the specially hand picked rewards made with love by our members.
4. Help promote and share: Please share this campaign with all your family and friends and far and wide across social media. If you're strapped for cash but you still want to to help out, this will make a huge difference!
This is a not-for-profit venture. All of your money goes towards developing, delivering and maintaining the ideas and furthering the interests of our valued small business members.
THANK YOU!
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About us
The East End Trades Guild launched in 2012 and volunteer members have achieved a great deal on a shoestring since then. Now the East End Trades Guild needs your help to pay for a member of staff to work with businesses to deliver our East End Independents' Day initiative.
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Our Story
The catalyst for the East End Trades Guild came when Spitalfieldsʼ oldest family business, Gardnersʼ Market Sundriesmen, selling paper bags from the same building for over one hundred and forty years, was faced with a large rent increase sufficient to put them out of business. Such was the public outcry that the landlord relented, but the point was made that these small independents are the essence of the East End and they needed to band together.
East End Independents' Day
On 3rd December this year, we want to launch East End Independents' Day to celebrate the infinite variety of small
businesses that give East London its famous character. The discerning customer
knows that small brings a personal touch and meaningful interaction, enhanced
expertise and craftsmanship that all make for a uniquely creative and
authentic end product.
Small independents employ local people, pay their taxes, and are
rooted in the social fabric of our neighbourhoods. Many of them take on social
and community responsibilities.
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East End Independents' Day is an idea that has sprung from EETG members Juliette Tuke from Milagros (left) on Columbia Road and Brooke Frost (right) from Tracey Neuls on Redchurch Street.
The Map
If we make our target Herb Lester and James Brown will produce a map of the small
businesses that pledge their advanced membership dues via this campaign. Our map will direct the public to events and walking tours of studios, machine rooms, shops and more on 3rd December 2016. Participating businesses across all
sectors will be
featured to make sure the world knows where to spend their money where it
counts the most on East End Independents' Day and forever!
Our Staff
Our member of staff is founding organiser and active volunteer member Krissie Nicolson. Krissie recently worked with local artist Lucinda Rogers to compose an open letter of objection to Boris Johnson regarding the proposed Hammerson & Ballymore plans for Bishopsgate Goodsyard. Together with founding member Paul Gardner from Gardners' Bags they compiled a list of over 140 local business signatories.
Krissie also played a key role in organising an Ideas Workshop on March 18th with the aim of developing solutions to the loss of industrial land to unaffordable housing developments. Experts including Turner Prize winners Assemble gathered at the Urban Innovation Centre. Industrial areas are the natural habitat for 22% of London's small businesses. These solutions are currently being distilled and refined together with the Just Space Economy & Planning group and the Open Workshop Network.
In addition, Krissie has worked with local legal firm Dowse & Co to provide a commercial property law workshop with the aim of empowering small business owners to confidently negotiate with their landlords.
Krissie Nicolson is proud to be a Fellow of the RSA, which endorses the best new Fellowship campaigns driving positive social impact today. Discover more about the RSA and joining the Fellowship here.
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