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What's it all about?
ASBA is an association of like minded people and organisations which subscribe to a set of common values and principles.

ASBA isn't limited by legal structures or geography, just ideology. If you agree with the values and principles we'd love you to join and meet up with other people of a similar mindset.

Why Social Business?
In a nutshell, some of us feel that the term "social enterprise" has been hijacked by lots of people who view it as a way to get funding or as a sexy new label to add to something, which kind of misses the point. ASBA is for people who trade and run businesses which subscribe to our values and principles, nothing more.

Why "a" social business association?
There seems to be a trend in the social enterprise sector for organisations to have names which imply they speak for a wider audience, like "social enterprise coalition" who claim to be the "voice of social enterprise in the UK".

All I'll say is that SEC don't speak for me.. and when you only have 200 members it's a bit cheeky to claim to speak for everyone.

On that basis we decided to call ourselves "a social business association", emphasis being on the "a" rather than "the" to reflect the fact that we are a group of organisations linked by a common set of beliefs.

What's it going to cost?
Zip, nada, zilch.. Me, Jon Clarke, is volunteering to get this thing up and running and pay for the first networking event in September. If it works and everyone wants to continue then maybe we can all look at putting some cash in to expand what it does. If not, we'll just putter along and see how it goes.

What's it for/why should I join?
We've set this thing up for several reasons:

A lot of us social entrepreneurs feel quite isolated so we thought it would be nice if we could all get together and start talking and supporting each other.
When dealing with "the powers that be" a common voice is far more effective than lots of single voices.
Between us we know an awful lot and it seems like a good idea to share experiences and opinions.
It felt like the right thing to do....

What's it for?
A very good question. Personally, I don't think it's one persons place to decide what an association does/is for. That's the job of the members, so as things develop I'll post them here.

For the time being I've committed to try and get the thing up and running and organise a networking event in September. From there it's up to all of use to decide what ASBA is going to try and achieve (or not).

Who's in it?
Early days yet, but click here to get a list of our current membership. This will update as new people join.

How do I join or get more information?
There's only one stipulation on membership of ASBA. You need to genuinely agree with the values and principles we're espousing. That's it..

For more information call Darren Squires or Sarah Mellor on 01482 01482564479, or email Jon on jon@humbersidecda.info.

You can try me, Jon Clarke, on 01482 449877 but I'm usually out. Leave a message and I'll get back to you asap.