Who owns us?
The Council? A media corporation? A political foundation? We are proud to say none of the above. The Slice Tower Hamlets magazine and its family of four online community news websites, Roman Road LDN, Whitechapel LDN, Poplar LDN and Bethnal Green LDN, is fiercely independent.
Our titles are published by Social Streets C.I.C., a not-for-profit news publishing organisation set up by resident and former magazine editor Tabitha Stapely who wanted to bring back local journalism, but better.
Social Streets is an asset-locked organisation guaranteed by shares and regulated by the CIC regulator, which means the Company is not established or conducted for private gain and any surplus or assets are used principally for the benefit of the Community. On closure of the company, all remaining funds would be gifted to the charity Royal Society of the Arts.
Social Streets’ company number is 08533645, a registered Limited company covered by the laws of England & Wales. It comprises 100 shares, of which Miss Tabitha Stapely owns all shares. There are two directors of the business – Founder and Director Miss Tabitha Stapely and Company Secretary Mr Paul O’Neill. The registered address is 13 Selwyn Road, London, E3 5EA and the business contact number is 07483 123557.
Social Streets is the sole owner of the lists of signed-up subscribers on all its publications and social media platforms.
We comply fully with the company laws of England and Wales and as such full accounting procedures are in place.
We also comply fully with GDPR laws on data privacy and are open and transparent about any data we hold.
What is our mission?
A recent Press Gazette report revealed the number of journalists employed by the UK’s three biggest newsgroups to work on regional and local publications dropped from 9,000 to 3,000 between 2007 and 2022. This has resulted in news deserts, communities with little or no access to credible news reporting. The 2023 Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that trust in news in the UK was just at 33% – joint 12th lowest among the 46 markets studied.
As a social enterprise, our publisher Social Streets CIC is bringing local journalism back and developing a model of constructive local journalism that benefits the community. Since 2018, we’ve launched four online community news platforms for Tower Hamlets, and an over-arching print title. We employ locally-based journalists serving an area with a population of 310,000.
Without high-quality, trusted journalism, residents are left in the dark about local politics, the local economy and the local people doing amazing things amid their ranks.
The charitable objective of Social Streets, as stated in the Articles of Association, is to increase participation in local communities and in projects that benefit the community.
How are we funded?
In 2018, we launched on thin air using a free WordPress platform and contributions from local volunteer writers and photographers. We decided not to put our content behind a paywall, paid subscription or cover price as we believe the benefits of an independent news outlet should be available to everyone living in our area.
Instead, we launched a membership scheme to fund an editorial team of two overseeing all five titles. We aim to be fully funded by reader donations and business listings. Until that time, the majority of the editorial operations must be cross-subsidised by providing digital marketing services, training, and consultancy.
A Fellowship programme pays for three part-time trainees who produce a weekly assignment. A generous local supporter funds this, but this funding ends in 2024.
With only a tiny team of two to manage five publications. This means we have to run a tight ship relying on Freemiums, donated equipment and furniture, and content from the Fellowship scheme. Abbotts Interiors on Roman Road kindly provides free office space. Do pop by – you’ll find us at our laptops around a big pine dining table.
What is our income?
Despite running a tight ship, there is still a large shortfall. In 2024 we expect to receive £14,400 in donations from 350 members, and £21,000 from local business advertising, £8k of which is spent on the print and distribution of our free borough magazine.
This leaves a shortfall of £12,000 that requires the team to ‘work two jobs’ providing teaching, consultation and website design in the evenings to cross-subsidise our journalism costs.
The average donation from our reader members is £5 per month and range from £7 to £25 per month from our organisation members.
If any donations over £5000 are received we would intend to publish these on our website.
In our 2020 crowdfunding campaign Social Streets received an anonymous donation of £1,000.
In 2023 Social Streets received a donation of £20,000 to fund our Fellowship scheme.
We are under no obligation to accept all donations and if we feel such a donation would compromise our work or integrity we have a right to refuse it.
We plan to open an online shop that sells branded merchandise and the profits from this would be reinvested in the news and media organisation.
In the past, Social Streets has worked for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets providing digital training to market traders and small business owners with low digital skills. Monies we receive for this is spent entirely on our education programmes and in no way subsidises or influences our editorial work.
If you have any questions related to the above please e-mail Tabitha Stapely.