At Good Food Oxford we have been looking at how we can improve our membership offer, so that the 130 member organisations can benefit even more from being part of the network, and GFO can engage members even more effectively in achieving the vision of the Oxford Good Food Charter. We have looked at what other city food partnerships do, and engaged current network members in the process, asking them for feedback at our Annual Celebration in September, as well as sending out an online survey over the last few weeks. So, here’s what the membership will look like from the beginning of 2019. The registration process:

• Membership will remain free to organisations operating in Oxfordshire.
• Organisations signing up to the Charter will still be asked to make a pledge. However, from now on they will also be asked how they plan to achieve their pledge and when they plan to achieve it by. This will help us with measuring progress of the network.
• Pledges made by members will be made public on the GFO website and on social media. Up until now this has not been the case but we think that, as is the case in other cities, showing what members are pledging to do to help is really powerful. We also expect that doing this will facilitate members coming together who might be able to support each other to achieve their pledges.
• A more informative welcome email will be sent out to new members, including links to useful information and member offers.
• We are bringing back network events! We plan to organise informal get-togethers on a quarterly basis, giving members the opportunity to meet face-to-face, learn from each other and build worthwhile relationships. Come along to our first one on 23rd January 2019 at The Jam Factory. More details here.
• Although this is a longer-term plan, we are exploring how we can build a team of willing and able volunteers who can be on hand to help out at one-off events that our members are organising. We know how much of a challenge finding people power can be, and this idea received a very positive response.

As well as making the above changes to the basic membership, we are also creating a partnership offer. GFO Partners will be organisations that are in a position to contribute financially to GFO on an annual basis and work closely with us to both support the GFO network and receive support from GFO to improve their sustainable food credentials. Any organisation interested in this opportunity can contact hannah.fenton@goodfoodoxford.org.uk We very much look forward to putting these changes into practice and working with all our members to create an even better food system for Oxford.