Impact Hub Global Member Survey 2017
Every year we ask our members to fill out the Impact Hub Global Member Survey. We beg, we plead, we bribe, we do everything we can to ask as many of them to answer a never-ending string of questions. Why do we do this? Why is it important? Does it even matter?
The Global Member Survey is drafted and executed by Impact Hub Global to measure the impact that the Hub network has on the world and to see whether we (the global network as well as the individual hubs) are on the right track.
So, what did we learn about the global Impact Hub network?
Member Impact
An Impact Hub is nothing without its members, and enabling them to do good in (and for) the world is what keeps us going. Which is why it pleases us to see that 86% tackle social and environmental issues with their activities. 58% even focus on impact first, meaning that they value social and environmental returns over financial returns. There are many different ways to create an impact, the top 5 approaches of our member are: to enable, to do social business, to educate, to transform organizations from the inside and to influence public opinion.
Global Impact Hubs’ Impact / Contribution
During 2017 members advanced their entrepreneurial journey significantly. 58% of respondents’ enterprises grew to a next stage. From intention formation to idea development, to start-up initiative, to running operations or to the scaling phase. Enterprises in the scaling phase almost tripled compared to 2017.
With 64% of all respondents reporting that Impact Hub helps them be more productive, the network has a visible effect on their work. Overall 8793 hours of peer support was delivered by the community and 7794 new opportunities for creating a new commercial or social venture were identified thanks to Impact Hub memberships.
Impact Hub Global Support
Creating a feeling of community and making our members feel part of a larger community and network is one of our members’ key interest, and the Impact Hubs are doing a great job at making them feel this way. The Hubs also rate highly on providing access to a better working infrastructure and motivating members to do better. Creating visibility for members and helping them gain visibility and credibility are also two of the area where the community relies on the Impact Hubs.
Room for improvement
While the Hubs provide excellent support in some fields, there are also fields where we could improve. Obtaining financial and capital investments as well as generating revenue are (of course!) important for IH Global Members, however, support from the Hubs on these issues could be better. It could be argued (from our own personal experience), that startups have pretty high expectations here and finding investments is the core issue of every new project. Surprisingly the Hub also lacks support with expanding into new geographic areas, with a presence (almost) all over the world, this is something we should work on. Finding and retaining good staff and evaluating the impact of one’s own activities are also areas where we, as a network, should put more focus on. Which is why – to close the circle – we thank you for answering the many questions on the Impact Survey!
In a couple of weeks, we will publish some more results, focussing on Bern
