Shindig Report 2025
A summary of community feedback from shindig
June 06, 2025
Shindig is GoodGym’s community weekend. We come from every corner of the UK to see old friends, make new ones and enjoy time spent together in the countryside.
A huge thank you for an unforgettable weekend! You guys rule! - Bianca, GoodGym Haringey
Shindig is all about fun! Seeing friends old and new, enjoying the beautiful English countryside and learning from each others wins in our respective areas. Across the weekend we enjoyed quizzes, runs and even found the time for Eurovision watch party (which some more eager for than others).
Whilst together we also discussed the future of GoodGym and how to improve. On Saturday, a total of 9 discussion groups formed to create space to share and develop ideas as a community.
Every year we celebrate successes and review the year just passed with the goal of deciding a new, best path forward. A total of 9 discussion groups we held on Saturday to help achieve this, led by members of the community and central team. Together we discussed:
- Growth and sustainability
- Tech
- Diversity and inclusion
- Community led areas
- Funding and fundraising
- Older people work
- Environment
- Comms and social media
- TaskForce
What went well?
We shared the promising news of a steady increase in memberships and donations across the past 12 months, showing GoodGym continues to grow during challenging times in the charity and voluntary sectors. Most people find us by word of mouth and social media.
TaskForce are leading the charge in 2025, finding and creating more sessions than ever before. TaskForce have listed more than 6000 sessions in the last 12 months.
GoodGym is also applying for nearly 10 times more grants than we were previously, whilst maintaining the quality of our applications. This change has come as a result of applying for more, smaller grants alongside our long term focus on larger funding opportunities. We have found new areas is a great way to secure new funding and we’ve successfully launched 6 new GoodGym groups in 12 months.
Where can we improve?
An app was highly requested and everyone is on board to make it happen. Financial and staff time limitations may mean this can’t happen in the next year, but progress is being made and we're excited about the opportunities an app would bring. In the short term, tech is focusing on improving the website and smoothing the user experience, fixing bugs and streamlining how people interact with GoodGym digitally.
To guarantee GoodGym’s financial longevity we need to increase donations. Donation income scales, meaning the more people choosing to join GoodGym and donate, the more total income donations generate. If donations were to cover GoodGym's operations cost, GoodGym could scale indefinitely - maybe taking over the entire world! As it stands, progress is being made but not at a rate that will significantly reduce strain on other revenue generating areas. Increasing donations remains a priority.
Discussion also sparked on how we might use platforms such as Strava to better measure the impact of our active travel, because the amount of carbon we save is likely very large. Similarly we should better define ‘green deeds’, sessions that directly benefit the environment, to more accurately track the impact each GoodGymer, and GoodGym as a whole is having on our environment.
Thank you all for your ideas and enthusiasm, fun and friendships. - Gill, GoodGym Luton
What happens now?
GoodGym is a community and our strength is our diversity. At shindig alone we were joined tech experts, project managers, engineers, graphic designers, trustees of charities and GoodGymers with 1000s of good deeds to name a few - each as passionate as the next person.
Everything discussed at shindig feeds into GoodGym's business plan for the following year, beginning in September. By 2027, GoodGym aims to be the easiest way to volunteer in the UK. We're making great progress towards this and by listening to feedback at shindig and the like, we're able to lean on the expertise and experience of GoodGymers to make it a reality.
Interested in previous years shindig report? View 2024 here.