*   Funding Aspire: please help us by completing our short survey
Many Aspire readers have been with us for several years, from back in the days when Fusion was fully funded by Highlands & Islands Enterprise and almost everything we did – including Aspire – could be offered free of charge to everyone.  Many of you will also know that our contract with HIE ended some time ago, and that the only funding we currently receive is from Scottish Enterprise, specifically for the delivery of our Linking Entrepreneurs service in the South of Scotland. This means that we now have to seek ways to make all our other services self-financing.  
 
The good news is that Aspire is not hugely expensive to produce: we simply need to raise £250 for each of its 25 issues per year – a total of £6250 p.a.  There are a number of ways we could achieve this.  We could offer corporate sponsorship on an annual basis.  Or we could start taking adverts (don't worry: we would ensure they were kept clearly separate from the main content).  Or we could charge a small annual fee for receiving it. Or we could include a link to our paypal account in each edition and simply request voluntary donations if you have found something in it useful.  Or perhaps you can think of a better idea?  Whatever your thoughts on the matter, we would love to hear them.
 
We have put together a brief survey setting out the various options and seeking your feedback about them, which you can access by clicking here .  It will be available until Friday 18 February.  Please help us to find the funding method that will achieve the necessary goal of covering the costs of producing Aspire whilst being acceptable to our readers.  Thank you very much!