A couple of months ago, we sent our members a gruelling 75 question survey. Amazingly…Gratefully, we received over 100 responses! Before this, we only knew the most basic information about our members–age, gender and location (which you can read about in Part 1 of this blog post). Our survey included a large variety of questions that explored other demographic data, as well as our members’ values, lifestyle and priorities. After an intensive study of the survey data, it became clear that although there are several life-stage differences between generations (marital status, kids etc), most ZooShare members share similar experiences, values and lifestyles. Scroll down to see the top 7 things we have in common:

1. A University Education

If you are a typical ZooShare member, you are most likely university-educated (three quarters of the membership hold a BA or higher).

2. A love of Learning

Your love of learning doesn’t fade after graduation, in fact, when asked what activities ZooShare members do the most during their leisure time, “Self education and reading” ranked above “spending time with friends and family”! You especially enjoy reading about topics concerning environmental conservation, science, technology, and travel (and if you are a Baby Boomer, you are really interested in reading up on health and wellness). Some ZooShare members love learning so much, they made a career out of it: 16% of ZooShare members work or worked in Education, Training or Library careers (one of the most common professions among our members).

3. Being Outside

Whether it’s hiking, walking, camping or gardening, you love connecting with nature.  You also love to share this connection: 37% of ZooShare members have planted or tend to a community garden, and over 40% have attended a park clean-up.

4. Environment > $

Your connection with nature is strong and the environment is a top priority for you. You are very willing–even extremely willing–to change your lifestyle to benefit the environment. You believe that reducing greenhouse gases is more important than improving the economy (58% of ZooShare members) so you shop green (94% of members) and passionately donate your time or money to Environmental causes (68% of ZooShare members) and species conservation (34%).

5. Political

But shopping green and donating your time and/or money to help the environment isn’t enough! You believe in the power of being politically active: You vote for leaders who share your values, and at some point you have attended a political rally (58%) or spoken in front of City Hall (33%).  You are also likely to be left-leaning (53% of members identify as “left” on the political spectrum, followed by 28% of those who identify as “centre”, 15% who don’t identify and 3% who identify as “right”).

6. Supporters of Divestment

Speaking of being political, you probably know about and support the Divestment Movement (70% of the ZooShare members do; 20% don’t know or aren’t sure about it; and 8% do not support it). The Divestment Movement encourages institutional investors to remove their financial support from the fossil fuel industry. Click here to learn more.

7. Supporters of local initiatives

You may be in the 60% of ZooShare members who often find themselves in situations where their perspective is different from their peers (because of their age/language/culture/background/education etc). For this reason, it is important to surround yourself with a group that shares similar beliefs. You can’t save the planet alone! 77% of ZooShare members have attended a neighbourhood event, 35% are part of an informal community group, and 28% have advocated for a local cause. You are also a part of ZooShare: Most members feel like they are part of a ZooShare community…And 40% of members believe that when people get involved in trying to solve environmental problems, they “make things better most of the time”, if not “all of the time” (8%). 77% of ZooShare members own a ZooShare bond, investing an average of $6,974 (a median of $4,357).