Your chance to help set the direction of the club you love!
With everything that’s happening at our Club right now, you may be thinking that the Dons Trust Board election sounds rather dull. But as new Dons Trust Secretary David Hall explains, there is no better time to get involved in helping set the direction of AFC Wimbledon.
For those of you who are less familiar with our club, you may be wondering what all this is about, while others may be more familiar with our election process. So just to recap…
AFC Wimbledon is owned by its fans, through the Dons Trust. Every supporter who has joined the Trust has a vote for a small group of people – the Dons Trust Board – who set the strategic direction, appoint key staff and monitor the performance of our wonderful football club – amongst other things!
The Trust’s current rules provide for nine Board Members, each of whom serves for two years, with the option of re-standing after that period. Four of those places came up for election last year, and five this year.
The five who are retiring this year are: Matt Breach, Iain McNay, Sean McLaughlin, Kate Terriere and Simon Bath. Simon has indicated that he will be standing down this time round, but the others are likely to be re-standing.
Under arrangements in recent years, each Board Member has a particular role to play on the Dons Trust Board, including the important roles of Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer, as well as working together to support and challenge, where necessary, the Football Club Board.
Election process
The process will start on Saturday 27 October, when nominations will open. The intended closing day for submission of nominations is Monday 12 November.
This will also be the deadline for new member registrations, so make sure you join or renew now if you want to vote.
Voting is expected to open on Friday 16 November, when candidates’ manifestos will be sent to members.
The intended closing date for voting is Wednesday 12 December, with the election result announced on Thursday 13 December – the day of the AGM.
There will be opportunities for members to have lively exchanges with the candidates on their manifestoes including a ‘hustings’ on Radio WDON, the date for which we hope to announce at, or before, the start of the nominations process; but it will be early in the election process.
The election will be run by Dave Boyle, who has kindly offered his services again, along with an Election Steering Group to ensure that fair play is observed – and will be governed through a set of rules agreed at the October Dons Trust Board.
Details of the Election rules, the nomination forms, timings and process will be sent to members and posted on the new Dons Trust website – www.thedonstrust.org.
Do you have what it takes to be a Board member?
Collectively, the Board needs to have a wide range of talents to do its job on behalf of Trust members and our Club. Board members need to be able to interpret what’s going on financially, while commercial experience in other business areas such as PR/communications, IT, marketing and planning is also an advantage. Other valuable skills include public speaking, fundraising experience and organisational ability.
But regardless of experience, we welcome any member to put themselves forward. As departing Board member Simon Bath has pointed out, ‘commitment and effort’ are also key attributes – something which we all recognise is critical both on and off the pitch. Whoever applies, we look forward to a vibrant election!