The Dons Trust Board (DTB) held an additional board meeting to its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday 23 May 2018 in the centre of Wimbledon in a conference room generously provided by the Prince of Wales pub. This post summarises the main points discussed.
The meeting was attended by DTB members Mark Davis (Chair), Matthew Breach, Tim Hillyer, Sean McLaughlin, Cormac van der Hoeven, Jane Lonsdale, Colin Dipple, Roger Evans, Charles Williams and Secretariat members Hannah Kitcher and Terry Langford.
Apologies were received from Nigel Higgs and DT Secretary, Tom Brown.
The extra meeting had been arranged to allow the board to discuss, once the season had been completed, how to improve communications with members and fans. Some of the key ideas put forward were:
- Engagement and Communications Committee to work up a set of “easy wins” on communications (thread created on the Board Webjam forum).
- Firming up and communicating to members what is delegated to the Dons Trust Board and what they can expect to be consulted on.
- Hosting regular, open discussions with members, separate to SGMs, to give members an opportunity to engage in, and discuss issues/concerns before they become controversial. These meetings could also include time for the board to give feedback on what’s happened at previous board meetings and get members’ views on what the board should focus on in upcoming meetings to loop members into the process more.
- Sending out regular email newsletters to members.
- The board to be better at acknowledging when there is an issue, if there is one
- The policy on what is communicated to members, when and how to be detailed in a page on the Dons Trust’s website – after consultation with members.
Besides how the Dons Trust Board communicates with its members, some wider communication issues were raised. Ideas that were put forward included:
- Ensuring that Football Club Board members are suitably visible on matchdays.
- The volunteers’ Code of Conduct to make it clear what is and isn’t acceptable for Club volunteers to be posting on social media channels.
- The Dons Trust Board to ascertain the Club’s policy for blocking members on social media.
The Dons Trust Board discussed updates on stadium options consultation and crowdfunding. Given that crowd funding through the sale of shares would be a Restricted Action under the Trust’s Constitution, the board agreed to contact people who had been involved in the Back in Two Ticks campaign.
Under AOB, the DTB discussed the amendment to the Trust’s privacy notice. Tim had provided Mark with a draft version for review which he is content is compliant with the new General Data Protection Regulations legislation. The board will post this on the Dons Trust website and email members to alert them to the update. Tim will ask the Club to link to the Dons Trust policy from their site.
Meeting concluded at 22:20.