On Wednesday 16 June 2021, the Dons Trust Board (DTB) gathered via Microsoft Teams for its regular monthly meeting. This is a summary of matters discussed, pending publication of full minutes.
Attendees were as follows:
From the Dons Trust Board (DTB): Xavier Wiggins, Jane Lonsdale, Charlie Talbot, Niall Couper Hannah Kitcher, Ed Leek, Luke Mackenzie, Graham Stacey, Tim Hillyer
Also in attendance: David Growns – Secretary, Michele Little – Treasurer, Roger Edmonds-Brown – Minute-taker, Matt Stockbridge – Communications Assistant
Jane kicked off the meeting welcoming Edward back to the DTB having carried out an interim finance role at the club. With the restructuring of the oversight of the club in place, this was the first DTB meeting to comprise solely of DTB members. The operational matters would now be discussed at the PLC board meetings, which includes five members of the DTB. The Board discussed the sequencing of PLC and DTB meetings to ensure that the DTB would maintain appropriate oversight and could feed into discussions.
The Board then discussed the campaign launch for season ticket renewals and sponsorship, in which it was confirmed that a number of conversations were now moving towards a conclusion and the club hoped to able to announce some exciting new partnerships in due course. It was also confirmed that a new Chair of the Foundation has been appointed, with an announcement to come from the Club soon.
It was then confirmed that as part of membership renewals process, diversity information would also be collected. The Board were in agreement that the analysis of this would provide a great opportunity to understand the depth and breadth of who our members are.
Niall provided an update on the Fair Game initiative, the movement calling for change in football governance. He noted that since the launch 15 clubs have signed up and many more had started conversations to get involved. Based on the feedback so far, they are confident that the number of clubs involved could well double before the start of the new season. There is also growing support from a wide range of experts, academics and advisors who are now involved.
Under AOB, there was an update on the process of the naming of the new pub at the ground, which had generated over 1000 responses to the initial call for suggestions. The DTB agreed to finalise the shortlist to go to a member’s vote over email. The meeting concluded with the acknowledgment that there had been positive feedback from members on the new terms of reference, finance and governance that had been circulated.
The DTB also noted they were proud to acknowledge the achievement of co-chair Xavier Wiggins being honoured by the Queen’s in her recently announced honours list.