Dons Trust Newsletter Launches

The Dons Trust have released the first in a series of new regular updates emailed to Dons Trust members who opt in to receive electronic communications. We have reproduced the first edition in full below…

Dear Dons Trust Member,

Welcome to the first edition of a new series of updates from your representatives. The idea behind this is for us to share a bit more with members, a bit more quickly, and a bit less formally, on a regular basis because telling you something hasn’t happened is always going to be better than leaving you to guess. It’s not to replace news items or the publishing of minutes or any of the other things we do – but to add to them and give you something different. These updates will be coming straight to your inbox (and appearing on the Dons Trust website once a month from now on). If you have any thoughts or feedback drop us a line via contact@thedonstrust.org.

October SGM

Recording:Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Dons Trust Special General Meeting held on Thursday 13 October. In case you missed it or would like to watch back again, the recording is available here, and the audio-only version here. With thanks to the 9yrs podcast team for their support with the live streaming. The Dons Trust and PLC Boards – oversight and operations: At the SGM we ran through some proposals coming out of our ongoing review of how we and our various boards are structured and set up. Some time ago, we announced that the decision had been made to appoint a Managing Director (MD) to look after the business and operations side of things, and a Head of Football Operations (HoFo) for the football side. We paused the HoFO recruitment over the summer and brought in a Head of Recruitment until January. With Danny Macklin announced as our new MD, starting on 1 November, the search for a HoFO has now restarted. The next stage, to improve clarity and accountability, is to consider the proposals formulated by the DTB for a new structure to operate, advise and oversee. This proposed structure is shown here. We had a good discussion at the SGM and we want to keep that going as we refine these proposals before putting formal votes to the Annual General Meeting in December. We are now undertaking further consultation starting with a ‘temperature test’ to gauge initial reactions, which we expect to send to members in the next few days. Resolution results:Further to the voting on three resolutions at last week’s SGM, the votes have been counted (from the night and by proxy) and have been verified. The results are:Resolution 1 – Second FloorYes: 116/133 (87%)No: 5/133 (4%)Abstain: 12/133 (9%)Resolution passed: at least 2/3 of those voting in favour. Resolution 2 – KitYes: 59/129 (46%)No: 33/129 (25%)Abstain: 37/129 (29%)Resolution not passed: fewer than 2/3 of those voting in favour. Resolution 3 – DataYes: 109/130 (84%)No: 14/130 (11%)Abstain: 7/130 (5%)Resolution passed: at least 2/3 of those voting in favour.

🆕 DTB theme groups

We’ve mentioned before that we had a board “awayday” (at Plough Lane) in June, and one of the things we’ve been working on since then has been the four “theme groups” announced in this month’s SGM papers, which are available on the Dons Trust website. The four groups are:

All groups have been assembled, had their Terms of Reference (ToR) approved, and started to meet formally. It’s a new way of working that will take us some getting used to, but we will get there. In future editions of these updates, we will be bringing you news from each theme group. What we pledge to do is tell you when there’s nothing much to update you on in a particular area, rather than not update you at all.

2022 Dons Trust Board elections 🗳️

The DT elections officially opened on 8 October, and there are now seven spots on the board being contested. This is because Luke Mackenzie, Hannah Kitcher, Charlie Talbot, Anne-Marie Godfrey and Graeme Price have all reached the end of their term, while Graham Stacey and Niall Couper are stepping down mid-term (as announced on 7 October and 16 October respectively). The seven election winners will be announced in the run-up to December’s DT AGM, at the end of which they will be officially ‘sworn in’. You can read more about the elections on the Dons Trust website and, if you have any questions about standing, don’t hesitate to contact the Election Steering Group at elections@thedonstrust.org or touch base with an existing member of the board.NB: Dons Trust Board elections candidate nominations close on Saturday 29 October 2022 at 23:59 GMT.

Finance 💰

Elsewhere, the Finance Committee has recently reassembled and agreed on a new Terms of Reference. The Committee’s previous task was to refinance the short-term MSP loan which effectively got the stadium build over the line, which they managed to achieve ahead of time with the help of schemes such as the Plough Lane Bond (PLB). This time around they will be focusing on paying down the first tranche of PLB repayments, which are due in 2025.The Committee is chaired by the Dons Trust’s Vice-Chair, Michele Little, and is now a sub-committee of the AFCW PLC board.

DTB meeting minutes ✍️

Something we recently confirmed board policy on was to make sure we always publish a record of every formal DT board meeting we have, even where the content of the meeting is completely confidential. After another nudge, this time on the Dons Trust ProBoards message board, we’ve scouted back through published minutes and made sure there are none missing. It might seem a bit pointless to some to publish the date and time and attendance when there’s nothing else we can say, but hopefully it gives members a feel for the work of the board. You can find all meeting minutes on the Dons Trust website.

We hope you have found this update useful. Of course, we are likely to have missed things, but there is always the chance to get in touch between issues via the Dons Trust members-only site – ProBoards.Registration is free and takes a matter of minutes and you’ll be able to chat with around 700 fellow members, including board members.And please do tell us what you think of these new updates. Let us know what you would like to see more (or less) of in future editions contact@thedonstrust.org. We always appreciate your feedback. Thanks for reading.The Dons Trust Board.