Dons Trust Board Meeting Summary
Date: 8 January 2025
The Dons Trust held its first board meeting of 2025 on Wednesday, 8th January.
Board Induction
Before the meeting, the board induction took place, which included talks from:
- Mick Buckley (PLC Chair)
- Michele Little (PLC Vice Chair)
- James Woodroof (MD)
- Andrew Stead (Head of Commercial)
- Elouise Gillete (Head of HR)
- Laurie Hill (Head of Finance)
- James Willcox (Head of Operations)
- Marc Jones (Head of Brand, Marketing, and Comms)
- Luke Stevens (Head of Ticketing)
- Jack Bernard (Finance Assistant)
- Sophia Axelsson (Women’s GM)
- David Growns (Women’s Chair)
Election of Board Roles
The first item of the board meeting was to elect new board roles with the following outcomes (none of the candidates were allowed to vote on their roles):
- Chair: Sean McLaughlin (elected by non-unanimous vote)
- Vice Chair: Angus Fox (elected unanimously)
- PLC Board Representatives: Sean McLaughlin, Angus Fox, and Graeme Price (elected unanimously)
- AFCW Women’s Board Representative: Hannah Kitcher (continuing, elected unanimously)
- AFCW Foundation Board Representative: Hannah Kitcher (continuing, elected unanimously)
- WiSH Board Representative: Graeme Price (continuing, elected unanimously)
Updates and Discussions
An update on the recruitment of the PLC Chair was provided.
An update was given on the outstanding action list, including updates on the flood and the implementation of the strategy document.
Michele provided an update on DT finances and the Plough Lane Bond, noting that over £200k worth of 2025 bonds have been donated to either the club or DT. A discussion also took place on how to grow the membership.
Working Groups
A review of the Theme Groups also took place, leading to the establishment of the following Working Groups:
- Communications: Chaired by Alex Folkes
- Fundraising: Chaired by Graeme Price
- Culture, Mission & Oversight: Chaired by Angus
- Constitution: Chaired by Sean
Working groups will comprise elected Trust board members and ordinary members. More details will follow about how you can get involved.
Additional Updates
George provided an update to the Risk Register and introduced it to the new board members.
James and Alex introduced a paper about integrated communications and their plan to create a communications calendar to structure how the DT and Club handle communications.
Simon presented a paper containing revenue-generating ideas, which has been passed on to Michele.
A discussion took place on restarting the Constitution Working Group after it had stalled.
An initial discussion on improving the election and onboarding process was deferred to the next meeting to allow the ESG to finish their report.
George Jones
Acting Secretary