DTB January Meeting Summary

The Dons Trust board (DTB) held the first scheduled meeting of 2026 on Wednesday 14^th January at Plough Lane. The entire board were there in person along with George Jones (Secretary), Reece Wheeler-Kelly (Assistant Secretary). Michele Little (Treasurer) and Dave Boyle (Advisor to the secretariat) who were also present for specific agenda items. James Woodroof (AFC Wimbledon Managing Director), Luke Stevens (AFC Wimbledon Head of Ticketing) and William Earles (AFC Wimbledon Financial Controller) were also present for the Season Ticket item.

The meeting began with Angus welcoming everyone to the first board meeting of the new year.

This was followed by a lengthy discussion between board members and staff discussing the season ticket options for the Men’s first team for the 2026/27 season. At the conclusion of the agenda item broad agreement was given for the plans for Men’s first team season tickets for next season subject to a few adjustments and release by the Club on their own timetable. James Woodroof, Luke and William then left the meeting.

Dave Boyle then joined the meeting presenting a paper he and Graeme had prepared. Following this agenda item Dave left the meeting.

The board then discussed the club and trusts financial situations taking into consideration papers from Graeme and Mick Buckley, (Chair of AFCW PLC).

The board then reviewed the meeting papers ahead of the club board meeting scheduled for the following day. They then reviewed the outstanding actions list. The decision made over email to publish the ED&I statement was ratified.

George then presented a paper making recommendations on how to improve the day-to-day operations of the Dons Trust. Following a discussion the board approved the recommended changes. More information will be released in due course.

George provided an update on the early applications received to fill the advertised co-option positions. The advert remains live and applications continue to be encouraged. Applications will be reviewed in due course.

A lengthy discussion took place surround how the club can help support the Women’s team given the challenges they are facing in a league with a significant number of full-time clubs. The board gave instruction to the PLC board reps on how to handle the agenda item at the following days club board meeting. Following this agenda item Michele left the meeting.

George and Reece then presented their report on the Discord platform which showed how well the platform was performing but also highlighted serious concerns about it and the challenges it faces. The board agree to keep the platform open until the end of the season.

Updates were given in relation to the new constitution, ED&I, Communications Working Group and Youth Engagement Advisory Working Group.

George then presented the proposed new Board Guidelines.  The board agreed to adopt and implement them with immediate effect.

An update was then provided on the upcoming World Wide Wombles Weekend.

A discussion then took place on the Dons Trust leaving the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), given the ongoing concern regarding content on that platform and related platforms. It was agreed that the DT would suspend use of the platform for the present time, but leave the account in place as an archive.

An update was provided on the Dons Trust Instagram which had seen significant growth recently especially posts highlighting the trusts positive ED&I and community work.

In AOB, Board members were reminded to check the DT rota and fill in their availability.

There was then a closed board session with no one entering or leaving the room to discuss a personal situation raised to a member of the secretariat.