Cherries Trust Board Meeting – February 2023

Cherries Trust Board Meeting – February 2023

Board Meeting held on 22 February 2023. Members present:

• Gareth Case (GC) – Membership Secretary
• Dom Greenslade (DG) – Marketing & Branding Officer
• Ian Hensman (IH) – Overseas Member Champion
• Gayle Hope (GH) – Secretary
• Matthew Jackson (MJ) – FSA & Trusts Officer
• Stuart Orchard (SO) – Communications Secretary
• Sam Somers (SS) – Chair
• Hilary Trott (HT) – EDI Champion
• Rob Webber (RW) – Vice Chair / Treasurer

1. Welcome

The meeting was opened by Sam Somers.

2. Apologies

Brian Troake

3. Declarations of interest

None

4. Minutes from the last meeting

Board Decisions: unanimously approved

5. Matters arising

Majority of Board meeting actions completed with none overdue.

OFFICER REPORTS

6. Chairmans Report – SS

The Chair began by thanking everyone for the efforts of everyone around the table and emphasised the need to keep momentum with the changes and initiatives we are putting through.

SS had had a positive call with Liz Finney. LF had commented on the professional and organised way that the Trust was going about its business. SS proposed setting a date for a Board-to-Board meeting towards the end of March/April. LF to come back.

7. Treasurers Report – RW

RW reported that although its early the Budget is on track. New Members recruited on the back of the survey campaign and a new “Donations” button has been built and trialled by GC, with 2 small donations coming in.

In terms of expenditure RW confirmed that the Directors & Officers insurance was in place and subscriptions for MailChimp and Zoom were running.

Operationally the Trust has full control of Bank Accounts and PayPal and all approved signatories are now signed up. RW confirmed that the draft 2022 Accounts should be available in the next couple of weeks for scrutiny by the Board.

No expenses have been claimed.

8. Membership Secretary Report – GC

• Current Members: 118
• 5 sign ups directly as a result of the survey going out.
• GC identified one Member who had paid cash and has helped him to sign up for updates as he was not on the mailing list.
• Social Media: Twitter followers – increased to 1671 / Facebook – decreased slightly to 900 likes.
• Enquiries: 4 new enquiries.
• 3 were about recurring payments which were stopped last summer. The Members have been advised they will need to renew themselves, but we are working to restore automatic renewal.

The other query was regarding the female toilets in the East Stand not flushing. This was raised with Liz Finney with a very positive and quick response. The plumbers have already attended, replaced broken parts and the toilets all now fixed. The Member who raised the enquiry has also given positive feedback and confirmed the toilets are now in full working order.

GC said that HT had reported that one of the disabled toilets had been painted red and the impracticality of that. If someone were using the toilet and had a fall, for example, it would be difficult for them to see the red safety cord against a red background. HT has raised the issue with Hannah, the club EDI officer, who has confirmed that the toilet will be repainted asap to address the concerns.

9 Workstream Reports

WS1: Membership services & growth – GC

As above in the membership secretary report. Progress is continuing and a good infrastructure is being put in place. A revised Enquiries Protocol is now in place.

WS2: Communications & social media – SO

Good feedback from the members survey (see item 16). This will be followed up next week with a series of polls on Twitter & hopefully Facebook. There will be a short poll each day for 5 days, put to the wider fanbase exploring the detail behind the most important priorities identified by the Members.

A quarterly newsletter is being researched with the intention of the first issue being published to Members only in April. Currently investigating the best format and production of content.

WS3: Rebranding & website – DG

DG has been testing a new way of building the new website that will make it easy for all board Members to contribute and add in content/news updates. Stripe and MailChimp can be integrated which will streamline the joining process. The design phase is starting now, once this is discussed and finalised, the estimate to completion would be 5 weeks, provided everything goes smoothly. The aim being to launch in May.

In relation to graphics and imagery, instead of stock photographs, looking to engage Members and have them send their photos in. Will need criteria re size and quality and a disclaimer that sending a photo in does not guarantee it will be used and a permission to use. A request will go out following the prototyping.

There will be a Member’s only area with starting content based around material already being produced and then expanding as time passes.

ITEMS FOR DECISION

10. Approval of new logo and roll out of new branding – DG

The Board approved the new logo and unanimously accepted the clubs’ email from Matt Payne, Head of Brand and Creative, dated 18th July 2022, as approval to proceed with the proposed logo.

A detailed launch timeline is in preparation with a launch planned for (DATE TBC so Members keep an eye on our social media feeds for updates!)

11. AGM update – GH

a) Attendees
At its last meeting the Board decided to hold a Members only meeting. At this meeting it modified the decision slightly to enable the Independent Examiner to attend (who may not be a Member).

b) Agree the makeup of the Election Management Group (EMG).
The board unanimously approved the appointment of Mr I White as the Independent Chair. It also agreed that the EMG should consist of the Independent Chair and the Society Secretary.

c) Draft AGM agenda.

The Board agreed the initial draft of the AGM Agenda:

• 4 standard general resolutions (minutes/accounts/disapply audit/endorsement of policies)
• 1 extraordinary resolution (adopt new Rules)
• Any Members resolutions (Cut-off date for any Member’s resolutions is 13/04/2023)

GH confirmed that the final agenda will be sent to Members on 27/04/2023.

Acceptance of the minutes from the previous AGM will be tricky as despite a request to both the previous chair and secretary no minutes have been received.

Board approval of the accounts for year ending 06/12/2023 is on the agenda for 30/03/2023 Board meeting.

GH pointed out that the current Rules (passed in 2015) have now been superseded by a new version in 2020 and it is important that they are updated before the Trust falls foul of FCA requirements.

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

12. Confidential Item – SS

Minuted separately for Board Eyes Only.

13. Stripe trial – GC

GC reported that the trial of the new fee collection system is going well. He will liaise with DG regarding the website integration. There are a couple of things he still needs to test with the new website once it is in the testing stage.

14. FSA Governance Audit – GH

GH outlined the large volume of work being undertaken to get the Trust in good shape from a Governance perspective. As part of this work, she had requested a governance audit from the FSA to identify any shortfall in the current Governance activity. The result of the audit confirmed that the Trust is addressing all shortfalls and should have a clean bill of health after new Rules and Policies have been accepted at the forthcoming AGM.

15. Feedback from EDI meeting – HT

HT fed back on her attendance at the club’s EDI group meeting where she now represents the Trust.

One specific item was a Buddy Scheme for people who feel vulnerable coming to, and leaving (especially, but not exclusively) evening matches on their own and the role the Trust might take in this. After a wide ranging debate covering the need and benefits of such a scheme and all aspects of running a volunteer set up, the Board unanimously agreed it is a great idea and we would be happy to support and promote this as a club led initiative, but is not placed to administer such a scheme. HT was tasked to find out more from the club about how they plan to implement it and what our role might be. In addition, MJ was asked to speak to other Supporter Trusts to see if there are any similar schemes elsewhere and how they work.

16. Campaign Survey Update – RW

Just over 50% of Members responded to the survey. RW ran through the initial findings of the recent Members survey, in particular the ranking of issues important to them.

In local campaigns related to the Trust’s interaction with the club the top 5 priorities are (listed in order of Member ranking):

1. Development of new infrastructure
2. Fan engagement & communications
3. Ticketing
4. Matchday experience
5. Safety & security

When it came to broader national issues facing not just AFCB fans but the wider football community the top 5 priorities are (in order of Member ranking):

1. Fixture rescheduling
2. Away ticketing & travel
3. Football governance
4. Fans for diversity
5. #Hergametoo

SO had already outlined the planned series of social media polls for next week to delve deeper into these issues and include the wider fanbase in those polls (MEMBERS pls look out for the posts – or turn on CT notifications).

ITEMS FOR NOTING

17. Board decisions taken between meetings – GH

Equality, diversity & Inclusion policy unanimously approved by board and proposal to put to Members at the AGM for endorsement.
Enquiries Operating protocol v2 unanimously approved by board.

18. Board meeting agenda plan – GH

Needs to be updated with things agreed tonight for the next meeting and beyond
Action 18.1 – GH to update with everything agreed tonight and circulate to all board members within 72 hours.

19. AOB

GH – The retrieval of the laptop from the previous Board is ongoing

20: Date of next meeting:

30/03/2023