FOH Accounts and AGM

[Francis Albert]

Questions for the AGM have to be in this week. I note that answers will only be published/reported if  the question/answer is deemed to be of general interest to members. This seems a bit odd as at a normal open AGM any member can ask a question and get an answer (subject to commercial/contractual restrictions). The questioner being interested enough to ask the question is enough to ensure some sort of public response however uninformative the answer may in practice be. Not sure why that should not be the case for this AGM.

 

[lost in space]

I am voting on the FoH Directors - options are Paul Cheshire/ Donald Cumming - prior to AGM.

I have read through some of the info on here as well as from FoH.

I understand that the board want to retain Financial and Legal expertise and that is why these 2 are submitted.

 

I would have liked the FoH to be more pro-active in consulting with members during the year - with information on whether they were involved/agreed with actions of HoM board. 

 

Is there any point in NOT voting to appoint the 2 directors suggested? If one is rejected - what is next step? 

Does anyone think one/both should be rejected?

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

On 18/01/2021 at 19:17, Francis Albert said:

Questions for the AGM have to be in this week. I note that answers will only be published/reported if  the question/answer is deemed to be of general interest to members. This seems a bit odd as at a normal open AGM any member can ask a question and get an answer (subject to commercial/contractual restrictions). The questioner being interested enough to ask the question is enough to ensure some sort of public response however uninformative the answer may in practice be. Not sure why that should not be the case for this AGM.

 

 

Join the dots man

[Francis Albert]

1 hour ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

 

Join the dots man

I did.

Quite a long time ago.

As with the EGM i did not receive the email notice despite confirming I was on the mailing list, until Stuart Wallace arranged for it to be sent. Same thing with the AGM notice except there was no response from FOH when I complained.

For 6 or 7  years  my FOH DD has unnerringly found its way out of my bank account and into FOH's each and every month.

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by Francis Albert

[Francis Albert]

5 hours ago, lost in space said:

I am voting on the FoH Directors - options are Paul Cheshire/ Donald Cumming - prior to AGM.

I have read through some of the info on here as well as from FoH.

I understand that the board want to retain Financial and Legal expertise and that is why these 2 are submitted.

 

I would have liked the FoH to be more pro-active in consulting with members during the year - with information on whether they were involved/agreed with actions of HoM board. 

 

Is there any point in NOT voting to appoint the 2 directors suggested? If one is rejected - what is next step? 

Does anyone think one/both should be rejected?

If I had reveived the AGM notice or could be bothered to go through the more complicated process to send a proxy vote in the absence of that notice I would vote against on both. FOH itself spends about  £50,000 a year. For the rest it is just a post box for transferring well over a million a year to the club. There is no need for major finance or legal expertise on the FOH board. For what FOH actually does it can be bought pretty cheaply even in the unlikely event Hearts fans in.the city's legal and finance community could not be found to.provide it gratis.

[o1djambo]

34 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

If I had reveived the AGM notice or could be bothered to go through the more complicated process to send a proxy vote in the absence of that notice I would vote against on both. FOH itself spends about  £50,000 a year. For the rest it is just a post box for transferring well over a million a year to the club. There is no need for major finance or legal expertise on the FOH board. For what FOH actually does it can be bought pretty cheaply even in the unlikely event Hearts fans in.the city's legal and finance community could not be found to.provide it gratis.

I agree with you and have felt strongly for a long time  about special places being made for so called specialists. The FOH is just a conduit for our contributions. Cannot see any special skills needed as you say that cannot be bought in if required. The problem is finding people with the time to do such a directors job. An open meeting outwith the annual AGM would be interesting. 

[ford donald]

44 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

If I had reveived the AGM notice or could be bothered to go through the more complicated process to send a proxy vote in the absence of that notice I would vote against on both. FOH itself spends about  £50,000 a year. For the rest it is just a post box for transferring well over a million a year to the club. There is no need for major finance or legal expertise on the FOH board. For what FOH actually does it can be bought pretty cheaply even in the unlikely event Hearts fans in.the city's legal and finance community could not be found to.provide it gratis.

 

You always talk sense regarding the FOH,keep it up.

[davemclaren]

48 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

If I had reveived the AGM notice or could be bothered to go through the more complicated process to send a proxy vote in the absence of that notice I would vote against on both. FOH itself spends about  £50,000 a year. For the rest it is just a post box for transferring well over a million a year to the club. There is no need for major finance or legal expertise on the FOH board. For what FOH actually does it can be bought pretty cheaply even in the unlikely event Hearts fans in.the city's legal and finance community could not be found to.provide it gratis.

Why would FoH pay for legal/financial expertise if they can get it free?

[Francis Albert]

12 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Why would FoH pay for legal/financial expertise if they can get it free?

As I said I have no doubt they could get it for free without having specialist directors 

[davemclaren]

9 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

As I said I have no doubt they could get it for free without having specialist directors 

Not sure where you said that to be honest. ‘Cannot see any special skills needed as you say that cannot be bought in if required.’

 

I think the need for such skills should likely reduce once the transfer takes place. I don’t see a big issue around having specialist financial/legal directors anyway as there will always be non specialist directors. 

 

 

[Footballfirst]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

Why would FoH pay for legal/financial expertise if they can get it free?

You mean like the £14,700 they paid for "Legal and Professional Fees" according to the latest accounts.

[davemclaren]

27 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

You mean like the £14,700 they paid for "Legal and Professional Fees" according to the latest accounts.

Indeed. Legal and professional advice is not cheap. 

[Francis Albert]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

Not sure where you said that to be honest. ‘

Cannot see any special skills needed as you say that cannot be bought in if required.’

 

I think the need for such skills should likely reduce once the transfer takes place. I don’t see a big issue around having specialist financial/legal directors anyway as there will always be non specialist directors. 

 

 

I said in the unlikely event they could not have got the advice free from the large community of Hearts fans in Edinburgh's legal and finance businesses. We as fans have contributed £11m without paying a penny for legal or financial expertise.

[Francis Albert]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

Not sure where you said that to be honest. ‘

Cannot see any special skills needed as you say that cannot be bought in if required.’

 

I think the need for such skills should likely reduce once the transfer takes place. I don’t see a big issue around having specialist financial/legal directors anyway as there will always be non specialist directors. 

 

 

I said in the unlikely event they could not have got the advice free from the large community of Hearts fans in Edinburgh's legal and finance businesses. We as fans have contributed £11m without paying a penny for legal or financial expertise.

[Francis Albert]

Sorry double post

[davemclaren]

3 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

I said in the unlikely event they could not have got the advice free from the large community of Hearts fans in Edinburgh's legal and finance businesses. We as fans have contributed £11m without paying a penny for legal or financial expertise.

Ah, looked at the second of your posts. 
 

Of course, you would be well within your rights to get legal and financial advice before contributing. 😎

[Francis Albert]

2 hours ago, davemclaren said:

Not sure where you said that to be honest. ‘

Cannot see any special skills needed as you say that cannot be bought in if required.’

 

I think the need for such skills should likely reduce once the transfer takes place. I don’t see a big issue around having specialist financial/legal directors anyway as there will always be non specialist directors. 

 

 

Certainly the club needs specialist finance and legal directors. Not convinced it is essential for what is basically a fund raising entity passing on almost all its revenue to the club.

[Francis Albert]

1 minute ago, davemclaren said:

Ah, looked at the second of your posts. 
 

Of course, you would be well within your rights to get legal and financial advice before contributing. 😎

I would. But of course would not have dreamt of doing so!

[davemclaren]

Just now, Francis Albert said:

Certainly the club needs specialist finance and legal directors. Not convinced it is essential for what is basically a fund raising entity passing on almost all its revenue to the club.

An entity that is buying and managing a majority holding in a plc. 

[Francis Albert]

6 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

An entity that is buying and managing a majority holding in a plc. 

And which already has or should have everything in place to secure that majority holding nearly a year after  it was supposed to have happened.

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

And which already has or should have everything in place to secure that majority holding nearly a year after  it was supposed to have happened.

Pre purchase and transfer I think having a lawyer and accountant on the board is perfectly reasonable. 
 

Post purchase/transfer I’m not so convinced on the accountant specialism but I think it’s still good to have a lawyer on the board. 

[Footballfirst]

49 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Indeed. Legal and professional advice is not cheap. 

...... and that was with all this specialist expertise already on the Board.

 

I think FA is correct in his observation about the purpose of FOH and it's questionable need for such expertise going forward, if it retains its status as a single purpose organisation (a vehicle for cash to be donated to the club).

Edited January 20, 2021 by Footballfirst

[Guest ToqueJambo]

5 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

...... and that was with all this specialist expertise already on the Board.

 

I think FA is correct in his observation about the purpose of FOH and it's questionable need for such expertise going forward, if it retains its status as a single purpose organisation (a vehicle for cash to be donated to the club).

 

Unless the club (and fans including FoH members) gets shafted by the SPFL again, for example the leagues ending with no promotion, and we want to be able to explore all legal avenues, including maybe FoH mounting a legal challenge on behalf of fans. I could see how legal expertise rather than say marketing expertise could be more useful and needed in the next year.

Edited January 20, 2021 by ToqueJambo

[iainmac]

13 hours ago, Footballfirst said:

...... and that was with all this specialist expertise already on the Board.

 

I think FA is correct in his observation about the purpose of FOH and it's questionable need for such expertise going forward, if it retains its status as a single purpose organisation (a vehicle for cash to be donated to the club).

 

IMO, the skills that are required to "keep the show on the road" going forward are someone to look after the Membership queries and someone to look after the IT side.

 

All being done on a wing & a prayer currently.

[lost in space]

As a group (JKB), we have probably a fairly reasonable number of FoH contributors.  Many of those able to vote will not bother voting - as they (like me) dont know the 2 proposed directors + the alternative is not explained.

Going by the comments received in the last 24 hours, there does not seem to be much enthusiasm for the proposed. 

Should we as a group vote against the proposals?

Would it achieve anything - other than causing a problem for FoH?

 

[iainmac]

4 minutes ago, lost in space said:

As a group (JKB), we have probably a fairly reasonable number of FoH contributors.  Many of those able to vote will not bother voting - as they (like me) dont know the 2 proposed directors + the alternative is not explained.

Going by the comments received in the last 24 hours, there does not seem to be much enthusiasm for the proposed. 

Should we as a group vote against the proposals?

Would it achieve anything - other than causing a problem for FoH?

 

 

If they don't get elected / re-elected, I can't see anyone else lined up to step into their shoes so, that would leave an already stretched Board with even more work to do. Remember, they are all volunteers with full time jobs, in most cases.

[Poseidon]

This has reminded me to send another chaser to my query from September

[davemclaren]

37 minutes ago, iainmac said:

 

IMO, the skills that are required to "keep the show on the road" going forward are someone to look after the Membership queries and someone to look after the IT side.

 

All being done on a wing & a prayer currently.

I’m sure they had someone doing that.

[TynieJT]

I think FOH has done a reasonably good job so far but it’s biggest failing is a lack of engagement with members. There is no mechanism in place to establish regular and ongoing dialogue with members or to measure their satisfaction (or otherwise) of how FOH is doing. I know they are paranoid about fans having any say in how the club is run and perhaps that accounts for their lack engagement. There was talk at one point about setting up a members consultative panel of some sort but that seems to have been dropped.

[Francis Albert]

1. How did FoH establish that its members prioritise having a party/celebration over delivering the transfer of ownership?

2. Nearly a year after the transfer was due to happen what steps does FoH still have to focus and work on to give effect to the transfer?

 

If I was able to ask questions these would be my two. Unfortunately  the link on the website just gives me email options which I don't have access to and I don't want to set up new accounts just for FoH when a simple email to an FoH email adress should suffice. Although as posted before FoH seem unable to send me emails or respond to emails I send them so that might not work for me either.

 

My monthly transfer of payments work very well though.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Francis Albert

[Glamorgan Jambo]

Is there any confirmation sent either be email or on the voting part of the website indicating that your vote (or more correctly proxy) has been successfully submitted? Pretty sure there was previously. I may have voted twice but presumably someone somewhere will be totting up votes against voter i/d numbers and correcting the record. Just want my vote to be recorded and it would be nice to receive some sort of acknowledgement (and yes I know I can change my vote/proxy as many times as I want prior to the deadline).

Cheers

[iainmac]

6 hours ago, Francis Albert said:

1. How did FoH establish that its members prioritise having a party/celebration over delivering the transfer of ownership?

2. Nearly a year after the transfer was due to happen what steps does FoH still have to focus and work on to give effect to the transfer?

 

If I was able to ask questions these would be my two. Unfortunately  the link on the website just gives me email options which I don't have access to and I don't want to set up new accounts just for FoH when a simple email to an FoH email adress should suffice. Although as posted before FoH seem unable to send me emails or respond to emails I send them so that might not work for me either.

 

My monthly transfer of payments work very well though.

 

Check this link to see if you're still on the mailing list;

 

http://eepurl.com/CtudD

[Saint Jambo]

3 hours ago, Glamorgan Jambo said:

Is there any confirmation sent either be email or on the voting part of the website indicating that your vote (or more correctly proxy) has been successfully submitted? Pretty sure there was previously. I may have voted twice but presumably someone somewhere will be totting up votes against voter i/d numbers and correcting the record. Just want my vote to be recorded and it would be nice to receive some sort of acknowledgement (and yes I know I can change my vote/proxy as many times as I want prior to the deadline).

Cheers

 

I got a confirmation by email. Pasted below with personal details removed.

 

Subject: Foundation of Hearts AGM Proxy Vote

Thank you for voting. Below is a summary of the voting form you have submitted.
 

---

Name: XXXXXXXXXXXX

Email: XXXXXXXXXXXX

1. Election of Paul Cheshire as a director - FOR

2. Re-election of Donald Cumming as a director - FOR

[Guest ToqueJambo]

On 21/01/2021 at 09:05, TynieJT said:

I think FOH has done a reasonably good job so far but it’s biggest failing is a lack of engagement with members. There is no mechanism in place to establish regular and ongoing dialogue with members or to measure their satisfaction (or otherwise) of how FOH is doing. I know they are paranoid about fans having any say in how the club is run and perhaps that accounts for their lack engagement. There was talk at one point about setting up a members consultative panel of some sort but that seems to have been dropped.

 

 

100%. Engagement is non-existant aside from governance type annoucements. IMO they should be working with the club's in-house marketing department to come up with a content and comms strategy for FoH members. I think all FoH members should get access to Hearts TV content only available to subscribers for example, even if it's just some of it, like at least £100/yer worth. If we wantt o keep this going we'll need to incentivise membership. The original incentive was incredibly powerful - save your club. Hopefully we'll never need to use that again so they'll have to come up with something. It could be worth engaging with the lads from the Terrace show and other podcasts to help come up with a content plan and budget. There's some quite good talent out there who would probably jump at the chance to work with Hearts.

[Footballfirst]

33 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

 

100%. Engagement is non-existant aside from governance type annoucements. IMO they should be working with the club's in-house marketing department to come up with a content and comms strategy for FoH members. I think all FoH members should get access to Hearts TV content only available to subscribers for example, even if it's just some of it, like at least £100/yer worth. If we wantt o keep this going we'll need to incentivise membership. The original incentive was incredibly powerful - save your club. Hopefully we'll never need to use that again so they'll have to come up with something. It could be worth engaging with the lads from the Terrace show and other podcasts to help come up with a content plan and budget. There's some quite good talent out there who would probably jump at the chance to work with Hearts.

The problem with that is the tax treatment of pledges/donations. If you were to receive something in return for your pledge, then HMRC could determine that you have paid for goods or a service, therefore VAT would be payable. That could mean £300k of £1.5m a year in pledges would go to the taxman and not the club.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Footballfirst

[Francis Albert]

1 hour ago, iainmac said:

 

Check this link to see if you're still on the mailing list;

 

http://eepurl.com/CtudD

Thamks Iain. The link seems to be about resubscribing rather than confirming I am on the mailing list. Last time I checked,on your advice, (when I did not receive the egm notice) I was on the mailing list. 

I am pretty sure I did not need a reference number whatever that is when I checked in December.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

1 hour ago, Footballfirst said:

The problem with that is the tax treatment of pledges/donations. If you were to receive something in return for your pledge, then HMRC could determine that you have paid for goods or a service, therefore VAT would be payable. That could mean £300k of £1.5m a year in pledges would go to the taxman and not the club.

 

 

Interesting, thanks. FoH is offering incentives right now, including discount cards etc though? If the club simply licences some of the content to FoH maybe that could work? Either way, I do think they're missing a trick here when it comes to marketing themselves and engaging with members. Personally I don't feel part of something, despite having contributed from the start. I'm fine with that as I pledged to save the club and get fan ownership. Anything else is gravy. Potential new members might look at it differently, depending on how we decide to use FoH funds moving forward. I'd like to see FoH as a major contributor to our youth system, with updates and content provided relating to that provided to members.

 

There doesn't even seem to be any mention of FoH or inclusion of FoH stories on the Hearts website, not even a "Donate to FoH" button somewhere prominent. I know AberDNA is a different model and has been a membership type thing from the start, but I don't see why FoH couldn't evolve into something like this to help to recruit new members and retain old ones, and have a spot on the Hearts website similar to this - https://www.afc.co.uk/aberdna/. Just find it weird how detached FoH seems to be from the club, but maybe there's a good reason for it like being a non-profit.

Edited January 22, 2021 by ToqueJambo

[davemclaren]

19 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

 

Interesting, thanks. FoH is offering incentives right now, including discount cards etc though? If the club simply licences some of the content to FoH maybe that could work? Either way, I do think they're missing a trick here when it comes to marketing themselves and engaging with members. Personally I don't feel part of something, despite having contributed from the start. I'm fine with that as I pledged to save the club and get fan ownership. Anything else is gravy. Potential new members might look at it differently, depending on how we decide to use FoH funds moving forward. I'd like to see FoH as a major contributor to our youth system, with updates and content provided relating to that provided to members.

 

There doesn't even seem to be any mention of FoH or inclusion of FoH stories on the Hearts website, not even a "Donate to FoH" button somewhere prominent. I know AberDNA is a different model and has been a membership type thing from the start, but I don't see why FoH couldn't evolve into something like this to help to recruit new members and retain old ones, and have a spot on the Hearts website similar to this - https://www.afc.co.uk/aberdna/. Just find it weird how detached FoH seems to be from the club, but maybe there's a good reason for it like being a non-profit.

Don’t think FoH are offering discount cards. 

[Guest ToqueJambo]

7 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Don’t think FoH are offering discount cards. 

 

They say they do but I've never received one despite qualifying for the 50pts annually it says it takes to get one. It might be a new benefit. I haven't looked at the site for ages, which is partly my point about their lack of engagement.

 

"The Premium Benefits package, managed by the club and which provides a discount card scheme to season ticket holders, was extended to Foundation members who achieve 50 points annually. The card enables Foundation members to receive discounts in a vast range of restaurants, hotels, health clubs, hairdressers and other retail outlets in Edinburgh and beyond. (More about Premium Benefits here: www.premiumbenefits.co.uk.)"

 

I'm not having a go at FoH and am not bothered about rewards etc personally but their communication could be improved. I've never received a reply to an email, even in response to when they have asked for feedback and ideas, not even a "Thanks for your email".

Edited January 22, 2021 by ToqueJambo

[Jambo-Fox]

I think a lot of Hearts fans think the FOH is like a big supporters club! Emotionally it is but in reality it’s not!

 

♥️The FOH has an AGM members can participate.

♥️The FOH has X2 members on the board of HMFC

♥️HMFC has an AGM

♥️The FOH shows its appreciation of members contributions by giving ‘rewards’ (of no significant value) in recognition 

 

It would be unreasonable (IMO) for HMFC to give benefits to members of an organisation that owns c. 75% of their shares. How would the owners of the remaining c. 25% of shares (in HMFC) feel about that?

 

If you bought shares in Disney would you expect to receive the Disney channel free of charge?

 

Alas I feel some FOH members have an unrealistic expectation of how much they can or will be involved directly with our beloved club HMFC.

 

NB I do think that the primary objective of all members of the FOH was and is simply to see Hearts play, and play at Tynecastle and see them wining games and hopefully trophies ..... that’s all nothing more ...

[Jambo-Fox]

1 hour ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

They say they do but I've never received one despite qualifying for the 50pts annually it says it takes to get one. It might be a new benefit. I haven't looked at the site for ages, which is partly my point about their lack of engagement.

 

"The Premium Benefits package, managed by the club and which provides a discount card scheme to season ticket holders, was extended to Foundation members who achieve 50 points annually. The card enables Foundation members to receive discounts in a vast range of restaurants, hotels, health clubs, hairdressers and other retail outlets in Edinburgh and beyond. (More about Premium Benefits here: www.premiumbenefits.co.uk.)"

 

I'm not having a go at FoH and am not bothered about rewards etc personally but their communication could be improved. I've never received a reply to an email, even in response to when they have asked for feedback and ideas, not even a "Thanks for your email".

The Premium Benefits discount card is a waste of time unless you live in or near Edinburgh, even then it’s doubtful if it has a benefit! I threw mine away!! 

[Francis Albert]

16 minutes ago, Jambo-Fox said:

The Premium Benefits discount card is a waste of time unless you live in or near Edinburgh, even then it’s doubtful if it has a benefit! I threw mine away!! 

Does this still exist? Remember it from about 6 years ago and as you say for anyone outside Edinburgh it was worthless. As are invitations to plot ceremonies and most of the award trinkets. Or indeed the celebrations that will accompany the ownership transfer if and when it happens.

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

Does this still exist? Remember it from about 6 years ago and as you say for anyone outside Edinburgh it was worthless. As are invitations to plot ceremonies and most of the award trinkets. Or indeed the celebrations that will accompany the ownership transfer if and when it happens.

The ‘plots’ are worthless but I enjoyed the ceremony. 

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

7 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

Does this still exist? Remember it from about 6 years ago and as you say for anyone outside Edinburgh it was worthless. As are invitations to plot ceremonies and most of the award trinkets. Or indeed the celebrations that will accompany the ownership transfer if and when it happens.

Agreed. I actually thought that adding these things in was trite in the first place. I'd just like them to fulfil their purpose and buy the club.

[Footballfirst]

19 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

The ‘plots’ are worthless but I enjoyed the ceremony. 

It was originally mooted from within the FOH Board or their associates that physical plots would be given to pledgers.  It was pointed out by others on the Board at the time that it wasn't a good idea to have thousands of owners, each with their own square foot of the pitch, particularly if it was needed as a security for a loan, or in the event of a desire to sell the ground.

 

Hence they became "virtual" plots.

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

It was originally mooted from within the FOH Board or their associates that physical plots would be given to pledgers.  It was pointed out by others on the Board at the time that it wasn't a good idea to have thousands of owners, each with their own square foot of the pitch, particularly if it was needed as a security for a loan, or in the event of a desire to sell the ground.

 

Hence they became "virtual" plots.

Lucky escape there then. 

[iainmac]

3 hours ago, Francis Albert said:

Thamks Iain. The link seems to be about resubscribing rather than confirming I am on the mailing list. Last time I checked,on your advice, (when I did not receive the egm notice) I was on the mailing list. 

I am pretty sure I did not need a reference number whatever that is when I checked in December.

 

If it's asking you to resubscribe, I think that means that you aren't on the mailing list anymore. If you were subscribed, that form would tell you that you're already on the database & should stop you going any further.

[iainmac]

8 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

It was originally mooted from within the FOH Board or their associates that physical plots would be given to pledgers.  It was pointed out by others on the Board at the time that it wasn't a good idea to have thousands of owners, each with their own square foot of the pitch, particularly if it was needed as a security for a loan, or in the event of a desire to sell the ground.

 

Hence they became "virtual" plots.

 

It's a similar system to the Friends of Laphroaig. I own a virtual plot on Islay and when I visit the distillery they pay me "rent" in the form of a 10cl miniature.

[Lone Striker]

As a pledger for life who has no interest in plot ceremonies or rewards, my tuppence worth after reading folk's comments above -

 

The entity called FoH has to continue to exist since it is (or will be) named as owner of Bidco's shares. The question then is what else will it's purpose be, other than as a semi-automated   collector and distributor  of our donations.       My guess is  that once FoH becomes the owner of the shares, the number of pledgers is likely to slowly decrease - especially if their communication with members remains as patchy as it is currently.    So I'd hope that FoH  takes on a role of identifying a  named project  or purpose within the club each year  ...... get communicating with all supporters using all club channels to publicise it and set a funding target ...... and actively try to recruit more pledgers to help achieve the target.    Something to energise supporters again by seeing their pledges actually achieve a worthwhile  objective within the club.    

 

For example, is there anything "wrong" in directing the HMFC board to set aside 50% of FoH member donations for purpose X   (player purchase fees ?     Academy scouting costs ?)

 

The alternative is just continuing the current "where did our money go"   situation (which I suspect Mrs B is quite happy with unfortunately).

 

Edit - some research into how the Well Society or the ST Mirren thingy operate in a beneficial way to their clubs might be useful 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Lone Striker

[Jambo-Fox]

1 hour ago, Lone Striker said:

As a pledger for life who has no interest in plot ceremonies or rewards, my tuppence worth after reading folk's comments above -

 

The entity called FoH has to continue to exist since it is (or will be) named as owner of Bidco's shares. The question then is what else will it's purpose be, other than as a semi-automated   collector and distributor  of our donations.       My guess is  that once FoH becomes the owner of the shares, the number of pledgers is likely to slowly decrease - especially if their communication with members remains as patchy as it is currently.    So I'd hope that FoH  takes on a role of identifying a  named project  or purpose within the club each year  ...... get communicating with all supporters using all club channels to publicise it and set a funding target ...... and actively try to recruit more pledgers to help achieve the target.    Something to energise supporters again by seeing their pledges actually achieve a worthwhile  objective within the club.    

 

For example, is there anything "wrong" in directing the HMFC board to set aside 50% of FoH member donations for purpose X   (player purchase fees ?     Academy scouting costs ?)

 

The alternative is just continuing the current "where did our money go"   situation (which I suspect Mrs B is quite happy with unfortunately).

 

Edit - some research into how the Well Society or the ST Mirren thingy operate in a beneficial way to their clubs might be useful 

👍good suggestions! Specific projects ... I’d buy into that!