FOH email.

[washniklaw]

57 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Where did the '20 members between 20 and 30' info come from? 

Less than 20 apparently. From a FOH meeting re junior FOH.

Edited October 7, 2023 by washniklaw

[davemclaren]

6 minutes ago, washniklaw said:

Less than 20 apparently. From a FOH meeting re junior FOH.

That is a concern. 

[davemclaren]

18 minutes ago, OldGorgie said:

Monthly information on amount pledged and numbers continuing to pledge. Any decently run organisation would provide that basic data and definitely not some nonsense about a new strategy and web site. When people pledge their hard earned cash, it’s vital that everything is transparent.

That info is published on the FoH website every month.  There's a regular thread on here about it. 

[washniklaw]

16 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

That is a concern. 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Mallon has been courting the Gorgie Ultras and the board have been very accommodating to their request. The next FOH challenge is to get the under 30’s on board. Big push coming! 💪

[Harry Potter]

16 hours ago, Daktari said:

Daft question (or not) does everyone who pledges get an email from FOH? You can probably guess why I'm asking......

I never received said e-mail, 😕.

[Chuck Berry]

13 hours ago, Saint Jambo said:

 

But what content are you looking for? I get you want them to listen to you, which is fair, but what do you want them to tell you in these more regular updates?

 

The reason Big Hearts have more to say is that they are a delivery organisation. They have lots of activity to talk about. FoH don't because they own the club, it is the club that delivers, and the club has its own comms channels to talk about the detail of that delivery.

 

How can I tell them what I want to hear if they do not tell anyone what they actually do?

 

Just communicate on their activities. We should be able to see FoH board meeting minutes, we should receive feedback on FoH interactions with the club. We should hear on their interactions with the membership (although we know there's next to none).  

 

Mallon has already accepted they have dropped the ball on comms. Let's see what happens.

[Chuck Berry]

13 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

It basically already is a membership scheme like you've described, except the fee is £10  .....

 

No it's £120 per annum, it should be £20.

[¼½¾]

1 hour ago, Harry Potter said:

I never received said e-mail, 😕.

Mine went straight to Junk for some reason Harry, have you checked there?

[davemclaren]

3 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

No it's £120 per annum, it should be £20.

I'd pay £20 a year to get a vote on hibs equivalent, if one existed. 😄

[Chuck Berry]

Just now, davemclaren said:

I'd pay £20 a year to get a vote on hibs equivalent, if one existed. 😄

 

If FoH are going to attract younger members, they are going to have to drop the price of being a member.

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

If FoH are going to attract younger members, they are going to have to drop the price of being a member.

Depends how young I imagine. 

[Chuck Berry]

1 minute ago, davemclaren said:

Depends how young I imagine. 

 

Looking at the alleged stats, under 30.

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

Looking at the alleged stats, under 30.

I certainly think it's a challenge to recruit in that age group that needs to be addressed. 

[Harry Potter]

1 hour ago, JKB Member C said:

Mine went straight to Junk for some reason Harry, have you checked there?

Not in my spam department.

[Lone Striker]

2 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

No it's £120 per annum, it should be £20.

Sorry, yes.  £10 per month currently.   You reckon more folk would join if they could do a D/D for £2 or £3 a month instead of £10 ?

[kingantti1874]

7 hours ago, Disco Dave said:

Building a non transactional website of static content would be relatively simple. However the FOH website is transactional, has a secure member zone, contains personal data etc. So I would argue it is a more complex task than you might think. The web pages need to be secure, performant etc. Further complexity is added when it’s probably being built and tested by volunteers in their spare time and not run as a full time project by a specialist organisation.

I’d guess won’t be building it from scratch, or in house 

Edited October 7, 2023 by kingantti1874

[Nerja Jambo]

On 06/10/2023 at 17:49, Bull's-eye said:

Decent read, lots of new stuff coming and great work going on behind the scenes 👍

Still haven't received mine.

[Chuck Berry]

3 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

Sorry, yes.  £10 per month currently.   You reckon more folk would join if they could do a D/D for £2 or £3 a month instead of £10 ?

 

I think so, yes.

[Bull's-eye]

Another email from the FOH.

 

2 in a week, outstanding.

[Saint Jambo]

FoH AGM will take place at 6pm on Thursday 14th December at Tynecastle.

 

2 'specialist' director on the FOH Board up for election this year.

 

- Financial specialist - "must be a qualified CA (or equivalent), and have the expertise and experience to manage the financial operations of the Foundation and handle all accounting activities".

Paul Cheshire currently holds the role and will be standing for re-election.

 

- Legal specialist - "must have a law degree (LLB) and the expertise and experience to (i) advise on and manage the legal matters of the Foundation, (ii) ensure legal compliance, and (iii) counsel the board on governance and constitutional matters".

Donald Cumming currently holds the role and will not be eligible to stand for re-election having reached his term limit.

[periodictabledancer]

1 minute ago, Saint Jambo said:

FoH AGM will take place at 6pm on Thursday 14th December at Tynecastle.

 

2 'specialist' director on the FOH Board up for election this year.

 

- Financial specialist - "must be a qualified CA (or equivalent), and have the expertise and experience to manage the financial operations of the Foundation and handle all accounting activities".

Paul Cheshire currently holds the role and will be standing for re-election.

 

- Legal specialist - "must have a law degree (LLB) and the expertise and experience to (i) advise on and manage the legal matters of the Foundation, (ii) ensure legal compliance, and (iii) counsel the board on governance and constitutional matters".

Donald Cumming currently holds the role and will not be eligible to stand for re-election having reached his term limit.

Can anyone elaborate on what the "financial operations of the Foundation" actually are ? 

 

And now that we see the requirements for the two directorships we can see we shouldn't expect these guys to do or say anything about the "football department". 

[Saint Jambo]

Donald Cumming will be stepping down as Director of FoH after 9 years. According to the FoH website, he was also part of the legal team which acted for the Foundation in the deal with Ann Budge’s Bidco in 2014 to enable the Foundation to become majority shareholder in Hearts. He is also one of the two FoH representatives on the Club board.

 

He was one of the Directors heavily involved in the work to establish the governance arrangements of FoH. I don't know Donald, but did talk to him at AGMs and met with him once at his suggestion to share my thoughts on the governance arrangements. While, as you would expect, I didn't agree with him on every detail of the governance proposals, I found him very willing to listen to my thoughts and dedicated to making fan ownership a success.

 

I hope that current unhappiness with the team's performance doesn't prevent Donald's significant contribution to establishing fan ownership being recognised by club and fans. Some kind of on-field presentation at one of the games around the time of the AGM would seem appropriate to me.

[Saint Jambo]

3 minutes ago, periodictabledancer said:

Can anyone elaborate on what the "financial operations of the Foundation" actually are ? 

 

And now that we see the requirements for the two directorships we can see we shouldn't expect these guys to do or say anything about the "football department". 

 

Primarily, they collect Direct Debits and one-off donations totaling around £1.5m per year and then provide the same amount to the club. They will aim to do that in the most tax efficient manner. They will also have some small level of admin costs related to auditing the accounts and possibly putting on the various plot ceremonies and similar. It isn't the most complex financial operations of any company but still beneficial to have a qualified accountant leading on it if possible I would think.

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, periodictabledancer said:

Can anyone elaborate on what the "financial operations of the Foundation" actually are ? 

 

And now that we see the requirements for the two directorships we can see we shouldn't expect these guys to do or say anything about the "football department". 

I would say the financial operations of the Foundation are monitoring and accounting for all the monies raised and distributed.  
 

Not sure what you mean re your second para. 

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Saint Jambo said:

Donald Cumming will be stepping down as Director of FoH after 9 years. According to the FoH website, he was also part of the legal team which acted for the Foundation in the deal with Ann Budge’s Bidco in 2014 to enable the Foundation to become majority shareholder in Hearts. He is also one of the two FoH representatives on the Club board.

 

He was one of the Directors heavily involved in the work to establish the governance arrangements of FoH. I don't know Donald, but did talk to him at AGMs and met with him once at his suggestion to share my thoughts on the governance arrangements. While, as you would expect, I didn't agree with him on every detail of the governance proposals, I found him very willing to listen to my thoughts and dedicated to making fan ownership a success.

 

I hope that current unhappiness with the team's performance doesn't prevent Donald's significant contribution to establishing fan ownership being recognised by club and fans. Some kind of on-field presentation at one of the games around the time of the AGM would seem appropriate to me.

I would assume stepping down as an FoH director will mean he also steps down as an HMFC director. 

[Saint Jambo]

5 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

I would assume stepping down as an FoH director will mean he also steps down as an HMFC director. 

 

Yes, the Working Together Agreement says that the two Foundation nominated directors will be the FoH Chair and one other member of the FoH Board, so almost certain he will leave the HMFC Board.

 

(The caveat being that in theory he could be appointed to the HMFC Board as one of the independent directors or as 75.1% majority owner FoH could choose to rip up the Working Together Agreement at any time and appoint pretty much whatever Board it likes. But I don't expect either of those to happen in this case.)

Edited October 9, 2023 by Saint Jambo

[Leveins Battalion]

The guys who run my supporters bus have had a fair bit back and forth with the FoH the last 2 months,however it is Gary Halliday replying and not Gerry Mallon.

 

The FoH are well aware that there is growing unrest towards them and the Board.

[Carter]

12 minutes ago, Leveins Battalion said:

The guys who run my supporters bus have had a fair bit back and forth with the FoH the last 2 months,however it is Gary Halliday replying and not Gerry Mallon.

 

The FoH are well aware that there is growing unrest towards them and the Board.

Wording of the FoH comms late last week indicated an awareness of supporter/pledger dissatisfaction with team performance season to date.

[EIEIO]

Anyone know If the FoH AGM is the same day as the HMFC AGM? It is usually the same day so I've never hung about for the 4 or 5 hours between them and I've never attended a FoH AGM as a result.

[davemclaren]

3 minutes ago, EIEIO said:

Anyone know If the FoH AGM is the same day as the HMFC AGM? It is usually the same day so I've never hung about for the 4 or 5 hours between them and I've never attended a FoH AGM as a result.

It usually is. Helps folk that have to travel significant distances I assume. 

[Psychedelicropcircle]

Call me cynical but the communication is upped before an election with chat of jam tomorrow 

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Psychedelicropcircle said:

Call me cynical but the communication is upped before an election with chat of jam tomorrow 

There an election every year by rotation. 😄

[JH-HMFC]

Potentially a daft question but how does the AGM attendance process work, can any FOH pledger attend eg ticketed online 1st come 1st serve or is it only for those with certain privileges due to higher pledge amounts etc.

 

Thanks

Edited October 9, 2023 by JH-HMFC

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, JH-HMFC said:

Potentially a daft question but how does the AGM attendance process work, can any FOH pledger attend eg ticketed online 1st come 1st serve or is it only for those with certain privileges due to higher pledge amounts etc.

 

Thanks

Any pledger can attend. 

[EIEIO]

1 hour ago, davemclaren said:

It usually is. Helps folk that have to travel significant distances I assume. 

Quite the opposite in my view. I suppose it  depends on your definition of significant distances. Takes me an hour to travel 12 miles to Gorgie by bus , less by car admittedly. If I was to go home in between the HMFC and the FoH agms that could amount to 4 hours travel.

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, EIEIO said:

Quite the opposite in my view. I suppose it  depends on your definition of significant distances. Takes me an hour to travel 12 miles to Gorgie by bus , less by car admittedly. If I was to go home in between the HMFC and the FoH agms that could amount to 4 hours travel.

I wouldn't call 12 miles a significant distance but I take your point. I was thinking of those travelling from more further afield. It's about an hour by bus each way for me as well. 

[Francis Albert]

On 07/10/2023 at 05:49, washniklaw said:

Less than 20 apparently. From a FOH meeting re junior FOH.

find that hard to believe. 20 out of 8000?

[wavydavy]

On 07/10/2023 at 17:11, Nerja Jambo said:

Still haven't received mine.

 

Neither have I nor has my son.

[mud and mullets]

I found the original email update interesting, especially the marketing update and the family pledge idea. However, I wonder if the "pledge" language has run its course now and could cause confusion? It made sense at the time, but we've achieved the initial goal of fan ownership. I still "pledge" but really I see my monthly tenner as an extra way to "contribute to" or "support" the club now. 

 

Anyhow, it's great to see more focus being put on marketing and attracting younger fans to FoH. And the original website obviously did its job really well but now needs an update to reflect whatever the new strategy is. Looking forward to seeing what's next.

Edited October 9, 2023 by gotgotneedgot

[pettigrewsstylist]

22 hours ago, Saint Jambo said:

Donald Cumming will be stepping down as Director of FoH after 9 years. According to the FoH website, he was also part of the legal team which acted for the Foundation in the deal with Ann Budge’s Bidco in 2014 to enable the Foundation to become majority shareholder in Hearts. He is also one of the two FoH representatives on the Club board.

 

He was one of the Directors heavily involved in the work to establish the governance arrangements of FoH. I don't know Donald, but did talk to him at AGMs and met with him once at his suggestion to share my thoughts on the governance arrangements. While, as you would expect, I didn't agree with him on every detail of the governance proposals, I found him very willing to listen to my thoughts and dedicated to making fan ownership a success.

 

I hope that current unhappiness with the team's performance doesn't prevent Donald's significant contribution to establishing fan ownership being recognised by club and fans. Some kind of on-field presentation at one of the games around the time of the AGM would seem appropriate to me.

Well said 👏

[Dusty]

On 06/10/2023 at 19:04, Daktari said:

Daft question (or not) does everyone who pledges get an email from FOH? You can probably guess why I'm asking......

Mine was in my junk folder but if I remember, I wasn't receiving them at first until I contacted them directly to ask.

 

[iainmac]

2 hours ago, Dusty said:

Mine was in my junk folder but if I remember, I wasn't receiving them at first until I contacted them directly to ask.

 

 

When I was doing the membership accounts, some people inadvertently removed themselves from the mailing list by clicking the "unsubscribe" button on the email. 

 

There was a url that you could check to see if you were still on it but I can't remember it now. It'll be in the JKB archives somewhere! 

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, iainmac said:

 

When I was doing the membership accounts, some people inadvertently removed themselves from the mailing list by clicking the "unsubscribe" button on the email. 

 

There was a url that you could check to see if you were still on it but I can't remember it now. It'll be in the JKB archives somewhere! 

Would be helpful to have that URL on the FoH website. 🤷‍♂️

[iainmac]

1 minute ago, davemclaren said:

Would be helpful to have that URL on the FoH website. 🤷‍♂️

 

Don't get me started......... 😂

[davemclaren]

17 minutes ago, iainmac said:

 

Don't get me started......... 😂

🤣🤣

[Luckies1874]

On 07/10/2023 at 07:10, washniklaw said:

One thing FOH is increasingly concerned about is the drop off between demographic groups. Less than 20 members between 20 - 30 age bracket. 
Some if this can be explained away because when FOH launched these people too young to be involved. Additionally people in their 20’s might consider ‘better things’ to spend £10 a month on. Finally there are loads of mums and dads chucking in additional payments to cover a younger persons sub (hacking the system). 

FOH is aiming to clean this up and aim to bring the younger generation with them on a lifetime journey. This should increase the number of pledges and make the demographic breakdown look more consistent. Personally, I think 10,000 pledgers is a very real possibility. It’s going to be tough with the financial climate we are in but getting granny’s and grandad’s to buy a junior FOH pledge for their grandchildren might be a starting point (those boomers have all the money anyway 😉)

 

 

Apparently 9 (NINE) Hearts supporters under the age of 30 participated in the last FoH questionnaire. 

[Saint Jambo]

2 hours ago, Luckies1874 said:

 

 

Apparently 9 (NINE) Hearts supporters under the age of 30 participated in the last FoH questionnaire. 

 

What percentage of FOH members completed that questionnaire overall? Was it only communicated by email? People in their 20s use personal email much less than older demographics, so would expect a lower response rate.

 

But I'm also not surprised by this stat. It is clear there haven't been significant numbers of new members joining FOH at any stage since it's launch. Given it has been taking pledges for around 10 years the vast majority of pledgers will have started off over 18 and aged ten years since then, putting almost all above 30. Then consider anyone new is deciding to put £120 minimum into something for no concrete return at a time when the club is not in financial crisis. People are unlikely to do that if they have lower incomes - i.e. young people. It is more important than dedicated Hearts fans between 18 and 30 buy full price adult season tickets - either becoming season ticket holders for the first time or converting from youth/student season tickets - than that they join FOH. It really isn't surprising that membership is low in this age group. From a financial point of view, it would probably be more sensible to focus on getting those moving into their late 20s and early 30s to join FOH, than worry about getting them into FOH membership as young adults.

[Luckies1874]

1 minute ago, Saint Jambo said:

 

What percentage of FOH members completed that questionnaire overall? Was it only communicated by email? People in their 20s use personal email much less than older demographics, so would expect a lower response rate.

 

But I'm also not surprised by this stat. It is clear there haven't been significant numbers of new members joining FOH at any stage since it's launch. Given it has been taking pledges for around 10 years the vast majority of pledgers will have started off over 18 and aged ten years since then, putting almost all above 30. Then consider anyone new is deciding to put £120 minimum into something for no concrete return at a time when the club is not in financial crisis. People are unlikely to do that if they have lower incomes - i.e. young people. It is more important than dedicated Hearts fans between 18 and 30 buy full price adult season tickets - either becoming season ticket holders for the first time or converting from youth/student season tickets - than that they join FOH. It really isn't surprising that membership is low in this age group. From a financial point of view, it would probably be more sensible to focus on getting those moving into their late 20s and early 30s to join FOH, than worry about getting them into FOH membership as young adults.

 

 

Apparently they received a 50% response rate from the pledgers but as I said above 9 (not 9% but 9) were from people under the age of 30. You make some very valid points in your post but that is an incredibly low figure. It is proof that they have not engaged nearly enough, if at all, with a significant demographic amongst our support and it does make you wonder if they have any strategic plan at all to increase FoH pledgers or whether it is just being allowed to drift along given the largesse of our middle aged and older supporters.

[Bazzas right boot]

Under 30's are generally lower paid, cannae afford a mortgage, more live by themselves  and they  probably have bigger concerns atm.

Food, electricity,  rent/ mortgage,  travel plus the odd night oot, I guess giving away more money might be beyond them.

Those living with parents are probably out trying to get their end anyway while saving for a place of their own.

That's an expensive business. 

 

Once they get settled down, it will get better... when the get a sky high mortgage then have kids and more bills they'll have 

 

My mortgage went up by by out £400 a month  last year,  even I thought about cancelling my foh.

 

The working class/ middle class are skint, many are young

Nae handouts, nae tax credits, nae oap discounts on travel or st, completely hammered and pay full price for everything.

 

Younger folk likley have different priorities, filling in foh questionnaires or contributing to foh is maybeclow on the list.

 

Mashing away on fb or trying for yer hole far more important!

Edited October 25, 2023 by Bazzas right boot

[Chuck Berry]

11 hours ago, Saint Jambo said:

 

What percentage of FOH members completed that questionnaire overall? Was it only communicated by email? People in their 20s use personal email much less than older demographics, so would expect a lower response rate.

 

But I'm also not surprised by this stat. It is clear there haven't been significant numbers of new members joining FOH at any stage since it's launch. Given it has been taking pledges for around 10 years the vast majority of pledgers will have started off over 18 and aged ten years since then, putting almost all above 30. Then consider anyone new is deciding to put £120 minimum into something for no concrete return at a time when the club is not in financial crisis. People are unlikely to do that if they have lower incomes - i.e. young people. It is more important than dedicated Hearts fans between 18 and 30 buy full price adult season tickets - either becoming season ticket holders for the first time or converting from youth/student season tickets - than that they join FOH. It really isn't surprising that membership is low in this age group. From a financial point of view, it would probably be more sensible to focus on getting those moving into their late 20s and early 30s to join FOH, than worry about getting them into FOH membership as young adults.

 

FoH need to look at other membership models.

 

Having to pledge a minimum of £10 a month for no return - as you say - doesn't float the boat of those under 30 who have more pressing financial issues.

 

An annual fee, £20 or suchlike, should get you membership and therefore become an owner.  Pledges remain an option but are not your joining fee.  FoH no longer need to raise substantial sums of cash to save/buy the club so the need to have high pledge thresholds should be reviewed.