It’s a big year for the Dale Trust and we are very excited at some of the things that we have got planned for the next twelve months.
We want to build on the work we already do with the Club in such a way that benefits everyone. We already meet with them a number of times per year to allow a constant dialogue between the two but we are adding to this during 2018-9. We have already started work on a number of surveys that will run throughout the season aimed at improving the matchday experience for supporters. The results of each survey will be published alongside an agreed action plan to take things forward.
We also hope to announce a major fundraising project in the next few weeks. We are working hard behind the scenes on the planning and costing before we make any announcement. It’s been a few years since we did any significant fundraising for the club, with our last major donation being the £30,000 we donated to the Floodlights back in 2014. We will announce this as soon as we can before asking our members approval to make such a donation as we do with all donations over £2,000. If approved, most of our fundraising efforts this season will be in relation to this.
Our major side project for this season is the Former Players Association. We’ve talked about this idea for years but we’ve never had the bodies to get this off the ground. We developed great ties with a number of former players last season through the Curry Night and the Matchball Sponsorships and want to continue that again.
Our plan is to run the FPA this year, then hopefully form a small group of former players to take it on. The three events we are looking at running this year is a Former Players Saturday, a Former Players Meal and a Legends Fundraising game at the end of the season.
We have three Matchball Sponsorships booked in for the new season (Walsall, Accrington and Scunthorpe). Each game will see Trust members drawn at random from our members database join us for pre-match hospitality, including lunch, match tickets and programmes for the game, and attendance at the post match awards. Last season, we invited former Dale greats to join us and we will be continuing this in 2018-19. Play Off hero Tommy Lee has agreed to be our first guest.
Each month we invite all supporters to choose their Player of the Month. Trust members who voted for the eventual winner then enter a draw. The member drawn is then invited to make the presentation, and receives a copy of the plaque presented, and the player’s signed top.
And finally, we would like to see the Trust hit 500 members during the next season. We broke our record for Exiled Supporters last year with a massive 125, but we’ve not had over 500 members overall since the 2009-10 season. Throughout the Supporters Trust movement, they say a Trust is doing well if their membership is 10% of a club’s average home crowd but we want to take this further by hitting that magical 500 figure and beyond.
Trust Events Diary 2018-19
August
- Fans Forum
- Matchball Sponsorship V Walsall
- Footgolf Tournament
- Survey – pre-match bars
September
- Meeting with the Directors
- Survey – Facilities at Spotland
October
- Matchball Sponsorship v Accrington
- Former Players Saturday
November
- Trust AGM
December
- Xmas Party in Dale bar v Plymouth
January
- Meeting with the Directors
February
March
- Matchball Sponsorship V Scunthorpe
- Sponsored walk to Accrington
April
- Curry Night
- Exiles Day
- End of Season do
The above list is subject to change
Membership of the Trust is just £10 for the 2018-19 season. Join hundreds of other Dale supporters by becoming a member either online or by visiting the Trust desk before any Saturday home game.