Dee4Life Members Survey Results

Dear member,

Thanks to all of you who completed the survey we sent out last week. The results, which I include below along with some commentary, will be extremely useful as we look to finalise our new strategy ahead of our upcoming membership drive.

It was important for us to allow our members to give their views about the type of organisation they want Dee4Life to be and to help reshape the Trust. In total, 86 members answered the survey and we will follow up with a similar questionnaire aimed at non-members in the future.

While we are delighted to receive backing for the direction we are traveling, less positive feedback is every as welcome and important. We believe it is important for us to always be open to constructive criticism and to have honest conversations with our members and the wider Dundee community if we are to succeed as an organisation.

• How do you personally feel about Dee4Life as an organisation?

• How do you think the majority of Dundee supporters feel about Dee4Life?

It is heartening that an overwhelming majority of respondents a positive view of Dee4Life but the difference in answers from Q1 to Q2 back up what we already believed – that there is a perception issue among some sections of the Dundee support that we must address if we are to grow and become a more effective organisation

• Do you feel Dee4Life has a clear vision and purpose?

• Do you feel Dee4Life accurately reflects the views of most Dundee supporters?

• Do you feel Dee4Life effectively represents the views of most Dundee supporters?

The large number of members answering ‘unsure’ to these questions suggests that we need to better and actively communicate so supporters are clearer about who we are, what we do, and how we act on behalf of Dundee supporters. The last few years have been exceptionally tough for everyone, and for Dee4Life we have had to navigate the challenges of Covid with a diminishing number of Directors and volunteers that has further impacted on our activities. With the recent injection of fresh blood we are in a stronger position and will shortly be communicating the vision and purpose that you have all helped to shape.

• On what basis do you believe we might contribute financially to the club?

There are very clear preferences as to the type of financial support we might offer Dundee. We are currently in discussion with the club about the type of programmes they would welcome funding for and we will announce the results of this shortly.

• The annual Dee4Life membership fee has been pegged at £5 since 2014. Would you support a small increase to bring us into line with other Supporters’ Trusts and enable us to expand our activities and support the club’s development?

• What do you believe would be a fair annual membership fee?

• Would you also support the introduction of tiered packages to allow members to sign up for memberships that offer additional benefits?

There is very clear support for a small increase in the annual membership fee as well as for the introduction of tiered packages and this will be taken into account as we finalise our plans for the future.

• What do you believe the primary purpose of Dee4Life should be?

Once again, you have given a very clear indication of what you want to see from Dee4Life. We appreciate that some of the options here overlap and we aim for our new strategy to incorporate several different elements which feed into an overarching purpose of working on behalf of Dundee fans.

• How do you rate Dee4Life in terms of communication?

• How do you rate Dee4Life in terms of digital presence (website, social media)?

• How do you rate Dee4Life in terms of fundraising?

As noted earlier, our activities have been curtailed over the past few years, so we are not surprised by the more negative answers here. Hopefully you will have noticed an improvement in communication over the past couple of months and we aim to improve further. We have undergone a process of refining our social media presence (removing duplicate pages) and plan on increasing our level of activity on there as well. Our membership is growing once again and this will enable us to further review and develop our fundraising activity. We want to improve in every are and your feedback helps us to do so.

• Please feel free to expand on any of your answers here and to give us feedback on how we are doing and how you think we can improve as an organisation.

• Dee4Life should help grow the club’s support, particularly among younger fans
• A desire for a constructive relationship between the club and Dee4Life
• Dee4Life must do more to engage with fans
• A feeling that members are more optimistic about Dee4Life than they have been for some time
• Concern about the way the club is being run
• Questions over the proposed new stadium development, and concern over the prospect of groundsharing in particular
• Concern over the state of Dens Park and a desire for Dee4Life to raise this with the club
• A desire for a fundraising vehicle that allows fans to decide how the money is spent

Thanks again for all your contributions and you can always contact any of our Board to discuss ideas you might have, either for the Trust or the club. Our details can be found here.

Regards,
Gary Cocker
Secretary