Firstly, I apologise for the delay in getting October’s update to you all – so much has happened over the past month and we wanted some of our projects to reach fruition before circulating.
As part of our efforts to improve our digital presence, we have launched a new website at www.dee4life.com
that incorporates a new membership management platform. This was a much-needed upgrade and the new platform will help automate a lot of the time-consuming administration work and ensure an improved experience for members.
Gone are manual spreadsheets, difficult to pull distribution lists and members’ communications relying on director intervention. Now, we can offer you a seamless customer experience including simplified 4-step sign-up process, multiple payment options, ability to self-update membership details, digital membership card and access to a members’ only portal to see trust documents.
This work has been led by our directors Ross Day and Ryan Norrie and forms a major part of our efforts over the past few months to overhaul the way the Trust is run to ensure we are a more modern and agile organisation capable of representing Dundee supporters.
You will have seen that our annual membership fee has risen to £10, a modest increase that was backed by the vast majority of those who completed our recent survey. This will help us expand our activities and, where appropriate, support the club’s development. This deduction will occur automatically on your renewal date and no action by yourself is necessary.
In a similar vein, our recent raffle of framed tops sponsored by Dee4Life in recent seasons – organised by Ross – raised £420 for our funds and the winners will be receiving their prizes by post shortly. We will also raffle/auction Paul McGowan’s 2021/22 awayshirt at our AGM on Saturday 19 November, when limited edition Dee4Life pin badges – an initiative by board member Mary Coyle – will also be on sale.
This will be the first occasion since pre-Covid that we have been able to hold an in-person AGM and we hope as many members as possible take the opportunity to attend. The event starts at 11am in Dundee Social Club and it is our intention to complete the formal part of the meeting as quickly as possible to allow the maximum time for questions from the floor and an open discussion about the direction of both Dee4Life and the club we all love.
The proposed development at Camperdown will no doubt be uppermost in the minds of many of you and we are keen to hear your thoughts about this at the AGM. As we shared with you last month, we have written to the club to ask that they consult with fans directly about the potential impact, risks and benefits of the development for the football club.
We have been gauging the views of experts in planning, property, construction, and the law as we seek to provide oversight on behalf of all Dundee fans. Given our club’s previous brushes with extinction, we believe this is essential. While we support the development in principle, our backing is contingent on the club addressing the issues that we outlined previously and fully engaging with supporters.
Kind regards.
Norrie
Chair