Toast Presidency and The Board

[jathanas]

Thank you 76woodenspooners

One of BigFooty’s all-time-favourite posters, Reykjavik , was all across the board level stuff. He once posted a list of the responsibilities of a Not-For-Profit board like that of Collingwood …

abcdef.....ijklmnop

NFP board responsibilities
Specific responsibilities of a not-for-profit (NFP) board include:

• Driving the strategic direction of the organisation
• Working with the CEO to enable the organisation to obtain the resources, funds and personnel necessary to implement the organisation's strategic objectives
• Implementing, maintaining and (as necessary) refining a system of good governance that is appropriate for the organisation
• Reviewing reports and monitoring the performance of the organisation
• Regularly reviewing the board's structure and composition, so that these are appropriate for the organisation
• Appointing – and managing the performance of – a suitable CEO
• Succession planning for the CEO

While the above points are also applicable to for-profit boards, NFP boards also face a unique range of issues, such as:

• Difficulties in defining and measuring organisational effectiveness
• Transgression of role boundaries
• The negative impact of the structural compositions of some NFP boards, including those arising from representative models
• Funding dependencies and constraints

In practice, the role of the board is to supervise an organisation's business in two broad areas:

1. Overall business performance - ensuring the organisation develops and implements strategies and supporting policies to enable it to fulfill the objectives set out in the organisation's constitution. The board delegates the day to day management of the organisation but remains accountable to the shareholders for the organisation's performance. The board monitors and supports management in an on-going way.
2. Overall compliance performance - ensuring the organisation develops and implements systems to enable it to comply with its legal and policy obligations (complying with statutes such as the Corporations Act 2001, adhering to accounting standards) and ensure the organisation's assets are protected through appropriate risk management.

http://www.companydirectors.com.au/...ctor/NFP-governance/The-role-of-the-NFP-board

Link to original post …

Side by Side with Reykjavik - RIP (re-read Rey's message to us all #108, pg 5)

Reyk, I'm ridiculously happy to see you posting! :)

www.bigfooty.com

 

[76woodenspooners]

I'm not presenting this as news, sunshine!

I'm providing evidence of what McGuire said about "branch stacking". With our structure, that may involve free memberships and random membership upgrades from standard to Social and Legend Club memberships.

It’s an interesting one …

… when Ed became President he said the whole freebie thing was a mess. He changed things so that there were no more freebies and everybody paid. He would oft mention that he paid out is that of his own pocket for his own seat at the President’s luncheon - a luncheon he hosted.

Obviously things would have been challenging in the age of Covid. You have people who lose their jobs for extended periods and people who don’t. Do you discount across the board? (Not sure that helps too much, people either have their job and can afford their membership, or they don’t and can’t). Do you offer discounts on a case by case basis?

The club were keen to avoid a run on the membership (hence Ed’s spat with Tony Jones).

Personally, I find it hard to justify handing out freebies or upgrades to add value in the age of Covid. People can either afford to continue to support the club or they can’t.

 

[76woodenspooners]

That doesn’t make any sense.

Yeah, it probably needs a bit of imagination to see how it can happen, but suffice to say it did. And it didn’t reflect too greatly on the admin of the club either. Nothing nefarious, it’s more part of that constant battle between being a professional organisation (and cold and hard and alienating the members) versus being a community spirited organisation. It’s hard for them to get that balance right. I don’t envy what they have to do!

 

[Pie eyed]

I'm not presenting this as news, sunshine!

I'm providing evidence of what McGuire said about "branch stacking". With our structure, that may involve free memberships and random membership upgrades from standard to Social and Legend Club memberships.

LOL.
I assumed as the topic was Corpvote's "error" you were in the moment, not the past.

 

[SeanC]

Enjoying the discussion here, I had a good discussion with Jake Niall about the board makeup and the gender balance on the board after his article as the requirements of sports teams has changed a lot in the past 20 years.

I believe we need gender balance on the board as we have 2 high-performance teams (Netball & AFLW) that helped secure current sponsorships as those teams were included in the deal, without them those deals may not have been closed.

I don't have the gender % on our membership but it will be close to half with the opportunity to grow via Netball and AFLW.

The government might require it for the grant but I think the club should be seeking that balance regardless.

I'm limited by election by-laws to mention any nominees without their permission but the female nominees would be with voting for, and I'd happily be included on a ballot with them.

As discussed in this thread the club constitution needs some major changes to better represent the club in 2021 and beyond.

Anyway if you want me to stay in my lane I'll jump out of this thread.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Enjoying the discussion here, I had a good discussion with Jake Niall about the board makeup and the gender balance on the board after his article as the requirements of sports teams has changed a lot in the past 20 years.

I believe we need gender balance on the board as we have 2 high-performance teams (Netball & AFLW) that helped secure current sponsorships as those teams were included in the deal, without them those deals may not have been closed.

I don't have the gender % on our membership but it will be close to half with the opportunity to grow via Netball and AFLW.

The government might require it for the grant but I think the club should be seeking that balance regardless.

I'm limited by election by-laws to mention any nominees without their permission but the female nominees would be with voting for, and I'd happily be included on a ballot with them.

As discussed in this thread the club constitution needs some major changes to better represent the club in 2021 and beyond.

Anyway if you want me to stay in my lane I'll jump out of this thread.

Gender of our board reps isn’t necessarily linked to advocacy for AFLW and netball. I don‘t think it’d be hard to find 7 female Collingwood supporters who have zero interest in AFLW and who would happily hand back our netball license at the earliest opportunity. (There would be men and women who are vocal advocates for our women’s program, there would be men and women who have no interest in our women’s program, and there would be men and women who would be concerned about our club’s apparent lack of focus on our men’s program)

I think gender balance on the board is more linked to representation of the membership / supporter base. Plus strength through diversity.

From our very small sample size, it seems that the causal factor is just getting women to nominate. From the 11 candidates, only 3 are female. And unless 2 out of those 3 are voted in, then we jeopardise major funding.

If our sponsors truly value our women’s program and gender balance on the boards, maybe we can get them to sponsor / subsidise a few eligible female CFC members (currently 24 month+ voting members) off do their AICD course each year? This would have the added value of equipping women from a wide range of fields to serve on the board, not just those who have come up through the traditional corporate management ranks. Thoughts?

 

[SeanC]

Gender of our board reps isn’t necessarily linked to advocacy for AFLW and netball. I don‘t think it’d be hard to find 7 female Collingwood supporters who have zero interest in AFLW and who would happily hand back our netball license at the earliest opportunity. (There would be men and women who are vocal advocates for our women’s program, there would be men and women who have no interest in our women’s program, and there would be men and women who would be concerned about our club’s apparent lack of focus on our men’s program)

I think gender balance on the board is more linked to representation of the membership / supporter base. Plus strength through diversity.

From our very small sample size, it seems that the causal factor is just getting women to nominate. From the 11 candidates, only 3 are female. And unless 2 out of those 3 are voted in, then we jeopardise major funding.

If our sponsors truly value our women’s program and gender balance on the boards, maybe we can get them to sponsor / subsidise a few eligible female CFC members (currently 24 month+ voting members) off do their AICD course each year? This would have the added value of equipping women from a wide range of fields to serve on the board, not just those who have come up through the traditional corporate management ranks. Thoughts?

Wasn't saying it was because of AFLW and Netball teams only but it makes the case for equity more compelling. Of course, there will be potential female board members with a passion and expertise for what the club can do in the AFL and across men's teams.

Sponsors are looking for equity when spending their sponsorship dollars, that's why Netball & AFLW helped close a few recent deals. So that's how that start looking and filtering opportunities, you don't get past stage 1 without a compelling offer.

 

[Mollythedolly]

37 years a Pies member, but Barrie Cassidy still can’t vote

The vast majority of Collingwood’s 82,000 members can’t participate in the club’s elections, contradicting the club’s own self-image.

www.theage.com.au

Jake Niall has written a column advocating for voting rights expansion. Personally I would disagree with any expansion including AFL members with Collingwood club support.

Sad to hear Baz is struggling and can’t afford the extra couple of hundred bucks he needs to upgrade his membership to1 with voting rights.

FFS. In my experience, the vast majority of supporters are concerned with the on field performances of the club to the exclusion of just about all the other activity. Someone has a hissy fit and now apparently we all want voting rights. F$&# off.

You want to vote, buy the appropriate membership.

 

[Mollythedolly]

Cassidy is bleating about his own stupid choice.

It was his choice not to purchase a membership with voting rights attached. He cant blame others for his choices. I've been a member for 58 years and a social club member since 1982. I became a social club member so I could vote. That was my choice. I also have an AFL club support package.

Barrie is being silly.

Exactly. Football club memberships are a luxury. We all make decision about our discretionary spending on luxury items. Hardly the clubs fault if he failed to acquaint himself with what he was getting for his spend.

 

[Mollythedolly]

Not enough questions about the salary cap and trading pick 2.

So you want the Board meddling in the decisions of the Football Department? The sort of intrusion that apparently led to Beams returning to the club?

Edit: sarcasm missed, my bad.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Sad to hear Baz is struggling and can’t afford the extra couple of hundred bucks he needs to upgrade his membership to1 with voting rights.

FFS. In my experience, the vast majority of supporters are concerned with the on field performances of the club to the exclusion of just about all the other activity. Someone has a hissy fit and now apparently we all want voting rights. F$&# off.

You want to vote, buy the appropriate membership.

We ride the highs and lows of our footy team …

… and it can be all too easy to take for granted that our beloved footy team is put on the park by a club and an administration that is accountable to the members.

If our members start developing strong opinions about the admin of the club and how it is run then that has to be a good thing. If they complain about not having a vote, if they wish they could have run for the board, and if they write about all the things they would have liked to represent on the board if they could - that’s a shame for them that they miss out, but it’s a good thing for Collingwood.

Something I’ve noticed in my travels is that those communities where the locals have strong opinions about the quality of their leadership, that the locals often complain about the way things are run … they’re typically the best run communities. The communities that are apathetic and have little community engagement or representation, are typically the ones that perform poorly.

 

[Mollythedolly]

I'm not sure the club exists to feed homeless people, the Salvation Army already do a terrific job in that area.

Football and netball (as we have a netball team) is our core business. Focus on your core business.

You do understand how Not For Profit organizations work don’t you?

 

[Mollythedolly]

Relative to the point that you are quoting, it might involve not slashing and burning the recruiting department as we have over recent years, leaving Dekka with too much on his plate.

Or hiring Ned Guy who'd never done any list management ever to be list manager.

Whilst it's hard to objectively detail a qualitative problem, there's a fair ******* difference between the practice and diligence in selecting the ineligible Board members and the process in selecting McRae. We need the latter every time!

Obviously it's not just a matter of throwing money at each problem, because you might end up with some bloated mess that will lead to entropy over positive evolution. But there would surely be happy medium in every facet. I'd be sitting down with each of the stakeholders to hear what works best for them and what other clubs are doing that they perceive as being best practice.

FWIW, I'd love to know why we had to slash our recruiting department so heavily (this happened both before and after COVID).

Where else would you have made cuts to the footy department to enable the recruiting department to receive more resources?

 

[Quicky]

Where else would you have made cuts to the footy department to enable the recruiting department to receive more resources?

Bucks salary

 

[FIGJAM]

Bucks salary

[/thread]

 

[76woodenspooners]

When David Hatley as the public face of the EGM Group was interviewed on Footy Classified earlier this year, he was asked by Ed what the EGM folks were protesting against exactly?

One of the things David mentioned was about people not feeling that they were part of the club anymore. From Ed’s reaction then and since, I don’t think Ed properly understood the point.

That feeling of being disconnected from the club is something that many folks have expressed over the years. It’s something that is a bit hard to describe …

… but I recently came across something that perhaps articulates it. It was on the general topic of subscription services.

Subscription services are a concept we’re all very familiar with - Foxtel subscription, Netflix subscription, Kayo subscription, Herald Sun Subscription, some of us have SAAS subscriptions for work with products like Xero and Adobe Creative Cloud.

There were several big innovations at Collingwood circa 2010. We’re all familiar with Buttifant’s use of the interchange bench to manage aerobic fitness. A lesser known innovation, but also a very important one for the club, was that our membership boss at the time, Justin Reeves (now CEO of Hawthorn), had come from Foxtel and brought with him the idea of our membership being paid as an auto debit of monthly dues. Previously the membership count started at 0 every year, and the club would embark on the herculean task of trying to get everybody to pay up. Apparently this innovation improved our finances significantly and Collingwood were the first club to adopt it.

Anyway, back to the general topic of subscription services. Apparently the next frontier / innovation of subscription services is …

… can you guess?

Spoiler: “Answer”

Membership services!

A challenge with subscription services is to get people to sign up (“How much am I really going to use this service?”). Plus once people do sign up there can be a feeling by consumers to try and get as much value as possible out if the service. (As in “Just signed up to Netflix, now I need to binge to get value!”). Plus ensuring that consumers feel like they’re still getting value And maintaining the subscription.

Subscription services are a transactional relationship. The consumer pays a regular fee, and gets a service in return.

By contrast the membership economy is a different mindset. It strives to bring more value to consumers. It may be in the form of consumers having explicit input into the service (imagine being able to have input into the Herald Sun editorial as part of your subscription). Or it may be consumers feeling like / being part of something greater than themselves.

The genesis of Collingwood’s current payment of member’s dues originates from a subscription economy service (Foxtel). Whilst that was good for the club’s finances, and the club leadership at the time will claim that it was that + 2010 Premiership that paid for the New Glasshouse, maybe it led to a change in mindset by the club that alienated the membership and made them feel more like subscribers?

If you’re interested in this stuff (It’s interesting to me professionally) you can find out more at …

The Membership Economy - Robbie Kellman Baxter

robbiekellmanbaxter.com

Subscriptions: Everything-as-a-Service | Dell

Host Walter Isaacson explores how a multi-industry shift to the subscription economy impacts companies and consumers.

www.delltechnologies.com

SeanC
C Macdonald

(I’ve tagged you in case this stuff is of interest)

 

[Mollythedolly]

We ride the highs and lows of our footy team …

… and it can be all too easy to take for granted that our beloved footy team is put on the park by a club and an administration that is accountable to the members.

If our members start developing strong opinions about the admin of the club and how it is run then that has to be a good thing. If they complain about not having a vote, if they wish they could have run for the board, and if they write about all the things they would have liked to represent on the board if they could - that’s a shame for them that they miss out, but it’s a good thing for Collingwood.

Something I’ve noticed in my travels is that those communities where the locals have strong opinions about the quality of their leadership, that the locals often complain about the way things are run … they’re typically the best run communities. The communities that are apathetic and have little community engagement or representation, are typically the ones that perform poorly.

Shame we only waken from our apathy every 15-20 years.

 

[Mollythedolly]

Bucks salary

Richmond and Hawthorn seemed to have sustained recruiting success of recent times. Are you suggesting Bucks was on more than either Clarko or Hardwick?

 

[Quicky]

Richmond and Hawthorn seemed to have sustained recruiting success of recent times. Are you suggesting Bucks was on more than either Clarko or Hardwick?

You asked where to find money in the cap for more recruiters. Bucks was on a large contract which accounted for a significant chunk of the soft cap. There was opportunity there to redistribute some of that to other areas of the football department including recruiting.

 

[sr36]

You asked where to find money in the cap for more recruiters. Bucks was on a large contract which accounted for a significant chunk of the soft cap. There was opportunity there to redistribute some of that to other areas of the football department including recruiting.

There's talk of the AFL centralising recruitment information.

 

[Quicky]

There's talk of the AFL centralising recruitment information.

I've heard that. I hope we don't rely on that and maintain our own resources and capabilities

 

[VantagePoint]

When David Hatley as the public face of the EGM Group was interviewed on Footy Classified earlier this year, he was asked by Ed what the EGM folks were protesting against exactly?

One of the things David mentioned was about people not feeling that they were part of the club anymore. From Ed’s reaction then and since, I don’t think Ed properly understood the point.

That feeling of being disconnected from the club is something that many folks have expressed over the years. It’s something that is a bit hard to describe …

… but I recently came across something that perhaps articulates it. It was on the general topic of subscription services.

Subscription services are a concept we’re all very familiar with - Foxtel subscription, Netflix subscription, Kayo subscription, Herald Sun Subscription, some of us have SAAS subscriptions for work with products like Xero and Adobe Creative Cloud.

There were several big innovations at Collingwood circa 2010. We’re all familiar with Buttifant’s use of the interchange bench to manage aerobic fitness. A lesser known innovation, but also a very important one for the club, was that our membership boss at the time, Justin Reeves (now CEO of Hawthorn), had come from Foxtel and brought with him the idea of our membership being paid as an auto debit of monthly dues. Previously the membership count started at 0 every year, and the club would embark on the herculean task of trying to get everybody to pay up. Apparently this innovation improved our finances significantly and Collingwood were the first club to adopt it.

Anyway, back to the general topic of subscription services. Apparently the next frontier / innovation of subscription services is …

… can you guess?

Spoiler: “Answer”

Membership services!

A challenge with subscription services is to get people to sign up (“How much am I really going to use this service?”). Plus once people do sign up there can be a feeling by consumers to try and get as much value as possible out if the service. (As in “Just signed up to Netflix, now I need to binge to get value!”). Plus ensuring that consumers feel like they’re still getting value And maintaining the subscription.

Subscription services are a transactional relationship. The consumer pays a regular fee, and gets a service in return.

By contrast the membership economy is a different mindset. It strives to bring more value to consumers. It may be in the form of consumers having explicit input into the service (imagine being able to have input into the Herald Sun editorial as part of your subscription). Or it may be consumers feeling like / being part of something greater than themselves.

The genesis of Collingwood’s current payment of member’s dues originates from a subscription economy service (Foxtel). Whilst that was good for the club’s finances, and the club leadership at the time will claim that it was that + 2010 Premiership that paid for the New Glasshouse, maybe it led to a change in mindset by the club that alienated the membership and made them feel more like subscribers?

If you’re interested in this stuff (It’s interesting to me professionally) you can find out more at …

The Membership Economy - Robbie Kellman Baxter

robbiekellmanbaxter.com

Subscriptions: Everything-as-a-Service | Dell

Host Walter Isaacson explores how a multi-industry shift to the subscription economy impacts companies and consumers.

www.delltechnologies.com

SeanC
C Macdonald

(I’ve tagged you in case this stuff is of interest)

Couldn't agree more. There's an opportunity to introduce in parallel a 'Collingwood DAO' (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) structure based on cooperative law that would enhance membership services and broaden the voting capabilities within the base.

The revenue stream potentiality for the club and the benefits available for members and supporters in Web3, the next phase of the internet, is eye watering.

Would take time to develop, propose and transition with the club in any official capacity, again it would have to operate in parallel for some time.

Very open to speaking with all tagged in this thread as a consideration, I am part of an Australian group heading up this type of structure.


SeanC
C Macdonald
76woodenspooners

(I’ve also tagged you in case this stuff is of interest)

 

[sr36]

I've heard that. I hope we don't rely on that and maintain our own resources and capabilities

We'll maintain a recruitment department, I don't envisage how you couldn't have one, because clubs will still have to assess the kids, independently of whatever info is being spat out be a centralised AFL recruiting group, but we might not need to expand recruiting.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Shame we only waken from our apathy every 15-20 years.

I think apathy is a harsh term. We are a club of passionate supporters and we all have our kink whether it’s our favourite player, the performance of our team, our recruiting, our history, our admin, our AFLW, whatever

I just think that the admin side has been a bit less on people’s radar, plus many folks simply don’t understand it, or are simply not on the same page.

For example, the reported $15m loss due to the pubs fiasco. $15m represents around 20% of our turnover in a good year. Would our Members have been so tolerant if we’d botched the retention of 20% of our list? (9 players)

 

[76woodenspooners]

Couldn't agree more. There's an opportunity to introduce in parallel a 'Collingwood DAO' (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) structure based on cooperative law that would enhance membership services and broaden the voting capabilities within the base.

The revenue stream potentiality for the club and the benefits available for members and supporters in Web3, the next phase of the internet, is eye watering.

Would take time to develop, propose and transition with the club in any official capacity, again it would have to operate in parallel for some time.

Very open to speaking with all tagged in this thread as a consideration, I am part of an Australian group heading up this type of structure.


SeanC
C Macdonald
76woodenspooners

(I’ve also tagged you in case this stuff is of interest)

Interesting

Can you tell us a bit about this tech, and some examples of how it would benefit the club and the members?

 

[VantagePoint]

Interesting

Can you tell us a bit about this tech, and some examples of how it would benefit the club and the members?

The underlying DAO technology in its current form is blockchain / smart contract driven and treasury based, giving members the ability to pool funds and vote on member-driven proposals, with governance protocols ready built in.

In a sporting club context, I foresee a cooperative established outside the club initially, with club and member oversight; develop the complimenting DAO model, gather member requirements and deliver proposal to commence a small pilot with a small number of willing members, and then slowly implement over time. Rigorously tested, rigorously consulting members along the way.

Would look like a member portal that operates outside of the exisiting club infrastructure. As an initial prototype, think a highly moderated BigFooty Collingwood but with a workflow of member projects proposed, voted on and coordinated in the one place.

Think about the countless hours we spend on here debating, when we could be utilising the time and knowledge toward building.

As adoption and trust in the model grows, the club may incrementally shift its community based initiatives to the ‘Collingwood DAO’ and enable the member base to institute and operate additional programs themselves. These programs could operate anywhere around the country, could raise their own funds, make Collingwood the world’s most engaged club.

If successful, this would allow the CFC footballing administration to focus more on the on-field program and commercials, and the fans on contributing to member-generated initiatives that benefit the club and its members. All exisiting member rights would remain.

What does this look like?

If you are familiar with Web3, to begin with I see an NFT-based membership model emerging where member services are like a SAAS.

Some immediate benefits for members may include:

• Tailored membership issuance, incentives, deals
• Live voting from mobile device on member-related, member proposals, game day activities
• Ticket reallocation capabilities, on-selling secondary markets
• Member data protection (GDPR) and member identification - in line with incoming Australian platform laws: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/...and-make-tech-giants-pay-20211128-p59csb.html

Revenue streams for the club may include:

• Club licensed NFT issuance - club must pursue the rights before the AFL
• Partner service referrals
• The model itself

From my perspective, this is about securing the Collingwood Football Club for the next 100 years. If football is not a thing by then, at least we’d have built a thriving community network with a CFC legacy preserved.