barrymitchell

Photo of David Nicol by Drew Reid ©
Welcome to the latest update from the trust committee.
It’s now been around six weeks since our joint bid for the club with Gordon Scott went through and we’ve continued to be busy behind the scenes.
It’s been a massive transition for us, with our member numbers going from 200 to nearly 1,400 and our annual income from four figures to six, but we feel we now have the back-end admin and financial processes we need in place to deal with that increase in workload.
Our member numbers have held pretty steady throughout August and as of the end of the month were sitting at 1,370.
Along the way we have lost a few and gained a few and we expect that is how it will be – we know from our discussions with friends at the Foundation of Hearts that numbers will vary.
Obviously it is important we maintain our numbers as the years go on and we aim to do that by showing members the benefit their money is having on St Mirren and the local community.
The £2 per month members pot
With that in mind, we will soon be in a position to start investing your cash in the club.
As we told you last month, the plan is to spend the £2 ringfenced from each member’s monthly subscription on a quarterly basis.
The September subscriptions will be the third tranche of #BuyTheBuds money, meaning we will have in the region of £8,000 to invest in the club as the members choose at some point soon.
The plan is for the SMISA committee to speak to the club about their priorities for investment, to survey members over their priorities and ideas, and compile all of that into several costed spending options through which members will vote via secure online ballot.
We are still finalising the details of the exact procedure through which we will do this, but will be in touch with members soon regarding the next steps.
SMISA director and club matters
As you know, SMISA committee member David Nicol is now on the board of the club. Dave’s feedback from the first of the board meetings is that they have been really positive and that Gordon Scott in particular has lots of ideas he wants to implement at the club.
On club matters, it is important to again stress that SMISA is not directly responsible for club business – the club board control club operations, as has always been the case.
But the benefit to having a SMISA rep on the board is that we have a man in the room who can raise issues which matter to our members.
If there is something you wish Dave to raise for possible consideration at a club board meeting then let us know via [email protected]
We would also remind you that Dave’s appointment is only temporary for the time being – we plan to hold an election before the end of the year where members will choose who will do the job over the longer-term.
Open meeting – 5 September
To give members a chance to speak directly with the SMISA committee and to raise any issues they wish to discuss, we will be having a drop-in session during one of our regular meetings.
We will be in the back room at Saporito Coffee in Gauze Street, Paisley, on Monday 5 September between 7 and 8pm.
If there is anything you want to talk to us about, please pop by.
Events and benefits update
We ran our first public event since #BuyTheBuds became reality when more than 100 fans joined us for a fan party in the library cafe at the University of the West of Scotland after the Morton game.
Gordon Scott, Alex Rae and Tony Fitzpatrick joined us and addressed the crowd, as did SMISA chair George Adam and director Dave Nicol.
We want to thank everybody for coming along, as well as UWS for hosting and Billy Gray for being DJ on the night.
We have also started to roll out the benefits due to those who signed up the #BuyTheBuds through the £2,500 premium package – with some of those members joining the squad during the official team photo last week.
Some of the £25 per month members have also been picked to enjoy directors guest lounge access at the Paisley 2021 Stadium for home games.
Paul Wycherley was the man chosen from the hat for the Hibs game and we'll announce the winner for the the Queen of the South game on Saturday 10th shortly.
We are also working on plans for the first of the exclusive £25 per month members events, and hope to have more free events for all members at some point too.
In the meantime, you can contact us via [email protected] if there are any queries.
The SMISA Committee
 
Original article from smisa.net

Member numbers   We are conscious we haven't updated you on member numbers since our joint bid for the majority stake in the club with Gordon Scott was completed last month.   As of 3 August we had 1,373 members of the trust - numbers have actually crept up slightly since the deal was completed. Of that, around 12% are on the £25 per month membership, which is slightly ahead of our initial target of 10%.    We had always said 1,000 was the minimum we needed to hit to trigger the deal - we are thrilled to have smashed that and want to thank every one of you for signing up.   The more members the trust has, the stronger we are financially and the greater our ability to benefit the club.   There is no upper limit on members, so please keep spreading the word to fellow fans that anybody can still sign up now at smisa.net   Spending trust income   As you know, the bulk of our income is going towards the share purchase and saving up the cash ultimately needed to buy out Gordon and achieve fan ownership.   But £2 per month from each member will be ring-fenced to be spent on the club as you choose, and at current membership levels, that is just over £8,000 per quarter.    We are still finalising the details of the procedure for spending this but the plan is for us to survey members on where they want to see the money spent, speak to club about where they need investment, and compile the results into a shortlist of options for members to vote on via secure online ballot.   We hope to repeat this process every three months, meaning members will get four votes per year. We feel this will be a really good way to keep the membership engaged, while deciding how their money will help the club.   SMISA director   As has already been announced, Gordon Scott has asked SMISA committee member Dave Nicol to join the board of St Mirren as the SMISA representative.   Gordon was keen there be some continuity with the guys who had worked with him over the past year, and Dave - who had led on the financial and legal aspects of the deal from SMISA's side - was the obvious choice.
However Dave's appointment was only ever intended to be temporary, as one of the key points of the #BuyTheBuds campaign was that SMISA members elect their own director.   We are still working on a procedure through which this will happen, but the plan is to hold an election for members to elect one of their own on to the board before the end of the year.   It is important to stress that as things stand SMISA are only the part-owners of the club - ultimately Gordon controls the majority stake.   In practice, the club will be run by the board, as it always has been. But the key difference is that board now contains a SMISA rep, who can raise issues on your behalf for potential discussion.   If you wish to raise an issue with the SMISA director, you can do so by emailing [email protected]   Events and member benefits   We will have a number of events this coming season - the first being a fan party to celebrate the success of the bid after the Morton game on Saturday in the library at UWS. Entry is free but tickets are required. To sign up and for full details see our Eventbrite page.    There will also be a number of events for those of you on the £25 per month and £2,500 premium packages - we are still working on these but will be in touch with details as soon as they are confirmed.   We will also be running a draw for each home game this season for a £25 per month member and a guest to watch that game from the director's guest lounge.   Cameron Sanderson was the lucky winner for the Morton game. The rest of you in that membership category have around a one in ten chance of winning at some point - we will be in touch if you do!   Football Pink Magazine Article   The Football Pink Magazine are writing a piece about St Mirren's Scottish Cup win from 1987 and along with some interviews from players from the team they're looking for fans' views and memories of the occasion. If you were there that day and don't mind answering a few questions about the game please drop as an email and we'll forward them on.   Contact details Finally, we want to ask members to keep us updated with any change in your details using our contact page.   If you've changed your email address or phone number, we want to make sure you don't miss out on any events or benefits due to you.   All our updates will come from [email protected] so please add this to your address book to ensure our emails to you don't end up in junk mail.  

Member numbers   We are conscious we haven't updated you on member numbers since our joint bid for the majority stake in the club with Gordon Scott was completed last month.   As of 3 August we had 1,373 members of the trust - numbers have actually crept up slightly since the deal was completed. Of that, around 12% are on the £25 per month membership, which is slightly ahead of our initial target of 10%.    We had always said 1,000 was the minimum we needed to hit to trigger the deal - we are thrilled to have smashed that and want to thank every one of you for signing up.   The more members the trust has, the stronger we are financially and the greater our ability to benefit the club.   There is no upper limit on members, so please keep spreading the word to fellow fans that anybody can still sign up now at smisa.net   Spending trust income   As you know, the bulk of our income is going towards the share purchase and saving up the cash ultimately needed to buy out Gordon and achieve fan ownership.   But £2 per month from each member will be ring-fenced to be spent on the club as you choose, and at current membership levels, that is just over £8,000 per quarter.    We are still finalising the details of the procedure for spending this but the plan is for us to survey members on where they want to see the money spent, speak to club about where they need investment, and compile the results into a shortlist of options for members to vote on via secure online ballot.   We hope to repeat this process every three months, meaning members will get four votes per year. We feel this will be a really good way to keep the membership engaged, while deciding how their money will help the club.   SMISA director   As has already been announced, Gordon Scott has asked SMISA committee member Dave Nicol to join the board of St Mirren as the SMISA representative.   Gordon was keen there be some continuity with the guys who had worked with him over the past year, and Dave - who had led on the financial and legal aspects of the deal from SMISA's side - was the obvious choice.
However Dave's appointment was only ever intended to be temporary, as one of the key points of the #BuyTheBuds campaign was that SMISA members elect their own director.   We are still working on a procedure through which this will happen, but the plan is to hold an election for members to elect one of their own on to the board before the end of the year.   It is important to stress that as things stand SMISA are only the part-owners of the club - ultimately Gordon controls the majority stake.   In practice, the club will be run by the board, as it always has been. But the key difference is that board now contains a SMISA rep, who can raise issues on your behalf for potential discussion.   If you wish to raise an issue with the SMISA director, you can do so by emailing [email protected]   Events and member benefits   We will have a number of events this coming season - the first being a fan party to celebrate the success of the bid after the Morton game on Saturday in the library at UWS. Entry is free but tickets are required. To sign up and for full details see our Eventbrite page.    There will also be a number of events for those of you on the £25 per month and £2,500 premium packages - we are still working on these but will be in touch with details as soon as they are confirmed.   We will also be running a draw for each home game this season for a £25 per month member and a guest to watch that game from the director's guest lounge.   Cameron Sanderson was the lucky winner for the Morton game. The rest of you in that membership category have around a one in ten chance of winning at some point - we will be in touch if you do!   Football Pink Magazine Article   The Football Pink Magazine are writing a piece about St Mirren's Scottish Cup win from 1987 and along with some interviews from players from the team they're looking for fans' views and memories of the occasion. If you were there that day and don't mind answering a few questions about the game please drop as an email and we'll forward them on.   Contact details Finally, we want to ask members to keep us updated with any change in your details using our contact page.   If you've changed your email address or phone number, we want to make sure you don't miss out on any events or benefits due to you.   All our updates will come from [email protected] so please add this to your address book to ensure our emails to you don't end up in junk mail.  

Existing members will not have had an email when the payment was taken but an email when the new payment was setup which could have been over the last few months. 

Existing members will not have had an email when the payment was taken but an email when the new payment was setup which could have been over the last few months. 

I've taken the counter down for now and I'll produce monthly updates on membership going forward. 

I've taken the counter down for now and I'll produce monthly updates on membership going forward. 

I've taken the counter down for now and I'll produce monthly updates on membership going forward. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

It's not been as much of a priority to get it updated but we have had few signups since then. Key is to make sure everyone's set up for Friday and we don't take duplicate payments etc. I would hope the next push will be when the season starts. 

The pedant in me wishes someone would correct the wording, according to the dial thing we're "118.2% over our target" meaning 2182 have signed up. If only!

The pedant in me says thanks for fixing it, he can rest easy now.

I'm in the process of setting up more international subscriptions this week for those outside the Eurozone. I've emailed everyone that had already enquired but in case anyone else hadn't got in touch give me an email at [email protected]. We're going with PayPal until GoCardless rolls out more support or we can get something more appropriate.

I'm in the process of setting up more international subscriptions this week for those outside the Eurozone. I've emailed everyone that had already enquired but in case anyone else hadn't got in touch give me an email at [email protected]. We're going with PayPal until GoCardless rolls out more support or we can get something more appropriate.

If majority of members want that split to change because we have well over our target then it can change.

If we get more members then the money is still split between £10 for share purchase and £2 ringfenced.

It is indeed input manually and it's myself that does it. Was on a busy train on way to work this morning trying to update it so apologies it should have been 08:44. Has been amended now.

It is indeed input manually and it's myself that does it. Was on a busy train on way to work this morning trying to update it so apologies it should have been 08:44. Has been amended now.

It is indeed input manually and it's myself that does it. Was on a busy train on way to work this morning trying to update it so apologies it should have been 08:44. Has been amended now.

It is indeed input manually and it's myself that does it. Was on a busy train on way to work this morning trying to update it so apologies it should have been 08:44. Has been amended now.