Background
Formerly known as Trust Oldham and founded in 2003, it’s fair to say that our history has been something of a mixed bag. Formed nobly in the wake of the efforts made by fans to save the club from liquidation after Chris Moore left, the Foundation has since operated mostly in the background, with varying levels of success, influence and visibility. Membership levels have mostly been low and attracting volunteers and directors has been challenging.
The past couple of years have seen a new level of interest, energy and enthusiasm in OASF since the efforts made to help remove the former custodians from our club. We all know what happened next and that the club is now on a far better footing under the stewardship of the Rothwells and the new board of directors.
Community Benefit Society & Annual General Meeting
So what does that mean for OASF? As you may be aware, our members recently voted that we convert to a Community Benefit Society (CBS) and that conversion has since taken place. As a result of this, we need to hold an AGM on 27th July at which, as members, you will vote to decide if you are happy to keep the existing directors as your board for the newly formed CBS.
This means that in order to have your vote, you will need to become a member and pay £12 per year. The payment can be made here and will recur every 12 months until you decide to cancel it. If and when you do, your membership, share and influence in the CBS will cease.
As a CBS, we now have more options available to us in terms of what we can do for you, our members, our community; Oldham Athletic supporters and the community of Oldham. We are your official voice and your representative in the boardroom. In some respects our role remains the same; to keep a watchful eye over Oldham Athletic, even in such good times and to prepare for the potential of darker days ahead. We hope they don’t come, but we’ve hoped that before.
Ambition
OASF would like to increase our stake in Oldham Athletic and become an integral, valued and trusted partner of Oldham Athletic, regardless of who the custodians of the club are. In order to achieve this, we must operate as a successful business, which generates our own revenue streams via sales, donations and applicable grant funding, which are available to us due to our CBS status. This type of funding is not available to the club.
Our aim is to invest into the football club in return for shares. There are lots of examples where supporters' trusts and groups have invested significant amounts of money to help their club deliver better facilities for their supporters, some of which you can read about here.
With the will and support of the current board, we hope that through our fundraising and business efforts, in future, we will be in a position to invest in the club and support it financially, helping to cover the running costs. Any and all equity returns will be reinvested in the club. We are here to support Oldham Athletic, nothing else. We’ve seen in the past that when the burden of responsibility is on one party, it leaves the football club vulnerable. It’s our club and we want to help keep it strong.
We will use our seat on the board and your backing to ensure that all supporters' needs are met. This is why we founded the Fans Council, so that we can bring people with all types of needs, backgrounds and views together, to help inform the correct decision making at the football club, from a supporter perspective.
The Future
The key word in the future of OASF is investment. We have three basic aims
Invest in you, our members and supporters
Invest in Oldham
Invest in Oldham Athletic
We believe that through investing our time, energy and money into these things, we can help build a thriving, sustainable football club, which is at the heart of the community with a strong, proactive fanbase at its core.
Forget what you think OASF was, this is something new, something bigger, stronger and more influential. We are working on a number of initiatives that will demonstrate our intentions more clearly, which we will unveil to you shortly.
We need you. Join us on a journey that will never end, as w
e invest in our common love for Oldham and Oldham Athletic, together.
Please become a member today for just £12.
Thank you.
What are the initiatives?