In fairness if it said the Upbeats would receive anything unspent and people’s donations were collected on that basis then the safest course of action would be to stick to that.
I was going to suggest we put some of the money towards reinstating the Pierre Bolangi Memorial Garden at the training ground, but if the original suggestion was that it would go to the Upbeats, I think that's what we should do.
Could it be worth asking the new owners to match it and then spend it on providing all fans in the ground with a ‘special badge’ or beer token to be spend that game?
I know people think they’re helping but I bet it don’t arf muddy the waters when dozens of people start dipping their two penneth in.
The two individuals who managed this did a brilliant job, those that have met either / both of them would never question their integrity. There is no perfect solution to this as there are literally dozens of options (as we can see on this threa). So I politely suggest we all just keep our counsel and let them crack on with whatever they decide is appropriate.
Guys - apologies for being slow to comment but I was in hospital for a medical procedure all morning and then even dozier than usual with the after-effects of the sedation and pain relief.
Firstly, I really appreciate all of the interest and also the various expressions of support for what @Curb_It and I have tried to do. It hasn't always been an easy job but it most certainly has been an honour to be able to play a part in bringing your collective pressure to bear on Duchatelet and his regime
As Brenda said earlier, when we mentioned the Upbeats at launch we had absolutely no idea how big the protest fund would become, how long it would last, or how much, if any, would be left at the cessation of hostilities. We had a vague idea that maybe up to a couple of hundred might be left over but as it's turned out it's substantially more than that and it feels appropriate to "spread the love" a bit as Brenda said.
I will be preparing our (hopefully) final fund report in the next day or two, and will publish that on here. That will disclose the sum we are talking about.
We will then wait for the takeover to get the final approvals and reach completion before we formally close the fund. At that stage we will then communicate how we have decided to divide up the money and we will explain our reasoning. All of those who contributed to the fund entrusted us with their money and we have taken that responsibility very seriously. We will continue to do that when it comes to a good and equitable distribution of funds.
Thank you for coordinating the funding to get rid of the Rat. So much hard work behind the scenes. Much, much appreciated. We’ve got our Charlton back. Trust and support whatever decision you make.
I was going to suggest we put some of the money towards reinstating the Pierre Bolangi Memorial Garden at the training ground, but if the original suggestion was that it would go to the Upbeats, I think that's what we should do.
@Davo55, well you know what they say on the discharge leaflets, no operating machinery and no making financial decisions while recovering from sedation, so delaying coming back to this was the prudent option. :-) Hope it wasn't anything that's going to cause you too much grief in the long term. As for what happens to the money, I'm happy to be guided by what the two of you want to do, I just figured that being able to point to the original proposal for a donation to go to the Upbeats would help minimise the moaning from certain quarters...
Protest Fund : Final Report (subject to EFL approval of the takeover) - From @Davo55 and @Curb_It
Background
The Protest Fund was launched on 3 January 2016 with the aim of providing a ready source of funds to enable protest ideas to be turned quickly from concept to reality. Regular reports on the fund have been provided in line with the commitments we made at launch, including detailed end of season reports in May 2016, May 2017, July 2018 and July 2019.
Final position
Total Income £59,247
Total Expenditure £55.056
Final balance £4,191
Income
When we started the protest fund we considered setting what seemed like a ballsy target of £5,000 Eventually, we decided not to, on the basis that it might look a bit silly if we fell short. So to have raised well over £59,000 is truly incredible. The following breakdown of the sources of funds illustrates the ingenuity of Charlton fans in raising money for the cause:
Donations £37,187 (62.8% of target) - Donations were sought through this forum, via the CAS Trust website and through social media. Donations were received from many Charlton fans, predominantly in the UK but also all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, USA, Canada and Singapore. We had a number of incredibly generous individual donations and many more modest but equally valued regular payments.
Merchandise sales £13,115 (22.1%) - Includes CARD branded T shirts, sweat shirts and hoodies, protest shirts, badges
Coach fares and sponsored places £4,088 (6.9%)
Other cash donations, raffles and auctions £1,954 (3.3%) - includes boat party, protest song revenues, donations from Brighton & Coventry fans
Specific payments £1,857 (3.1%) - where money has been paid into the protest fund for an agreed specific purpose, e.g. the air banner at Gillingham
Sponsorship of alternative programme £1,000 (1.7%)
Interest £46 (0.1%)
Expenditure
Although the Protest Fund was open to all fans or fans groups, unsurprisingly most funding requests come from the organised protest groups. Over the life of the Protest Fund payments have been paid to and on behalf of CARD, Belgium 20, RoT, Women Against the Regime (WAR) and one individual fan. It is fair to note that CARD is by far the largest recipient amongst these, with others self-funding many of their own initiatives.
Requests for funding (including from CARD) were reviewed by us and approved or rejected under a dual signatory system to ensure openness and accountability. Our criteria were legality, impact, cost and availability of resources. All payments were made against receipts or supplier invoices, invariably direct to the supplier. The breakdown of expenditure by type is as follows:
Projectiles £15,477 (28.1%) - e.g. stress toys, beach balls, balloons
Coach Hire £6,220 (11.3%) - coaches hired for Unity protest in Belgium and Coventry away
Banners & flags £5,312 (9.6%) - includes placards
Other visual materials £8,396 (15.2%) - e.g. BTTV rosettes, stickers, t shirts, beermats, badges, fake season tickets, inflatable Roland
Printing £4,359 (7.9%%) - e.g. leaflets, alternative programmes, posters
Merchandise supplies £2,182 (4.0%)
Scarves £4,679 (8.5%) - includes the 1,000 red and white scarves distributed recently
Taxi wrap £1,910 (3.5%) - the application and later removal of the Taxi for Roland livery
Specialist services £1,628 (2.9%) - e.g. legal advice, specialist services on trademarks
Advertising £1,271 (2.3%) - e.g. AdVan, billboards, newspaper ads, postcards in Taxi for Roland
Air banner £1,020 (1.9%)
Travel costs £753 (1.4%) - e.g. Taxi eurotunnel and expenses, band for Unity Protest
Christmas cards £220 (0.4%) - cards sent to all other league and local non-league clubs
Product related stunts £225 (0.4%) - materials for “Watergate” and “Crispgate” stunts
Misc. £1,404 (2.6%)
As a matter of policy, no individual travel or accommodation expenses were paid for from the fund, other than those mentioned in “Travel costs” above.
Of the £55,056 total expenditure, £10,543 (19.1%) was in support of CARD, Belgium 20 and RoT protest activities or campaigning in Belgium.
In conclusion
To everyone who made a donation; created and sold merchandise; did magnificent designs; gave their professional expertise; created great videos and published content; sponsored individual initiatives; distributed or threw a projectile; made or held up a banner/placard/poster; did us “mates rates printing”; drove a taxi; flew a plane; and other things too numerous to list - thank you. We are proud to stand beside you as Addicks who fought for their club.
Thank you @Davo55 and @Curb_It for taking on the responsibility and discharging it to such good effect. As said by many others, we have trusted you throughout to spend the money prudently on behalf of us all, and I see no reason to change that now. However, since the balance left in the account is nearly equal to the totally amount you were originally envisaging raising perhaps it could be split between several of the causes suggested in this thread in addition to the original proposed recipients, the Upbeats? People have mentioned the Museum, and I am sure they would appreciate some display cabinets for the smaller protest items, and/or a sum to spend on an item which comes up for sale on the open market. Others have mentioned the help we received from other clubs, and it would seem fitting to do similar - if there are not currently any fan groups of specific other troubled clubs who are in a position to make good use of a donation, are there any non-club groups who offered us help, advice or support who might welcome a donation? Maybe the Footballer Supporters' Association (which now includes Supporters Direct)? And then there is our own supporters group, CASTrust, who we hope will have a big role in the club under new ownership. But whatever you decide, I am sure it will have majority support.
Excellent work chaps. 83% gross profit on merchandise sales!!! There's careers to be had at the club shop on that sort of return. Everything crossed the EFL stuff progresses smoothly & swiftly, then the Upbeats et all can enjoy their tremendous Christmas bonusses. Ding dong
There was also a further £7k raised outside the protest fund from the protest shirts sales that was split equally between Charlton Riding school for the disabled and Demelza Hospice
I'd like to think that something of this magnitude will be be heralded in the press once the Takeover is rubber stamped & the background to the Duchatelet years is regurgitated.
The protests themselves were of interest to the media initially for their surprise element & the imaginative ideas used but the hours of planning, fund raising & putting those plans into action have not received the deserved coverage.
Now that the accounts have been publicised, it is clear that this was indeed a monumental operation and its success should be lauded.
I'm sure that Richard Cawley will cover this once the ink is dry & sighs of relief are heard all over the South East but wouldn't it be great to have a well earned reference to the fans involved in the national press ?
Respect & thanks to all concerned....with knobs on.
Jean - not sure what (if anything) they will actually say but I had contact from a reporter on The Independent today, after the posting of the report on Twitter.
£60k is phenomenal work guys, I mean well and truly. I brought a shirt, carried a coffin, and flung various items on the pitch. Seriously I'm blown away by the generosity of our fans. Big Love to all those who worked their fingers to the bones.
Comments
The two individuals who managed this did a brilliant job, those that have met either / both of them would never question their integrity. There is no perfect solution to this as there are literally dozens of options (as we can see on this threa). So I politely suggest we all just keep our counsel and let them crack on with whatever they decide is appropriate.
its not been an easy role and I’m sure there have been some disagreements over how to spend the money in that fund.
I’m happy to go with whatever B and A decide and don’t regret a penny of the money we’ve donated and spent or spent personally....all helped imo.
Firstly, I really appreciate all of the interest and also the various expressions of support for what @Curb_It and I have tried to do. It hasn't always been an easy job but it most certainly has been an honour to be able to play a part in bringing your collective pressure to bear on Duchatelet and his regime
As Brenda said earlier, when we mentioned the Upbeats at launch we had absolutely no idea how big the protest fund would become, how long it would last, or how much, if any, would be left at the cessation of hostilities. We had a vague idea that maybe up to a couple of hundred might be left over but as it's turned out it's substantially more than that and it feels appropriate to "spread the love" a bit as Brenda said.
I will be preparing our (hopefully) final fund report in the next day or two, and will publish that on here. That will disclose the sum we are talking about.
We will then wait for the takeover to get the final approvals and reach completion before we formally close the fund. At that stage we will then communicate how we have decided to divide up the money and we will explain our reasoning. All of those who contributed to the fund entrusted us with their money and we have taken that responsibility very seriously. We will continue to do that when it comes to a good and equitable distribution of funds.
pps - can mods please update the title for me. Thanks.
As said by many others, we have trusted you throughout to spend the money prudently on behalf of us all, and I see no reason to change that now.
However, since the balance left in the account is nearly equal to the totally amount you were originally envisaging raising
People have mentioned the Museum, and I am sure they would appreciate some display cabinets for the smaller protest items, and/or a sum to spend on an item which comes up for sale on the open market.
Others have mentioned the help we received from other clubs, and it would seem fitting to do similar - if there are not currently any fan groups of specific other troubled clubs who are in a position to make good use of a donation, are there any non-club groups who offered us help, advice or support who might welcome a donation? Maybe the Footballer Supporters' Association (which now includes Supporters Direct)?
And then there is our own supporters group, CASTrust, who we hope will have a big role in the club under new ownership.
But whatever you decide, I am sure it will have majority support.
Thanks again for all the support you and @Curb_It have given through the campaign, I’m sure it’s not been easy.
Let’s wait for us to get actually sold before you distribute the remaining balance 😱🤞🤞
83% gross profit on merchandise sales!!! There's careers to be had at the club shop on that sort of return.
Everything crossed the EFL stuff progresses smoothly & swiftly, then the Upbeats et all can enjoy their tremendous Christmas bonusses.
Ding dong
The protests themselves were of interest to the media initially for their surprise element & the imaginative ideas used but the hours of planning, fund raising & putting those plans into action have not received the deserved coverage.
Now that the accounts have been publicised, it is clear that this was indeed a monumental operation and its success should be lauded.
I'm sure that Richard Cawley will cover this once the ink is dry & sighs of relief are heard all over the South East but wouldn't it be great to have a well earned reference to the fans involved in the national press ?
Respect & thanks to all concerned....with knobs on.
I love the supporters of this club!
Jean - not sure what (if anything) they will actually say but I had contact from a reporter on The Independent today, after the posting of the report on Twitter.