The Supporters' Trust Kit.
A supporters' trust is one of the purest forms of belonging there is: people who own their club together and refuse to let it become a stranger. This is a free, practical kit to help your trust grow, keep members connected between matchdays, and turn matchday energy into something that lasts all year.
Written for supporters' trusts, fan-owned clubs, and any group of supporters who want to keep their people close. Adapt it to yours.
Matchday is easy. The other six days are the hard part.
On matchday, belonging takes care of itself. The crowd, the songs, the shared nerves. The trust's real work happens in the quiet days between: keeping members feeling part of something when there is no game to bring them together, and reaching the supporter who has drifted, moved away, or fallen on a hard year.
A strong trust is not just a shareholding vehicle. It is a community that happens to own a football club. Everything below is the honest version of how to build that community and keep it warm through the whole calendar, not only from August to May.
Eight ways to build a trust that lasts.
1. Be clear what your trust is for
Members give time and money to a purpose, not a committee. Say it plainly: to protect the club, to give supporters a real say, to keep it rooted in its community. A clear purpose is what people rally to and recruit their friends to.
2. Make joining easy and worth it
Lower every barrier. One simple way to join, a fair price or pay-what-you-can, and a warm welcome on day one. Then be honest about what membership actually gives: a vote, a voice, and a place among people who love the same thing.
3. Stay in touch between matchdays
This is where most trusts quietly lose people. Keep a steady, human rhythm of contact all year: a monthly update, a place to talk, a reason to check in. Silence between games is what lets members drift away without meaning to.
4. Make decisions in the open
Trust is the whole point of a trust. Hold real votes, publish the numbers, run an open AGM, and explain the hard calls. Members forgive mistakes far more readily than they forgive being kept in the dark.
5. Turn matchday energy into year-round good
Channel the passion into things that outlast the season: food bank collections, youth coaching, memory sessions for older fans, tidy-ups, welcome schemes. A trust that serves its town is a trust its town protects.
6. Bring in the next generation
Make room for younger supporters, families, women and girls, disabled fans, and newcomers to the area. Ask them what would make them feel at home, then change something because of the answer. A trust that only recruits its own age group slowly fades.
7. Care for the whole supporter
Behind every membership number is a person who may be lonely, out of work, or going through it. A trust that helps its members find company, work, or a listening ear becomes far more than a football group. It becomes a place people belong.
8. Share the load and plan who is next
Spread jobs widely so nothing rests on one exhausted volunteer, and bring new people onto the committee before you need them. The trusts that endure are the ones that quietly train their own replacements.
A checklist you can take to your next meeting.
Print this page, or work down the list together. Ticking small things off is how a good intention at an AGM becomes a trust that feels alive all year.
Write your trust's purpose in one clear sentence
Make one simple, low-barrier way to join
Agree a fixed rhythm of contact between matchdays
Set a warm welcome for every new member
Publish your decisions and the numbers behind them
Pick one community project to run this season
Ask younger and newer fans what would help them belong
Offer members a way to find company, work, or support
Share committee jobs so no one carries it alone
Name two people to bring onto the committee next
Messages you can borrow.
The hardest part is often the first message. Copy one of these, swap the brackets for your own words, and send it this week.
Recruit a new member
A between-matchday update
Invite members to the AGM
Welcome a new member
Honest answers before you start.
What is a supporters' trust?
A supporters' trust is a democratic, not-for-profit group of fans, usually a community benefit society, that gives supporters a collective voice in their club and often a shareholding or full ownership stake. One member, one vote, whatever the size of anyone's contribution.
How do we keep members engaged between games?
With a steady, human rhythm of contact and a place to gather that does not depend on a fixture. A monthly update, a space to talk, and a few year-round events keep people feeling part of the trust when there is no match to remind them.
Do we need to be a big club for this to work?
No. The smaller the club, the more the community around it matters. Some of the strongest trusts belong to non-league and lower-league sides, where the fans are the reason the club still exists at all.
How much does The Tribe cost a trust?
A home on The Tribe is free, with no adverts and no selling of your members' data. We are early and building this alongside the first trusts who join, so we would rather earn your trust than charge for it.
How is this different from a Facebook group or a mailing list?
A social feed you do not own can change its rules, bury your posts, or sell around your members overnight. The Tribe is built to belong to its people, not to advertisers, so your trust's home stays yours and your members are treated as people, not as an audience to monetise.
How does The Tribe help our trust?
We are honest that we are new, so we will not pretend there is a crowd waiting. What we offer is a free, ad-free home for your members to belong and organise between matchdays, guides like this one, and a wider community where your supporters can also find company, work, and support. Talk to us and we will build the fit with you.
Your club is already owned by its people.
The Tribe gives them a home to belong and organise all year, not just on matchday, with no adverts and nothing sold around them. Set up your trust's space, or just talk to us first. Either way, your supporters stay yours.