The Dons Trust’s second South London Press column – The AFC Wimbledon community

BY KEVIN RYE

One of the most impactful parts of a football club is its presence in the local area outside of matchday.

Community work isn’t something that clubs used to particularly do. They sent their players to the local hospital at Christmas, but, in reality, it was focused on the pitch.

Since the early 2000s, football clubs have begun to develop a much bigger presence from it. Even governments see the potential for football clubs to provide much wider support for all sorts of public and social policy – including sporting & health, educational, anti-crime and environmental.

The lynchpin of these efforts at all clubs in the top-four divisions – the three divisions of the EFL & the Premier League – has been charitable organisations. 

In The EFL, these are referred to as Community Club Organisations (CCOs): https://www.efltrust.com/about-efl-trust/#whatwedo

Since 2013 the AFC Wimbledon Foundation has been carrying out this role, currently reaching 2,500 young and older people per week. 

It’s important to note that because of the type of things that a community trust has to carry out, they are independent, charitable organisations, separate from the football club, although they usually have representation from the club on their board of trustees. 

At AFC Wimbledon, the relationship between ourselves as owners and the foundation is incredibly important, and we represent the club via The Dons Trust, currently vice-chair Michele Little.

They receive important funding money from The EFL Trust, amongst others and use the name and reputation of the football club to carry out their work. 

You’ll also note that a lot of activities that the AFC Wimbledon Foundation carry out involve players and coaching staff or the use of the facilities.

The objectives are laid out at the start of our constitution, the document that established us, which tells us why we exist and what we must do.

Firstly, to strengthen the bonds between the club and the community which it serves and to represent the interests of the community in the running of the club.

Secondly, to benefit present and future members of the community served by the club by promoting, encouraging and furthering the game of football as a recreational facility, sporting activity and focus for community involvement (https://thedonstrust.org/constitution).

Being a club owned in the way we are means that the heart of everything we do is the presence we have in the community, and that means that the foundation’s role is critical to us. 

Having returned to Plough Lane makes its role even more important. Its mission, to ‘help our community pursue their dreams by improving their skills, resilience, well-being and confidence’, is an expression of that ownership.

That desire from all of us is to ensure that Wimbledon’s football club, AFC Wimbledon, isn’t just a presence on a matchday, but one that is there throughout the week, providing support and help across our community.

The Foundation will be putting on a fundraising celebrity match and Festival of Football held on the 14th May 2023 at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, Plough Lane, between So Solid’s Team Harvey versus a Wimbledon Legends 11.

For further information on how to book our activities and the May 14th celebrity match, please visit their website www.afcwimbledonfoundation.com.