HSL suggestions required

[Tom Hart RIP]

I was at the AGM on Sunday and the board are looking for suggestions to increase membership.

At the moment the club gets roughly £200k per year from HSL which is used to up the playing budget. The Foundation of Hearts pay roughly £1.4m to the club. I fully appreciate that the Hearts fans paid money to save their club but the vast majority have kept paying and this must give them a bigger budget than us. My concern is that we could end up falling behind them particularly when they have paid off the stand so I would like to share my idea.

I joined HSL after chatting to Amit at a fans event one day and he introduced me to Ally Mcleod, one of my all time heroes. I got such a buzz from meeting Ally, I went home and went through my finances. I decided to phone Sky and after suggesting that I wanted to downgrade or leave, they reassessed my monthly bill ans reduced it by £20 per month if I agreed a new yearly contract. I did this and joined HSL, paying £10 per month and am now a member. So in the end we both won.

Just a though but I suspect that many of us could save money by shopping around on insurance, mobile bills, electricity/gas companies etc, and we could give a percentage of what we save to HSL for Heck's budget.

I appreciate that for many others this won't be possible and I am not suggesting that anyone should join that can't afford it, but my suggestion would mean that Hibs are benefiting from some large company without costing the fans anything other than some time phoning around.

I think the HSL officials read this site so I wondered whether anyone else has ideas on how to increase the membership?

GGTTH

[Greencore]

If hibs can stick all those stickers on a seat yesterday, why can't they get it done for hsl?

When I bought my season ticket last season I wasn't offered to sign up with HSL

Two separate company's I get that, but the HSL advertisement has been poor. Not had one thing through my door about them.

[kennyh]

FF lower have the old bookies pod sitting empty. I am guessing its the same in other stands.

If HSL have some form of branding / banners etc they could be placed around / in the unused pods and all adults are handed a simple leaflet as they enter the turnstile outlining the benefits with a straight comparison of what current members contribute compared to the Hearts and Dons donations to their club hopefully hundreds more would sign up.

I appreciate there are not that many people involved in this logistically at the moment so possibly tackle an area at a time with leaflets and a visible presence at the turnstiles guiding people to the pods if they have any questions. East for the first 4 games of the season, then FF Upper etc etc

If they dont already could all Hospitality guests in the West stand be given a leaflet on their table and an application form so it could be monitored how effective that was ?

[Tom Hart RIP]

They were saying that a presence at the stadium hasn’t worked as most people arrive around 2.45 and are keen to get to their seats rather than take time to chat or sign up.

[green day]

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If hibs can stick all those stickers on a seat yesterday, why can't they get it done for hsl?

When I bought my season ticket last season I wasn't offered to sign up with HSL

Two separate company's I get that, but the HSL advertisement has been poor. Not had one thing through my door about them.

I don't care if it's 2 separate companies. The only way HSL will increase is by Dempster coming out and endorsing it for Hibs, advertising it on the front page of the website, putting it in the programme, putting billboards up around ER.

HSL themselves can't do this, that much is obvious.

I am now getting a bit pissed off with HSL asking for answers which - as you point out - are very very clear.

[HappyAsHellas]

I don't recall getting emails from HSL advertising what is happening. The club do so every year with season tickets and other promotions, so is it not possible for HSL to access the database and start contacting people? If you don't already subscribe you could be easily forgiven for not being aware of what they do.

[Tom Hart RIP]

I think they said they have twice had access to the club database and will get access for a third time in the near future.
Leeann was there and seemed supportive although she did admit that it had possibly fallen down her list of priorities, particularly the 3rd team jersey which will have every Hsl members name on it. She now realised the popularity of the initiative.

[DaveF]

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I don't care if it's 2 separate companies. The only way HSL will increase is by Dempster coming out and endorsing it for Hibs, advertising it on the front page of the website, putting it in the programme, putting billboards up around ER.

HSL themselves can't do this, that much is obvious.

I am now getting a bit pissed off with HSL asking for answers which - as you point out - are very very clear.

Correct.

Although I don't agree with your last sentence as I think the guys that run HSL have to strike a balance between their relationship with the club and the fans they are trying to reach.

The club can and should be doing so much more. That is obvious and a real disappointment to me.

[Jones28]

They need to increase their presence online, especially on social media and actually make people acutely aware that their donations go to the playing budget.

[DaveF]

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They need to increase their presence online, especially on social media and actually make people acutely aware that their donations go to the playing budget.

Yep. And hibs tweeting about it would help no end.

[matty_f]

How about a member referral incentive?

If you're an existing member and get someone to sign up, then you go into a draw for a prize. The prizes that HSL have put out so far have been fantastic, and I would imagine that there would be some "money can't buy" type prize that could be arranged with a referral scheme.

One entry per new member signed up, ideally you'd want a prize that both the referrer and the referred can win.

[Brummie_Hibs]

It just needs Paul Kane to publicly announce that it is not a Ponzi Scheme.

[Since452]

I didn't even realise i was a paid up member until i logged in and saw a "download certificate" tab. No email telling me or anything. In all honesty i'd forgotten all about it. In saying that i've changed address since i started paying every month so not sure if something was sent to old address.

It's a great idea and hopefully gains more momentum.

[Tom Hart RIP]

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How about a member referral incentive?

If you're an existing member and get someone to sign up, then you go into a draw for a prize. The prizes that HSL have put out so far have been fantastic, and I would imagine that there would be some "money can't buy" type prize that could be arranged with a referral scheme.

One entry per new member signed up, ideally you'd want a prize that both the referrer and the referred can win.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

[Since452]

Think the names on the shirts idea will be a good money spinner. I'll be buying one and not bought a shirt in years.

[WhileTheChief..]

Is it really about getting their message out there?

I’d be surprised if there are any Hibs fans alive that aren’t aware of HSL by now!

I’d suggest it’s much more likely that people just don’t want to subscribe to it rather than not knowing about it.

[Tom Hart RIP]

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Think the names on the shirts idea will be a good money spinner. I'll be buying one and not bought a shirt in years.

Hsl haven’t yet decided whether to sell the shirts or give them free to members according to the chairman yesterday. There was also a suggestion that everyone who is donating should get their name on the jersey even if they have not reached the membership threshold but as it’s alreadt been announced that it would be members only.

Personally I’ll be happy to pay for one.

They did say there would be an announcement giving people time to reach the £225 in time to get their name in it.

[Golden Bear]

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Is it really about getting their message out there?

I’d be surprised if there are any Hibs fans alive that aren’t aware of HSL by now!

I’d suggest it’s much more likely that people just don’t want to subscribe to it rather than not knowing about it.

Personal choice for me.

I'd rather go down the ABERDNA route than the share issue one. I'm a stubborn auld git I know.

[matty_f]

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Is it really about getting their message out there?

I’d be surprised if there are any Hibs fans alive that aren’t aware of HSL by now!

I’d suggest it’s much more likely that people just don’t want to subscribe to it rather than not knowing about it.

There's a degree of truth in what you suggest, but I suspect that there is still a large part of the Hibs supporting population that fall into these categories:

- Don't know anything about HSL and are totally unaware
- Know about HSL but don't know why they are there and what they do
- Know about HSL and have an understanding of them that is not accurate (i.e. ponzi scheme)
-Know about HSL and don't want to participate
- like HSL but can't afford to donate

HSL's activities can definitely help with the first three.

A wider bit of work to overcome the objections to HSL would help with the second last group but it needs those people to engage and tell HSL why they don't agree.

From my own point of view, there are 2 main benefits to HSL, which are:

- Protects the club from another Mercer
- gives the manager money to compete and mitigates some of the financial advantage that FoH gives Hearts.

I think when you understand what happens with the money, the difference it makes to the club AND the consequences of NOT having the contributions, it's a no-brainer.

IMHO, we all want the best for the club, and a healthy, competitive Hibernian relies on us as a support to fund it.

STF bailed the club out years ago, he set out the terms at that point that he wanted the club to be self-sufficient.

Without FoH, we'd be competitive financially with Hearts, but the reality is that their fans are still donating significant sums to their club.

I think that if we as a support genuinely wanted to put distance between us and Hearts, we know what to do.

Our infrastructure and set up has been the thing that has given us the advantage over them in the last few years - we've recruited good staff across the club and that's paid dividends.

At some point, Hearts will catch up with us in that regard and then their financial clout will give them an advantage.

We can act now and negate that advantage.

[3pm]

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How about a member referral incentive?

If you're an existing member and get someone to sign up, then you go into a draw for a prize. The prizes that HSL have put out so far have been fantastic, and I would imagine that there would be some "money can't buy" type prize that could be arranged with a referral scheme.

One entry per new member signed up, ideally you'd want a prize that both the referrer and the referred can win.

There is something being worked on. A referral league table basically.

Detail still being worked through.

[3pm]

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Is it really about getting their message out there?

I’d be surprised if there are any Hibs fans alive that aren’t aware of HSL by now!

I’d suggest it’s much more likely that people just don’t want to subscribe to it rather than not knowing about it.

It's a personal choice for everyone.

They said yesterday that our 'natural competitors' are Aberdeen and Hearts. Both of those teams receive support from their fans which should, in theory, make a difference. If Hearts fans maintain their current level of donation, then they will have an additional £1.4m coming into their club each season (whether that all goes to Levein or not is another matter) so they should get stronger.

Leeann said she'd back our infrastructure (Good manager, assistant, recruitment team etc) to negate some of the additional funding Aberdeen / Hearts receive but there is a limit to what Hecky / Robbie etc can do.

I would never tell anyone how to spend their cash but I think we need to be aware that if we don't collectively pull together then it will be far harder to compete nearer the top and it reduces the chances of another day like the one we experienced a few years ago.

Just quoting you WTC, this isn't aimed at you...

[OfficialHSL]

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Personal choice for me.

I'd rather go down the ABERDNA route than the share issue one. I'm a stubborn auld git I know.

Golden Bear

We do intend to contribute to this thread, if it helps, but for now we hope you don't mind us dealing with this particular point first.

Can we first of all point out that we fully respect everyone's right to have their own opinion on things and we will never lose sight of that. With that in mind, and bearing in mind that I am an individual HSL Director and may be biased ( let others decide), can we ask why you think the ABERDNA route is better ? I think our proposition is much better but clearly it helps us understand why our own supporters thinks another scheme is so attractive ?


HSL

[DaveF]

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Personal choice for me.

I'd rather go down the ABERDNA route than the share issue one. I'm a stubborn auld git I know.

Only half of the donation goes the the club I believe. The other half on admin, prizes etc. Not what Im after at all

[hibbydad]

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There's a degree of truth in what you suggest, but I suspect that there is still a large part of the Hibs supporting population that fall into these categories:

- Don't know anything about HSL and are totally unaware
- Know about HSL but don't know why they are there and what they do
- Know about HSL and have an understanding of them that is not accurate (i.e. ponzi scheme)
-Know about HSL and don't want to participate
- like HSL but can't afford to donate

HSL's activities can definitely help with the first three.

A wider bit of work to overcome the objections to HSL would help with the second last group but it needs those people to engage and tell HSL why they don't agree.

From my own point of view, there are 2 main benefits to HSL, which are:

- Protects the club from another Mercer
- gives the manager money to compete and mitigates some of the financial advantage that FoH gives Hearts.

I think when you understand what happens with the money, the difference it makes to the club AND the consequences of NOT having the contributions, it's a no-brainer.

IMHO, we all want the best for the club, and a healthy, competitive Hibernian relies on us as a support to fund it.

STF bailed the club out years ago, he set out the terms at that point that he wanted the club to be self-sufficient.

Without FoH, we'd be competitive financially with Hearts, but the reality is that their fans are still donating significant sums to their club.

I think that if we as a support genuinely wanted to put distance between us and Hearts, we know what to do.

Our infrastructure and set up has been the thing that has given us the advantage over them in the last few years - we've recruited good staff across the club and that's paid dividends.

At some point, Hearts will catch up with us in that regard and then their financial clout will give them an advantage.

We can act now and negate that advantage.

Excellent post Matty puts eveything into perspective. Comeon guys letsgive Paul the money to spend in the transfer window

[Speedway]

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I was at the AGM on Sunday and the board are looking for suggestions to increase membership.

At the moment the club gets roughly £200k per year from HSL which is used to up the playing budget. The Foundation of Hearts pay roughly £1.4m to the club. I fully appreciate that the Hearts fans paid money to save their club but the vast majority have kept paying and this must give them a bigger budget than us. My concern is that we could end up falling behind them particularly when they have paid off the stand so I would like to share my idea.

I joined HSL after chatting to Amit at a fans event one day and he introduced me to Ally Mcleod, one of my all time heroes. I got such a buzz from meeting Ally, I went home and went through my finances. I decided to phone Sky and after suggesting that I wanted to downgrade or leave, they reassessed my monthly bill ans reduced it by £20 per month if I agreed a new yearly contract. I did this and joined HSL, paying £10 per month and am now a member. So in the end we both won.

Just a though but I suspect that many of us could save money by shopping around on insurance, mobile bills, electricity/gas companies etc, and we could give a percentage of what we save to HSL for Heck's budget.

I appreciate that for many others this won't be possible and I am not suggesting that anyone should join that can't afford it, but my suggestion would mean that Hibs are benefiting from some large company without costing the fans anything other than some time phoning around.

I think the HSL officials read this site so I wondered whether anyone else has ideas on how to increase the membership?

GGTTH

Perhaps ask Sky to sponsor HSL given how much time it will save their operatives from negotiating subscriptions.

[Golden Bear]

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Golden Bear

We do intend to contribute to this thread, if it helps, but for now we hope you don't mind us dealing with this particular point first.

Can we first of all point out that we fully respect everyone's right to have their own opinion on things and we will never lose sight of that. With that in mind, and bearing in mind that I am an individual HSL Director and may be biased ( let others decide), can we ask why you think the ABERDNA route is better ? I think our proposition is much better but clearly it helps us understand why our own supporters thinks another scheme is so attractive ?


HSL

I remember looking at the Aberdeen scheme when it was first launched and the fact that it wasn't linked to share issue was a plus for me. I already have a token private shareholding in Hibs (dates back to the Wallace Mercer takeover bid) but my lifelong interest in Hibs is totally football related and i have no interest in promoting the concept of fan ownership but I do appreciate that others are attracted by such a proposition.

It's all about costing I guess, as you rightly point out not 100% of the ABERDNA scheme will go to the Club but from a supporters viewpoint it offers other attractions - eg discounts on season tickets, club merchandise ,prize draws etc. I even found a link:-

https://www.afc.co.uk/aberdna-homepage/benefits/

[DaveF]

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I remember looking at the Aberdeen scheme when it was first launched and the fact that it wasn't linked to share issue was a plus for me. I already have a token private shareholding in Hibs (dates back to the Wallace Mercer takeover bid) but my lifelong interest in Hibs is totally football related and i have no interest in promoting the concept of fan ownership but I do appreciate that others are attracted by such a proposition.

It's all about costing I guess, as you rightly point out not 100% of the ABERDNA scheme will go to the Club but from a supporters viewpoint it offers other attractions - eg discounts on season tickets, club merchandise ,prize draws etc. I even found a link:-

https://www.afc.co.uk/aberdna-homepage/benefits/

I dot see HSL as being attractive in terms of fan ownership. It isn't something Im overly warm on but I do want to help the club prosper and if that means donating 10 quid per month and HSL is that vehicle then I'll do it.

Maybe hibs should launch a membership scheme with the the bits and bobs that come with it. I presume you would sign up for that?

Those who dont fancy HSL could join that instead.

[Monts]

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There's a degree of truth in what you suggest, but I suspect that there is still a large part of the Hibs supporting population that fall into these categories:

- Don't know anything about HSL and are totally unaware
- Know about HSL but don't know why they are there and what they do
- Know about HSL and have an understanding of them that is not accurate (i.e. ponzi scheme)
-Know about HSL and don't want to participate
- like HSL but can't afford to donate

HSL's activities can definitely help with the first three.

A wider bit of work to overcome the objections to HSL would help with the second last group but it needs those people to engage and tell HSL why they don't agree.

From my own point of view, there are 2 main benefits to HSL, which are:

- Protects the club from another Mercer
- gives the manager money to compete and mitigates some of the financial advantage that FoH gives Hearts.

I think when you understand what happens with the money, the difference it makes to the club AND the consequences of NOT having the contributions, it's a no-brainer.

IMHO, we all want the best for the club, and a healthy, competitive Hibernian relies on us as a support to fund it.

STF bailed the club out years ago, he set out the terms at that point that he wanted the club to be self-sufficient.

Without FoH, we'd be competitive financially with Hearts, but the reality is that their fans are still donating significant sums to their club.

I think that if we as a support genuinely wanted to put distance between us and Hearts, we know what to do.

Our infrastructure and set up has been the thing that has given us the advantage over them in the last few years - we've recruited good staff across the club and that's paid dividends.

At some point, Hearts will catch up with us in that regard and then their financial clout will give them an advantage.

We can act now and negate that advantage.

Good post Matty, but I think you missed one main group of fans; know a bit about HSL but don't see what the benefit to them is.

I don't think it helps that the marketing and branding around HSL feels a bit corporate and boring. There's not much of a draw to make people go and find out more.

[DaveF]

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Good post Matty, but I think you missed one main group of fans; know a bit about HSL but don't see what the benefit to them is.

I don't think it helps that the marketing and branding around HSL feels a bit corporate and boring. There's not much of a draw to make people go and find out more.

What makes it appealing bernz?

[CapitalGreen]

Posted this on the AGM thread by mistake instead of here, but these would have been my suggestions.

- Change the Name, Hibernian Supporters Limited sounds corporate, like a holding company as opposed to the grass roots, fan movement image you are trying to project. A Rangers or Hearts fan promoting their scheme can refer to being part of "Club 1872" or "the Foundation", telling someone you are a member of Hibernian Supporters Limited doesn't really have that same feel IMO despite the groups having generally the same purpose.

- In regards to the AGM, again people aren't signing up to attend corporate events and vote to agree on accounts etc. Stuff like this should be coupled with other more interesting events and promoted as member events.

- Something similar to the plot scheme and ceremonies FoH have. Pledgers are awarded something tangible for their donations which doesn't really cost the club anything. I'm afraid a certificate which you are expected to print at home yourself won't really cut it for most people you are looking to donate £225+.

- The twitter and other social media marketing could still be improved. I understand it is done on a voluntary basis but I am sure there people within the fan base who can assist with this to improve content and reach more people.