Foundation of Hearts see biggest surge in five years as they target 10,000 members

Hearts fans continue to join the Foundation in their numbers.

Foundation of Hearts today reported their biggest membership surge in five years as Hearts fans rally to help their club survive the coronavirus crisis.

More than 1,000 extra people have donated cash to FoH since Scottish football entered shutdown in March, raising subscription numbers to around the 8,000 mark.

The Foundation’s target is 10,000 in order to generate an extra £500,000 a year in revenue for Hearts. The Edinburgh club currently receive £1.5m annually from from FoH and the fan group want to reach £2m.

Many supporters have responded as their team face enforced relegation to the Scottish Championship. That and the indefinite suspension of football have prompted a significant number of people to offer financial assistance to Hearts.

Over the weekend alone, 493 fans pledged money through the Foundation and those numbers are continuing to rise.

FoH chairman Stuart Wallace told the Evening News: “I’ve just never seen this. There is something pretty special going on. It’s the biggest uptake we think since the tribute shirt was announced [in September 2015]. We reached 8,200 at that point.

“It’s difficult to tell exactly how many are brand new pledgers, how many are restarted pledges and how many are one-off donations. We get all the data on the 15th of each month so there is a lag.

“We have had 1,000 people putting money in since the shutdown and my guess is around half of that would be new start-ups, so that takes us back to around the 8,000 members mark. We had been around 7,500 before football stopped so this is a cracking increase.

“In total, almost 12,000 people have pledged at one point or another since we started collecting direct debits back in 2013. Some of those have cancelled, some maybe passed away, but we are targeting that community again now.

“If we can push towards 10,000 members, that would mean £2m a year for Hearts. We hand over around £1.5m a year as it stands and 10,000 members would push that up towards £2m a year. It’s an extra £500,000 for the club.”

One fan made a one-off donation of £501 recently and Wallace is overwhelmed by the support despite a financial crisis biting hard in households across the country.

He is also aware some people may feel reluctant to plough more money into Hearts given they sat bottom of the Premiership despite spending millions in recent years.

“It’s a fair question. I’m sympathetic to people asking that and they should feel able to ask it. They are perfectly entitled,” admitted Wallace.

“I’ve heard a few people saying ‘you need to be more accountable’ and ‘we can’t go wasting all this money again’.

“I think the majority of supporters in their mind have put that aside, like it’s an issue for later once we know the club has come through this.

“That’s just my feeling, but it’s no surprise people are asking that. We are certainly looking to get things right going forward.”

Foundation of Hearts have supplemented the Tynecastle Park coffers to the tune of more than £10m since 2013 and Wallace explained where they money has gone.

“We have always been up front about what has happened to the Foundation money so far,” he said. “We said £4m for operating costs in the early days, £3m towards the new stand, and then £2.5m to repay Ann Budge for her initial investment.

“So out of the £10m, £9.5m has gone to specific purposes. It’s only really since February this year that the money has started going into the general pot.”

FoH are willing to open their doors to any club seeking ways to harness fans and generate income during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Foundation of Hearts has a model which could help other football clubs in these times,” said Wallace. “As much as we’re annoyed by what has happened to us, we are saying we are here and ready to talk.

“If other clubs want to work out what we’ve done that drives money from the supporter base into the club, then come and ask us about it.

“We are fast reaching the conclusion that this whole debate isn’t about Hearts. It’s about how do you have 42 football clubs still going at the end of it?”

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