Articles 
What is a trust, and how does it differ from what we have right now?
A supporters trust is a democratic, not-for-profit organisation of supporters, committed to strengthening the voice for supporters in the decision making process at a club, and strengthening the links between the club and the community it serves.
It's legally registered and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, and it can hold assets like a company can. This means that any money raised or shares bought would belong to all members equally, and not need to be held by individuals.The main differences are in the way a Trust is organised, its strategies and the attitude it has towards issues at the club:
Organisation: A major strength of a supporters trust is its constitution. It is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and must provide annual accounts, which means it's transparent. Any paid up members can put themselves forward to be elected to the board of the trust, and the income that the trust raises is spent according to the member's wishes in line with the registered aims. Other groups are what are called unincorporated associations, which means the assets - shares, money etc - are held by individual committee members on behalf of the group, who also are liable for things like tax. Everyone holds a Trust's assets equally, and liabilities, debt and such like come out of the organisations funds, not directly from fans pockets.
Strategies: Every fan would love a voice and nearly every supporters group under the sun seeks to represent the views of fans. But fans have been consistently ignored for many, many years, and if asking nicely for a hearing would be all it took, it would have worked long ago. The sad fact is, money talks. Ownership of shares is what really counts. That's what gives people the right to make decisions that affect the future of the club, not how much passion they have for it.
Fans are the moral owners of the club, but until we become involved in legal ownership, we'll always be easier to ignore or patronize than actually listen to.
The Trusts' Attitude.
A supporters trust is about channeling the passion of supporters, into a forward-thinking organisation that looks to the long term offering solutions to the club and community.
On one level a supporters trust acts as the guardian of the future of the football club; if they believe that the club is being run incompetently and not in the interests of the fans they will not be afraid to criticise. But, they're not there to be relentlessly critical. They are also about helping the club, tapping into the skills and expertise of their membership and offering solutions and not just posing problems.
A Lot changes in football; Chairman, Managers and Players, but the fans remain, so why shouldn't they be involved in the big decisions at the football club?
Next Steps?
After initial guidance and assistance was sought from national fans organisation Supporters Direct about the procedure involved in such transformation a motion was put before a NUSC members meeting in October 2008 requesting members endorse the proposal and was passed by a resounding majority.
Further meetings followed with representatives of Supporters Direct to put in place a plan to launch a Supporters Trust at Newcastle culminating at a meeting before a packed audience in Newcastle on 17th March 2009, attended by James Mathie and Rob Bradley from Supporters Direct and backed by the Evening Chronicle's John Gibson.
Since membership of NUSC grew considerably between October 2008 and the Trust meeting in March 2009 it was decided to obtain the views of members once again and a poll was conducted in April 2009 which resulted in an overwhelming majority of voters (99.8%) once again endorsing the decision to convert to Trust status.
The process is now being put in place to form a legally constituted, democratic, not for profit Supporters Trust at Newcastle United to represent the interest of it's supporters and the wider community served by the club. Official Trust status should be announced over the course of the summer.
The committee of the club are working with Supporters Direct to come up with a proper constitution and get it registered. Anyone who is a member of the NUSC will automatically become a member of the Trust. It might not even change its name - the main difference is that the group would now be eligible to own shares and can raise money from fans to buy shares in the club.
Supporters Direct will pay for all the legal work, as well as helping us along with way, not least by putting us in touch with fans at other clubs who are trying to achieve the same things as we want to.
Facts & Figures:
Growth: Supporters trusts have now been established at over 140 clubs.
Membership: Over 120,000 people are members of supporters' trusts.
Ownership: 6 of the 10 richest clubs in the world are owned by their fans; 5 of theclubs with the highest attendance in Europe are owned by their fans. In the UK, 14 clubs in the UK are in ownership by supporter's trusts.
Partnership: 100 supporters' trusts now have shareholdings in their clubs.
Boardroom: 45 supporters' trusts have directors. Over 40% of these are directly elected by the membership of the trust.
Reach: Supporters of nearly 70% of clubs in the top five divisions of football in England, and the top four divisions in Scotland have established supporters' trusts.
