From the Desk of the President — Flying Disc Sports Federation (India)
Reporting Period: Aug, Sep 2025

Hi there peeps,

First, I lead with my sincere apologies for missing the Monthly Report for the first month of September.
It was delayed because:

I wanted something substantial to report other than “We don’t know.”
I wanted to put communication practices in place that were replicable.
We had to prioritise external deadlines over this internal one.

I’ve also been contemplating what needs to go into this report and how. Suggestions are welcome.

Second, I’m much obliged for the trust this community has shown the incoming EB, and for the patience all of you have extended as we learn the ropes. It’s a privilege, and it powers the EB to go to work.

For now, I’m going to keep this more formal and extensive, since there are a few areas I want the community’s perspective on after reading the report. A lot has happened since 1st August 2025, so I’ll go chronologically and group them as we go. Refer to the Appendix to see the blueprint the EB is working through for the first quarter of our term.

PART 1: India Ultimate Insights, '25 EB and Organisational Practices Insight
PART 2: EB Q1 Priorities, Practices/Systems Overview
PART 3: CEO's Note, Community Ask; Townhall.

There is also a call to action at the end — TL;DR: Read the report, and come to the ONLINE TOWNHALL to participate. The EB would like to understand the community’s expectations for our vision and mission, hear your concerns and comments, and answer any questions.

Cheers!

PART 1

Organisational Transition Insights

Challenge/Risk:

1) Lack of structured handover of partnerships, documents, and systems from the previous EB; limited transfer of institutional knowledge.
2) Lack of literature or record keeping on decisions leading to organisational-level knowledge gaps in practices, partnerships, and policies.
3) Missing basic organisational structures. (No employee contracts, two disconnected entities, a disconnect between Flying Disc Sports Federations (India)'s Articles of Association (AOA) and actual playing members.

4) Lack of literature/removal of data from the President's inbox concerning Member Protection Policy cases raised and resolved, which were historically maintained in confidence. (Secretary Deepak raised a concern about the lack of insight and the responsibility of the Leadership towards safeguarding the community. Outgoing EB agreed with the concern, the newly formed Safeguarding Committee is leading the handover.)

Upside:

1) The New Board is complete and aligned with working principles: transparency, inclusive growth, and sustainable leadership.

2) Internal Alignment from the CEO, OPS and Committee members is appreciated and was key in understanding current systems and bridging the knowledge gaps.

Outcome:

EB prioritised continuity and stability while beginning to build the foundation for long-term change.
Decisions are being made deliberately, with a focus on why practices exist, even if that causes delays.

EB and Operations are documenting practices consistently.

2. 2025 - 2028 EB Practices Insight

Challenge/Risk

Falling into the trap of everyone doing everything.
Unclear roles and responsibilities
Losing steam after the initial excitement

Upside/Outcome

Hierarchy established, roles optimisation for revenue, and decentralised ownership for accountability.
Sales and Ops are split into different ownerships/ departments

Here is how the board is splitting the work as of now:

Current split of work:

President (Sangee): Align org on vision and mission; restructure for sustainable revenue; lead partnerships and growth strategy.
Vice President (Cisa): Lead internal systems; Engineer/ test systems; manage existing partners.
Secretary (Deepak): Lead AoA amendments and governance; ensure compliance; manage community communications.
Treasurer (Dawn): Finance oversight, budgets, audits; manage CA and compliance; drive revenue strategy and contracts.
+ whatever else comes up gets split as per the EB’s expertise.

3. Organisational Practices Insight

CEO

Communications, Branding, Marketing, PR
Community and Market Insights
Strategic Execution and People Management

Split out a dedicated Sales Manager and an Internal Operations Manager Role.

Sales Manager
1) Incoming Lead Management, Lead Generation
2) Data Analysis, Inside Sales Support
3) Sponsor deliverables and NT sponsorships

Operations Manager
1) National Teams Logistics
2) Competitions, Membership, Merchandise
3) Committees Management / Partners Compliance

Appendix: Q1 Blueprint

PART 2

August/September/October Specific

Scope of work for EB: Q1 Priorities

Capture knowledge, identify gaps, evaluate structures, and set direction for FDSF(I). Refer to the Appendix for Q1 blueprint.

Appointment of Vice President

EB was given 3 weeks since taking power to pick VP.
1) EB Open Nominated on WhatsApp + Committee Heads were invited to open nominations on the same medium + Open Public Nomination form
2) 3 Nominations Received
3) Interviews completed with 2 candidates. 1 Withdrawal. Internal Announcement on 17th August.
4) Process documented along with suggestions to have VP (2) as elected posts going forward.

Committees

Challenge/Risk:

Lacks cross-committee communication channels, often functioning independently with EB’s direction
Lack of cross-demographic representation
Schools, colleges, and SOTG committees lack the depth to execute efficiently
Gaps in needs: Development, women’s, Safeguarding committee
No official emails/folders for committees to store data

Upside:

EB spent the first month connecting with the committees to understand their scope of work + current work/projects/aspirations.
Committee members are deeply passionate + Can solve for the community
Competitions Committee is well-stacked and better represented, and is capable of functioning independently - Meeting internal deadlines, Townhalls etc
Tech Committee - Needs stacking, functions independently, consists of experts - sets and meets deadlines, solves tech for long term efficiency, collaborative effort.

Outcome:

New Committee created: Safeguarding Committee (Members: Saraswati, Namritha, Deepak)
Plans to revive: Development committee, Womens
Plans to add: Governance, Finance and Growth
Create dedicated email IDs for ease of communication and data management

Competition, Membership and Costs

Challenge/Risk:

The current membership model doesn’t reflect community size. Disconnect between the ‘real’ and ‘official’ community in terms of demographic representation.
Competition currently tries to cater to the same pool of players + to both Single Gender and Mixed Gender equally, without fully being able to do justice to the long-term development of the 3 divisions.
Very little activity to add to the pipeline of players / increase patrons for the sport.
Primary stream of revenue is tied with membership and tournaments, which doesn’t give the EB mobility to change practices without sinking into the red + revenue practices have been aligned towards organic maintenance rather than growth.

Upside:

Different communities are exploring options for competition in other forms through different private entities, Active State Bodies and enthusiastic individuals -
offering scope for decentralisation.

Outcome:

1) Added “Patron” membership tier: Thanks to the Tech team for pulling their weight in internal prep to open registration for the upcoming season.

2) Working on Institutional Membership, Recreational membership tiers to capture community numbers more accurately vs people who are currently playing the NCS season.

3) EB decided to embrace active outbound sales, engaging/identifying partners to diversify revenue streams.

NTC, Sponsorships and State Level Organisations

Challenge/Risk:

Athlete development depends too much on clubs; no standard basics for new athletes. More State involvement is needed to produce quality athletes.
NT/IU revenue model doesn’t support merit-based teams.
1 Registered State Body - Senthamizh Flying Disc Association

Upside:

The skill level and interest in NTs from masters category athletes has exponentially increased post covid with more athletes falling into the age category. Increases need for merit based NT’s at all age categories.
2 Active State Bodies (SFDA, KUPA) with scope to renew activity in a few more states.

Outcome:

1) Active exploration of avenues with SFDA - to set up State/National Body pilot collaboration models, practices and opportunities and understand best practices to replicate for future states.

Partnerships & Associations

Challenge/Risk:

Lack of formalisation for partnerships, associated members and organisations. Verbal agreements/objections with no traceable paperwork due to multiple styles of record keeping.
Most partners serve existing community members

Upside:

Connected and capable community members who are willing to open their expertise and their connections.
CEO + OPS have added roles for revenue optimisation

Outcome:

SDAT Update: Read here https://docs.google.com/document/d/14dHRC8nT39jC2AthhA0liXnGqhDNkV_t/edit#heading=h.urqbny25qpo4
Exploring collaborative events with active partners to maximise focused effort.

PART 3
CEO & Operations Update

In parallel with EB’s focus on governance and structural clarity, the Operations team has progressed on multiple fronts over the past two months.

National Teams & International Engagement

Sponsor and participation letters for WBUC teams and specific individuals
Managed WFDF processes: WMUCC bid shared with the community and WFDF, WFDF payments completed for AOUC/WBUC, participation letters prepared and sent.
Explored feasibility of hosting AOUCC in India. Still looking towards bringing ABOUC to India
Currently working with the NTC on drafting future workflows

Domestic Competitions

Finalised and communicated 2025–26 fees structure and domestic calendar.
Working with the organisers on budgets and logistics for NCS regionals.

Finance & Governance

Published 2025–26 IU budget.
MoU executed with AOUC sponsors.
Preparing the FY2024-25 audit

Governance

Initiated formalisation of Para Ultimate relationship.
Explored synergies with other domestic Ultimate bodies.
Took the new EB through committee structures, working methods, and introductions.

Systems & Communication

Working on restructuring communication channels for efficiency and transparency.

CEO’s Note (Closing)

The first few weeks under the new EB have been both intense and constructive. On my end, the goal has been simple: keep the engine running while the new EB gets the space to step back, ask questions, and set direction. That meant two parallel tracks: handling the day-to-day (payments, participation letters, budgets, domestic calendar, regionals prep, sponsor MoUs, people management) and making sure we don’t lose momentum as we explore bigger shifts (AoA amendments, Draft Constitution edits, Para Ultimate formalisation, synergies with other Ultimate entities, IU committees restructuring).

What’s been encouraging is the EB’s clarity around roles and the Q1 blueprint. Having that frame makes it easier for operations to prioritise and also say “no” when needed.

That said, there are challenges I want to put on the table

80G/12A renewal: As part of the renewal process mandated for all non-profits, our 80G certificate came up for review. During this process, the renewal was not approved due to technical documentation issues, specifically the classification of IU as a sports body rather than a charitable institution under the current interpretation. India Ultimate continues to remain a registered Section 8 non-profit company, and all our operations, tournaments, and partnerships continue as usual. However, until the 80G certificate is re-issued, donors will not be able to claim tax deductions on their contributions.

We are already working on the re-application and have a hearing scheduled in the second week of October. We will keep the community informed as this process progresses.

Competition costs are only going up for venues, logistics etc. Even with fee changes, affordability will remain a challenge.
Some committees, especially School, SOTG and Coaching, are still weak. Until they’re revived, we’ll keep feeling those gaps.

Looking forward, my priorities are:

Obtaining the 80G renewal
Anchor the domestic season smoothly by keeping tournaments tight, costs in check, and player value visible.
Support national teams with reliable ops and fundraising so coaches/players can focus on performance.
Tighten financial processes and audits so we don’t stumble on compliance.
Build partnerships that are both revenue-driven but also strengthen the credibility and reach of Ultimate.

At the end of the day, my role is to translate EB’s vision into execution without losing sight of the day-to-day. If we can keep balancing both; the strategy and the grind, we’ll be in a good place heading into Q2.

ASK from the community

Dear India Ultimate,

Please note that we are making decisions based on our limited knowledge and available research. We have been actively working to capture all perspectives and fill our knowledge gaps.

My asks from the community are the same as what I asked for from my EB:

1) Give each other the benefit of the doubt since we aren't familiar with each other, ways of communication, ways of working, etc.

2) Get engaged and stay engaged.

The EB is currently at the juncture of setting long-term vision and the short-term goals for our term. We want to ensure that we set up in IU direction that is best for our community.

We invite you to be part of the conversation at the ONLINE TOWNHALL on OCTOBER 18th or 19th. (Date and time TBC by 8th October; link will be emailed/posted here)

Some of the best ideas and their execution have come from our community members, and you don’t need to hold a position of leadership to add to the vision. We want to hear everything.

Please vote for the Townhall time and leave questions/comments/concerns here: https://forms.gle/JcyALJqvWDXYeXHv6

Let’s shape the game together,

Sangeetha