MELBOURNE president Jim Stynes has revealed how a meeting with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou convinced him he needed to do everything he could to keep his beloved club alive.

Stynes spoke with his usual passion at the club's Debt Demolition function at Kensington on Tuesday night, and highlighted his discussions with Demetriou before he became president.

"Before I took this job on, I had one appointment and I went and spoke to Andrew Demetriou and I said, 'Andrew, you've got to tell me honestly, where are we at as a club?'" Stynes said.

"I walked out of there and I thought, 'OK, we've got a little bit of work to do'."

Stynes said Melbourne's cash flow would return by "connecting people and uniting this football club", and it has already started with more than $2 million in donations from Tuesday's function.

"The fact that we got this night going in four weeks – it shows that we do stand for something and this red and blue is flowing through all our veins and there is a lot happening," he said.

"No story is a lost story … but it's all happening and it's going to slowly build and we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, because I know there is still going to be a little bit of pain … but we're going to deal with it."

Stynes said stability, reducing the club's $5 million debt, appointing a chief executive for the next five to seven years, uniting the club and having a permanent training base at Casey Fields were his main focuses.

He said the club would also build its relationship with the Melbourne Cricket Club.

As for the success of the Debt Demolition night, Stynes was delighted 170 supporters could become foundation members.

"You get to be part of a defining moment in this history," he said.

"We get to say to the football community out there that we're here to stay and we're here to flourish from this day forward."