The 990's

[garfield]

I'm going to insert a detail here because the issue has come up in the discussion of prior corps.

CC reports the number of employees at 6 in 2009 and 5 in '10 and '11.

They report 475 volunteers in all three years.

[Kansasfan]

Great job Garfield. You motivated me to actually log in and comment instead of just lurking.

Three or four years ago I went and tried to pull numbers off the 990s for everybody - not in anywhere the detail that you are doing, and not with the same degree of sophistication and understanding. They are complex, often confusing, and only present part of the overall financial picture of a given group. That said, it's what we've got, so understanding what we can without stretching assumptions tooooo far is worth doing.

[JohnZ]

I'm going to insert a detail here because the issue has come up in the discussion of prior corps.

CC reports the number of employees at 6 in 2009 and 5 in '10 and '11.

They report 475 volunteers in all three years.

...outstanding thread, BTW...

[garfield]

Great job Garfield. You motivated me to actually log in and comment instead of just lurking.

Three or four years ago I went and tried to pull numbers off the 990s for everybody - not in anywhere the detail that you are doing, and not with the same degree of sophistication and understanding. They are complex, often confusing, and only present part of the overall financial picture of a given group. That said, it's what we've got, so understanding what we can without stretching assumptions tooooo far is worth doing.

Wow, that's a nice compliment, Kansas. Thank you.

It's a labor of love and learning for me, and I'm glad others are getting the understanding of, financially, how "our" activity stands.

[Paul Milano]

Let me answer a few of the questions about the Cavaliers, without attempting to represent the organization, nor revealing anything I think they would prefer kept quiet. It's just that I think some of my information will be helpful to those of you who are following these comparisons with interest.

Excluding instructional staff, the corps, as I understand it, pays only one or two part-time administrative assistants. Jeff was paid about $48,000 his last full year when the org decided he needed to be appropriately compensated after 35 years of, essentially, volunteer work as corps director, etc. He left the next year (unrelated to his compensation).

ALL other administrative roles within the organization have been volunteer for the last 60+ years. Some expense monies are paid, but no salaries or independent contractor fees to speak of (again, this does not include instructional staff). Thus, the "lean" operating expense ratio.

This year, one person has been hired to be the Fundraising, Alumni Relations, and Marketing Director, at a fairly nominal rate. Prior to that all fundraising, alumni relations, and marketing work was done (and much of it is still done) by the alums and a few other volunteers.

The total instructional salaries, by the way, are below the rest of their peers in the activity as well, for the most part. Whether they are alums or not, they tend to work for less for the Cavaliers than they could get elsewhere. This is changing a bit, more recently, and will increase if need be to remain competitive, within reason, I suspect.

The tour expenses line item is mainly food (a bit over $100k per year).

Don Warren, Adolph DeGrauwe, Don Heitzman, and the other primary management stalwarts who have been "at the helm" for decades do not accept payment. This includes those in charge of equipment, transportation, food, medical, book keeping, souvenir sales, tour managers, webmaster, etc. Again, some modest expense reimbursement is about it. This may have changed a bit recently, but not significantly, I suspect.

Most importantly, as GRATEFUL as they are to Rosemont, the Village does NOT contribute as much as the general public assumes. In fact, the money is probably less than 15% - 20% of the total operating budget of around $1.2 million. They provide vehicle storage, some office space, refueling when in town, and some much-needed cash (and the cash does not come from the Village, it comes from hotel/motel fees or something akin to that). Grand total of all cash and in-kind given by Rosemont is, again, 15% - 20% of the budget.

The observation about the Cavaliers small "safety net" of excess earnings is quite valid. Thus their continued gratefulness to Rosemont since things are very, very lean without the Village.

The reason we alums raised almost $600,000 in donations during the 2008 60th anniversary year was to help provide some "padding" in the event of an emergency. The first $100k was given to the corps to use as they pleased (for operating as it turned out). The rest is being put into an endowed ("savings") fund and managed by an outside investment entity. Currently that fund has, more or less, $200k in it with about $300k in pledges still coming in over the next several years (as planned).

Hope this adds some clarity. I don't think the Cavaliers consider any of this info I just gave to be privileged. If so, they can kick my butt at the next alum function I show up to.

This is, as the 990s begin to reveal, an AMAZING organization with some of the hardest working adminitrators, instructors, board members, alums, parents, and volunteers I've seen in my 35 years of working with non-profit organizations (as a consultant and as a participant). While this type of set-up does make things potentially "thin" without the paid infrastructure of some of the other elite corps, it has worked well thus far. I suspect, however, that the Cavaliers will begin to become more like some of the mid-level corps (who all probably have MUCH more paid staff than the Cavaliers) as the demands of modern drum corps increase. And, the reality is, many of the long-time stalwarts of the Cavalier management/volunteer team are now well past retirement age and they won't be able to continue this level of dedication forever. The group of younger volunteers in unlikely to devote the same kind of time as the Adolphs and Don Warrens, nor should they be expected to. It will be an interesting transition, but one that is already underway and beginning to transform seamlessly.

Go Go Green Machine (the nickname applies to more than their marching!).

[garfield]

Carolina Crown

Revenue and Expenses

Total Revenue

2009: $1,379,567

2010: $1,482,537 (plus $102,970 [7.5%] from 2009)

2011: $1,586,936 (plus $104,399 [7%] from 2010, plus $207,369 [15%] from 2009

Total Expenses

2009: $1,362,113

2010: $1,489,786 (plus $127,673 [9.4%] from 2009)

2011: $1,588,600 (plus $96,814 [6.5%] from 2010, plus $226,487 [16.6%] from 2009

Revenue less Expenses

2009: $17,454

2010: ($7,249) a loss

2011: ($1,664) a loss

So, it appears that CC's revenues are going up with some consistency (about 7% per year), but their expenses are going up as well likely pointing to them spending every penny they can on the race to the top with little, or none, left over at the end of the season.

We'll shortly see how much of those expenses actually showed up on the field under Program Expenses.

Edited November 28, 2012 by garfield

[garfield]

...snip...

Go Go Green Machine (the nickname applies to more than their marching!).

Thanks very much for the clarity, Paul.

The 990's show $132,000 per year in "Government Grants" in each year. That's about 10% of revenues, just as you suggest, and I can see how the other benefits from Rosemont could make their total support about 15% of revenue.

[garfield]

Carolina Crown

Net Assets

2009: $66,142

2010: $58,893

2011: $57,229

Hopefully, the balance sheet will show that they have a liquid-asset balance that gives them a larger "cushion" than these numbers suggest.

We'll see shortly.

[garfield]

Carolina Crown

Statement of Program Service Accomplishments

2009:

CC drum corps: Expenses: $803,874, Revenue: $845,565, Net: $41,691

Night Beat (show): Expenses: $49,375, Revenue: $132,531, Net: $83,516

First Beat (show): Expenses: $25,381, Revenue: $35,846, Net: $10,015

2010:

CC drum corps: Expenses: $922,576, Revenue: $836,797, Net: ($85,779) a loss

Night Beat (show): Expenses: $46,432, Revenue: $113,324, Net: $66,892

First Beat (show): Expenses: $32,741, Revenue: $28,673, Net: ($4,068) a loss

2011:

CC drum corps: Expenses: $987,318, Revenue: $931,520, Net: ($55,798) a loss

Night Beat (show): Expenses: $71,483, Revenue: $162,323, Net: $90,840

First Beat (show): Expenses: $31,537, Revenue: $34,404, Net: $2,867

Sorry, there are a lot of numbers in this post.:blink:/>

Edited November 28, 2012 by garfield

[garfield]

Crown's Statement of Revenue is very simple to read, yet a bit frustrating, because, unlike the corps we've looked at so far, Crown lumps all revenue into one line-item entry in each of the three categories:

Contributions, Gifts, Grants,

Program Service Revenue, and

Other Revenue

So, although there's no granularity and we'll get through Revenue pretty quickly, there's nothing to indicate the sources of their revenues from Program Service.

I need to correct this, there is detail of incomes as reported in the Statement of Program Service Accomplishments.

Edited November 28, 2012 by garfield