cixelsyd
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Posts posted by cixelsyd
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3 minutes ago, craiga said:
Cadets have no money due to legal bills stemming from bad behavior, and we have been told repeatedly that SCV has all kinds of money...just that they mismanaged their bingo operation and can't seem to get along with each other.
As I see it, all of this falls under the category of poor behavior.
We could play chicken-egg with this. But to set a couple of things straight:
- Cadets had bad behavior for 38 years, and fielded a corps every single one of those 38 years. But only now are they taking a season off. Both explanations given (fundraising shortfall and legal expenses) are financial.
- SCV did not have all kinds of money when they called off 2023... they had all kinds of debt. They told us they were taking time off, paying outstanding debts, then replenishing drained contingency funds. They told us... the masters of transparency admitted that much. That is financial.
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On 11/13/2023 at 9:07 AM, Spinastick said:
Not to be contrary, but literally everything you listed already exist in multiple corps as a source of revenue. The majority of corps in DCI are decades old, and if you can name it they have tried it as a way to generate funds.
Okay, then, here is a new idea. Follow the money. Identify the "next big thing", the area of greatest growth in drum corps related expenditures. Then, have a corps (or DCI) provide that thing as a service.
What is the "next big thing" in drum corps? Lawsuits!
Start a law practice specializing in personal injury law. It should get off to a quick start, as DCI and their corps have the inside track for finding clients. Turn that weakness into a strength.
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5 hours ago, craiga said:
LabMaster initiated this thread to brainstorm some revenue sources and strategies with the hopes of hearing some fresh ideas.
Instead, we once again find ourselves up to our ears in nostalgic time travel by some people.
I tried to steer it back on topic, but the thread has been plagued throughout by a lack of ideas, and a lack of people offering ideas.
QuoteDo you guys not get it? Neighborhood drum corps sponsored by churches and VFW posts went away 40 years ago. The activity and society in general has changed and is not going back.
Not right now. But suppose air travel became impractical. What then?
QuoteAnd one more time, for the record, neither Spirit nor SCV nor Cadets opted to take a summer off because they ran out of money. In each one of these cases, their misfortunes can be directly traced back to bad behavior....in one case, decades ago.
Sorry, but this is misleading. Spirit was in response to bad behavior. Both Cadets and SCV were financial.
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2 hours ago, karuna said:
It sounds easy to have a shared database of "problem" members. But accountability is a real thing (for the entity maintaining the list and for the corps submitting data to the list). Good ideas are good until you get down to implementation. Then reality sets in.
So true.
There is another aspect of this that bites DCI in the rear. The whole operating model of DCI is based on "haves" and "have-nots", "members" and "non-members". Always has been. We are down to 37 corps, and still DCI divides them by class, and further excludes several of the world-class from "membership". How many times has someone slipped through that gaping crack because information is not shared between haves and have-nots, and vice-versa?
(Speaking of which, add all-age to the divisional communication network now.)
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23 minutes ago, Galen said:
Kinda feel like there should have been some more leaks by now...
Sure, if scores or recaps were involved.
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8 hours ago, Spinastick said:
Not to be contrary, but literally everything you listed already exist in multiple corps as a source of revenue. The majority of corps in DCI are decades old, and if you can name it they have tried it as a way to generate funds. Non-profit organizations are somewhat limited in their ability to bring in cash, and there exist a maximum amount that is unlikely to be surpassed for revenue. Market cost for the essential supplies and services needed to operate a drum corp, have surpassed the feasible max revenue a corp can realistically generate each year. Individual corps and the activity as a whole needs to find a way to mitigate cost to survive.
I agree with nearly all you just said, especially the final sentence.
However, this thread is here to discuss revenue ideas. Debating the futility of those ideas is fair game in many other threads here, but in this one it is off-topic.
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9 hours ago, Gantang said:
The goal of winning wasn't pushed at Pioneer. It was a place for kids to cut their teeth in drum corps before they moved on.
"The goal of winning" is not pushed at any corps. There are 37 corps, and only 2 will win in the end; that makes a very dissatisfying activity if the other 35 have no other goals they can meet. More importantly, this is a competition where corps pursue excellence in parallel, not an adversarial sport where one team literally defeats another in head-to-head combat. You can only be the best you can be - you cannot stop someone else from being better than you.
As for Pioneer, it was winning that got them into world-class. Remember that in 1996, Pioneer was the most hated corps in the world for staying in division II at the same time division I had dropped to an all-time low of 18 entrants. Ironic that Pioneer later became the most hated corps in the world for staying in world-class.
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1 minute ago, scheherazadesghost said:
Perhaps they confused nomenclature?
As far as my notes go from 9/19 board webinar:
- touring as a nonmember corps
- revenue share loss
- competing in world class category as a "first year corps" and will be performing first at shows prior to San Antonio
- San Antonio and beyond: performance order reset according to competitive placement
- can apply for DCI membership on Sep 24
I believe there are other differences for nonmember corps, but didn't capture in my notes. Perhaps no ability to vote? Anything else I'm missing?
VMAPA leadership continue to iterate that these differences will not adversely affect the member experience.
I would only add as a point of clarification - they still get appearance fees at shows. Only the post-season revenue sharing payment is totally lost.
I rarely waste the time on podcasts. This one reminds me why.
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This podcast states that SCV is not competing in 2024. They will tour and perform in shows. They will be judged, perhaps scored... but still "not competing". Can anyone corroborate this?
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1 hour ago, RiverCityAndTroopersFan said:
So the cadets have no dci championships, only 3 shows put out, and have made only 3 dci finals if we go by their logic
If you ask DCI how they compute their revenue sharing formula for the Cadets, the answer will be different.
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1 hour ago, HockeyDad said:
For weeks I’ve been saying there’s more to this story and getting attacked for it. Now we find out … there was more to the story.
True. I was wrong for doubting you.
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13 hours ago, 2000Cadet said:
This is exactly what I'm talking about. It does not matter what statement they put out, what questions they answer. People will still form their own assumptions as to why it happened.
No... it does matter what they say, and whether it is true. Those things always matter when charitable contributions are an indispensable part of your budget.
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I am also confused at why this complaint keeps referring to YEA! as equally relevant and culpable "at all relevant times", when the relevant times are 1982-1983 and YEA! did not exist until 1988.
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10 hours ago, craiga said:
Well, now we know why the Cadets were not going to afford to go out in 2024...massive legal bills and a potential future court settlement of unknown proportions.
Wait one second here. The Cadets board chair tells us in a press release that 2024 is off because "budgeted fundraising amounts did not materialize as anticipated". Is that a lie? Because if it is, then all that talk about their "transparency" only means they are transparently dishonest.
QuoteAs was the case with SCV, this had NOTHING to do with the price of props, uniforms, tour or spring training. Can we put those false arguments to rest finally?
The principle is the same. If a corps cannot afford the cost of props, uniforms, tour, spring training and sexual abuse, they should look at eliminating some of that cost. Starting with the one I underlined.
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5 hours ago, HockeyDad said:
Yeah. That’s a controversial word. Let me try a reply that doesn’t use that word.
My problem here (MY problem, others are entitled to their opinions and I respect that), I think, is that I’m just not buying the explanation provided by the BOD member. Paraphrasing (in other words, how my brain interpreted it) - some bills came in late that we weren’t expecting, and busses were an issue and we won’t skimp on that kind of stuff. And that’s why they can’t tour in 2024. I’m not buying it. There is more to the story here. That’s where I am with this.There are two responses that come to mind.
1. Generally speaking, drum corps is like many other amateur competitive activities in that it spends to whatever extent its constituency is willing to contribute to the competitive cause. For 100 years, we have had corps with budgets based on the three-legged stool of member fees, program-generated revenue and "fundraising" done by or donated from the corps constituency.
Corps live or die depending on the generosity of others. You want full transparency... there it is.
2. Specifically speaking, the Cadets have gone through a total reorganization upon parting with YEA!. But you are probably right - there is more to the story. They may essentially be going through another reorganization right now with the move to Erie. When you look at the "revenue" thread here, you do not see nearly as many of those ideas in practice at Cadets as you did 6 years ago. The likely path to recovery here involves several things:
- a replacement CEO
- constituents developing new revenue-generating programs and fundraising events
- re-engaging with the donor base
Those things should probably occur in the sequence listed. I sense this is part of the reason the corps is taking a year off, because they cannot fix all of that quickly enough to do 2024 right.
If my description of the situation is accurate, we will not get greater transparency right now. Going forward, we will get it gradually as the above pieces of the puzzle are assembled.
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19 hours ago, Gantang said:
cixelsyd wrote that "you can make tax-deductible donations directly." I disputed the ability to use a donation as a tax-deductible donation under the current IRS Code.
I only said "tax-deductible".
You may choose not to exercise that ability after reviewing a galaxy of potential deductions vs. the standard deduction. But you still have the ability.
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Though others have said it already, it bears repeating. Why donate to a third party via a fourth-party platform like GoFundMe instead of donating directly to the corps?
Ironically, that false alarm only re-confirmed that Cadets are a registered non-profit entity, to which you can make tax-deductible donations directly.
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On the sidewalk today, I spotted a small candy bar still in its unopened wrapper. One of the local trick-or-treaters must have dropped one of their treats last night. Sure enough, the wrapper was labeled "Butterfinger".
Sometimes, the punchline writes itself.
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2 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:I have quit jobs several times in my life. You don’t see that plastered all over DCP.
I think you have to join the BD board of directors. Let us know when you do, and we will start a thread.
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On 10/28/2023 at 8:53 AM, dbc03 said:
If the problem was going to be solved by armchair corps directors on DCP it would have been solved years ago.
There is no accounting for how slow DCI is to implement good ideas.
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5 hours ago, Phantom56 said:
Only thing wrong with "us" are the gloomy Gus seniors who populate DCP. Drum corps is thriving, and 2024 will see the finest DCI finals ever. Estimated attendance: 24,000. Hopefully minus 50% of the regular contributors to this antiquated forum.
You are seriously calling others "old" and "antiquated" under the account name "Phantom56"?
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On the other hand, whose version of "transparency" would you prefer - Cadets or SCV?
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1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:
Sounds like my five years of following a Div II corps. You could feel love everywhere. 😉Especially when you show up for prelims in Westminster, MD and the grass is a foot high on the field. Longtime DCI volunteer and all-around saint Al Ratcliffe (Big Al) hopped on a riding mower and mowed that field for those kids that day.
That grass was so long, the mulch afterwards was ankle deep.
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58 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:
But QC Cadets weren’t one of the big name top corps so…. 🤦♂️🤬
Exactly. If there are "haves" on your resume, why even bother mentioning the "have-nots"?
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The Cadets are being sued by a former member for alleged sexual abuse in the 80s
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Then someone explain to me why that is. Does GH hire better lawyers than the Cadets? Or are deeper pockets a curse that transcends all else?