rjohn76

The biggest change that I see is that they're now a a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization as of July. That means they went through the steps of incorporating in some state, and followed the all of the required processes to attain that tax-exempt status. This has the potential to add significant legitimacy to their efforts, allows them to more clearly solicit donations/funding, and in theory adds a layer of legal protection for members of the organization putting in the work. It would be nice to see their presentation of information be cleaned up a little bit (as JimF-LowBari mentions) because it makes zero sense to navigate from website > social > website. Absent that small criticism, the improvements they're making are leaps and bounds over their early roots as an anonymous posting Twitter account called "DCI F***ery".

The end zone panels get swapped out, but the rest of the field remains the same with just the mid field logo painted over for other major events: https://uni-watch.com/2022/10/08/dyed-in-the-wool-turf-permanence-in-the-nfl/

I'm just going to leave this here for anyone that says you can't paint over the logo at Lucas Oil Stadium... This video here also shows the faint outline of the logo at about the 12 second mark...

Sounds like severe weather is moving into the Dubuque area right now. Still quite a while until show time, so hopefully it will pass through.

It's not just operating successfully that's required, although there are a bunch of financial targets and good governance practices that must be met. There's also a competitive element where they have to place in the top 25 two consecutive years (not hard right now, but still places competitiveness into the mix), and also a vote by current member corps with two-thirds approval. Also interesting to note that the "Pioneer" rule is now written into the policy handbook where a membership corps that places outside of the top 25 in three consecutive seasons is placed "under review". A vote among membership corps at the next meeting will determine if they remain members, or move down to the "participant" level.

Based on Policy 216.1 of the DCI Manual... The minimum number of members for Open Class is 50 members, and the minimum number for World Class is 110. The DCI Board of Directors can grant exceptions to these rules at its discretion.

Don't get me wrong, the organization has some serious house cleaning and explaining to do in order to regain the trust and confidence of those with direct ties to them, and quite frankly the entire activity as a whole. Transparency is key, which so far hasn't exactly been there at the levels most of us would like to see. They clearly have room for improvement in many areas. I was more or less pointing out that the letters from the AG office of CA, while important and scary looking, are very much a formality that should be able to be resolved with some basic due diligence on the organization's part. They're not building new jails to house all of the board members of the 33,000+ orgs that are currently delinquent.

The bulk of the bingos games in my area are not tied directly tied to youth programming, but quite a few do indirectly benefit youth. For example, the Moose lodge down the road from me hosts a weekly bingo session that's run by the local high school athletic booster club. That club helps fund equipment purchases, stadium upgrades and so forth. Even looking at the churches that are running bingo games, most of them have K-8 schools or other youth programs attached to them. I've never taken a deep enough look at their books to know how the money generated from the bingo games is being utilized, but I would guess that there's some cross over there. The challenge all corps face is identifying new revenue sources that can help support their mission. Within the organizations that I have closest ties to, the older alumni are still clamoring for the days of door-to-door candy sales, coupon books and car washes. While all of those methods were successful to a degree at some point in time, I'm not sure if any of those revenue generating methods are any more aligned with the mission than hosting bingo games.

Maybe I missed something in the 43 previous pages, but this thread was largely about the failure to file necessary paperwork with the CA Registry of Charitable Trusts. There are monetary penalties/fees that can be assessed for failure to meet these filing requirements, but nobody is going to jail for failing to file paperwork. Unless the failure to file the paperwork was part of a larger intentional effort to somehow commit a criminal act and a larger investigation ensues, the "delinquent" status in CA isn't that significant in the grand scheme of things. And as far as I can see based on public IRS lookup tools, the organization remains in good standing with the IRS.

I don't want to minimize the importance of keeping the organization in good standing from a legal standpoint, but it's extremely common in California for nonprofits to fall out of good standing with the more stringent requirements the state has in place. There's over 33,000 "charity registrations" in California that are currently "delinquent", including some organizations that are of much higher profile than SCV. Obviously some of those delinquent registrations tie back to organizations that are now defunct or disbanded, but a quite a few belong to organizations that are still functioning in some capacity. Most of those that are still functioning will work to get their registration corrected at some point and restored to good standing. It's not an insurmountable task, but does require some work to get it done and corrected. Absent evidence of criminal/nefarious actions, I don't see anyone going to jail over their current predicament. Also have to add that bingo/gaming is still an extremely common source of funding/fundraising for nonprofits in many parts of the country. When I look at the organizations in my area that run regular bingo games, it runs a wide gamut from church groups, the Lion's Club, and even the local 4th of July Fireworks Committee. Assuming that all guidelines are currently being followed from the perspective of the IRS and state/local government, utilizing gaming to fund a portion of the budget shouldn't be dismissed based solely on previous transgressions. Of course it would be great for the organization to diversify their sources of funding, but that's a larger topic that quite honestly the entire marching arts activity can work to improve upon.

Magic was inactive in DCI for two years: 2000 & 2001 I believe there is an allowance for corps to take one season off before needing to go back through the Open Class ranks. Spirit is the most recent example, but if I'm not mistaken... even Pioneer was initially afforded the opportunity to return to World Class in 2020 if they would have met all of the conditions required for reinstatement.

I always loved the parade, but does it draw enough interest to warrant the effort & expense of putting it on? If I'm not mistaken, one of the reasons it went away was the costs of securing the proper permit and providing the necessary security/police coverage for the event. I can't imagine those costs would be any less today when you take into consideration what happened in Waukesha and Highland Park.

I marched back in the 90's and the staffing levels on tour then weren't much different than they are today. There was almost always a tech for each section, and it was frustrating on the rare occasion when there wasn't because it left a void in instruction when it came time for sectionals. So yes, the members do expect there to be adequate staff present, especially if it has the potential to impact their overall performance and placement. And yes, the members do prefer that the instructors have some practical skills vs. being some random person who maybe marched a couple years and likes to relive their youth by yelling at kids and gawking at half dressed members all summer long. Jeff's already said, but I will reiterate that staff members aren't collecting pay while sitting at home. Some of those staff members you see listed may only be present for a short period of time while the primary instructor jets off to conduct their school's band camp. Other instructors may only be present during winter camps to help with individual assessments or fill in when the primary instructor is tied up with their WGI program. Virtually nobody that is qualified to be an instructor, or trustworthy enough, will be able to commit to the entire winter season, spring training and summer tour. That's why the depth in staff is there. It's not an arms race. It's a necessity to meet the basic needs of the corps experience. If you want to reduce the number of staff, you need to start looking at modifying other elements of the corps experience (ex. number of camps, length of spring training, length of tour, etc...). It's also important to note that a sizable chunk of the staff/administrative payroll is going to be attributed to the CEO and any other full time positions that exist (ex. corps director, office manager, etc...). You can argue whether those full-time paid positions should exist, or if they should go back to being part-time or volunteer roles like they were in the past. At the end of the day, best practices for non-profit orgs would tend to suggest that those paid positions are a necessity in order to facilitate proper management & development of an organization. I also have to add that modern technology has made the operations of corps much more transparent. Back in the day, unless there was something about a corps in Drum Corps World, the only time you really heard/saw anything about staff was in the program books at a show. Even then, only the primary staff were listed in many cases... not the random guy who came in to help tech visual at a camp or two. Social media and more sophisticated websites have changed all of that. From a credibility & reference standpoint, that random guy that worked two camps wants his work acknowledged, especially for reference purposes if they're looking to gain more work with other bands/corps in the future.

Perhaps, but it's not much different than the kids I know that participate in traveling team/club sports where the coaches were (or still are) successful athletes at either the collegiate or professional level. They pay the premium price for that level of coaching experience, and nobody thinks twice about it. In fact, it's the expectation that the coaches are going to have credible experience and certain credentials.

I think the bulk of the members are cognizant of the fact that the experience they want costs a significant chunk of change to provide. Yes, they have a lot of questions about how to raise the necessary funds to participate, but they're usually not completely ignorant or blind to where the money is going. It definitely helps when corps are more transparent about their costs, similar to what Blue Stars put out regarding their 2022 expenditures. From my vantage point, the bulk of the hand wringing and consternation about the cost to participate comes from alumni who vividly recall paying substantially less than what it costs today. I find myself in that same position at times, but then I remember some of the corners that were cut BITD to save money... and I'm glad that members today are getting much more well rounded & safe experience. I also have quite a few friends/co-workers with kids in other activities, and I constantly hear about the costs to participate in those sports/clubs/camps. When the costs they're paying oftentimes dwarf what a member is paying to march DCI, it helps me put into perspective where things actually stand from a cost value standpoint.

While the advice of an accountant is important, it's also important to recognize that the marching members expect a much higher level of instruction now days compared to 20 years ago. That's the reason why the bulk of the staff on tour are professional educators, professional musicians or in some cases aspiring educators/musicians. Acquiring & retaining the services of those folks cost money, and drum corps honestly is paying out on the cheap to get them. There's actually been a push on multiple fronts for staff members to be paid MORE... not less. Members also expect to have a tech for their section present at all times. All of those professional staff mentioned above have commitments & obligations that they need to tend to outside of the corps, which is why the staff is stacked several layers deep to allow people to rotate on/off tour as needed. Gone are the days of only having one or two staff members on tour trying to cover an entire caption. It's also important to keep member safety in mind. Having someone on the full tour + spring training can lead to burn out. When people are burned out, they're more likely to mishandle or completely miss a critical incident where member safety is at risk. One last thing to keep in mind is that many corps now have full-time administrative staff (ex. CEO, director, etc...). That's going to chew up a fairly large portion of that staff expenditure percentage. You can argue whether it's necessary to have those full-time people in place, but reputable sources that the corps are being referred to use for guidance all suggest having that type of structure.

I honestly enjoyed a couple of their shows in the final years they were out. They had a phenomenal vocal soloist/DM that was a pleasure to listen to... when her mic actually worked.

I had a chance to stop there a couple times about 10 years ago. It is directly east of the Milwaukee airport, with a Wisconsin Air National Guard base in between. Mostly industrial properties in the direct vicinity of the property. Single family homes & some apartments about a quarter mile up the road. Honestly not a terrible spot to have the property from a noise standpoint. I didn't feel that the place or area were all that sketchy. Some of the industrial properties looked a little distressed, but that wasn't all that concerning in the grand scheme of things. I felt like there was a lot of untapped potential in the property. Supposedly the plan all along was to build a multi-purpose facility on the site that would serve as a corps hall, bingo hall, and rehearsal space. For whatever reason, that never happened... but the corps website still references it: https://www.pioneer-corps.org/about/pioneerland-history.html

This isn't a problem unique to Flo. A lot of online/tech companies struggle with this side of things. Status quo is to offer a comprehensive FAQ or knowledgebase section so the consumer can self-help, and then deal with any lingering issues after the fact as time allows.

Just to be 100% clear, FloSports isn't a small company. FloMarching is one small niche activity that they cover, but they have quietly amassed streaming rights to many other sports/activities. Projected revenue according to some sources exceeds $100M annually. This also isn't the first time they've faced legal action over their billing practices, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Given the size of the company, I'm not sure the legal actions would have a significant enough impact to bankrupt them, but could potentially force them to re-evaluate their subscription model. This is a good short read with respect to the overall scope of their business and how it's growing: https://frontofficesports.com/flosports-dominating-streaming/ With respect to their billing practices - they're honestly not much different than many other streaming services, SaaS platforms, and other online subscriptions that I've paid for in recent years. It's a very common advertising technique to show a "monthly" price when you pay for the full year up front. It helps the average consumer relate the cost of the service to a monthly stop at Starbucks or the restaurant of your choice. And while it sure is helpful when the terms of the subscription are painfully clear up front, it's also incumbent for the subscriber to read the fine print and be fully aware/understanding of what they're paying for. The biggest issue I see is the customer service, or lack thereof. I suspect the rapid growth of the company outgrew their support capabilities (both technical and billing), and they were extremely slow to pivot/react to that deficiency. If anything, these legal actions against them could also force them to evolve from that standpoint and be more responsive to the consumer with issues.

I use Charity Navigator as well, but always take everything reported there with a grain of salt. For example, to the average person using the tool... Pioneer looks like a great organization to contribute to with a 85/100 score! That said, the areas where they lost points quite honestly are a great indicator of why the organization lost DCI membership (missing conflict of interest policy, missing whistleblower policy, and missing document retention/destruction policy...).

Much of the staff bloat is a byproduct of the shift in having professional (or at least aspiring) educators on staff at all times. Most of them have other commitments over the course of the summer and have to take time away to fulfill those obligations. The corps rotate people in & out to accommodate those obligations. Another shift is in member expectations. Members expect to have a tech on hand at all times for their section, so the corps rotate people in & out as needed to meet that expectation. Gone are the days of having the sketchy full-time tech that's present for the entire tour, and then delivers pizza during the off season to make ends meet.

Even Pioneer only had two family members on the board. Enough to hold the majority vote to prevent their easy removal, but one less than the Boise Gems.

I don't have a horse in the race, but I do typically have too much time on my hands. Looking at the most recent 990's available from Open Class organizations that reflected a "normal" year (usually 2019), membership fees/dues accounted for an average of 69.48% of total revenue. Guardians & Southwind were on the upper end of the spectrum with membership fees accounting for about 85% of their total revenue. Spartans were on the low end with membership fees only accounting for about 44% of their total revenue.

Bingo (exclamation usage, not the noun usage). The challenge some corps run into is the alumni/donors that have the ability to potentially contribute more time, effort & funding into the program will sometimes withhold those elements if the corps isn't performing at a level that they deem to be successful. I've personally heard stories of wealthy donors dangling five and six figure contributions in front of an organization if they could find a way to crack top 6. It's very easy to fall into the trap of chasing a particular placement in an effort to secure those additional contributions vs. actually developing an actionable business plan that outlines realistic ways to diversify & increase income/revenue (and subsequently improve placement as a result).