DAL-27

Not really on the dumpster fire sale. correct on the 2nd part

A third party (pepwear) sold Cadets merch (also SCV, Cavies & BD?). They provide a %g of what’s sold. I assume they are liquidating their inventory. Not sure who’ll get the proceeds.

I believe Ryan took over from Jay Kennedy https://education.musicforall.org/clinician/jay-kennedy/ Also, I believe JD Shaw wrote for them at one time. Some other's I believe also wrote for them. Jim Prime Jr.? Larry Kershner? Jerry Noonan (1980's) notable North Star soloist. @craiga probably can provide more detail.

FWIW, I think this is essentially what the issue is (getting a clean audit). Consider the FY18 financials were audited in a week of the FY close (still amazes me that happened). So why so long for 2019+? SCV says publicly they changed bookkeeping in house & went to a new accounting system since then. Each of those alone can be very disruptive. Trying to do both at the same time, ugh. In my experience in the real world, ‘issues’ can be found when either of these things happen.

@Richard Lesher You appear to have the most inside information and appear to be able to provide supported factual information (i.e., links to the DOJ website/forms etc.) Can you confirm if the above statement from the auditor is correct? The auditors completed the audit on Nov 6. 2018 for their Fiscal Year ending Oct 31, 2018. Am I reading that wrong? 6 days to complete an audit in 2018? Am I missing something? Also is there a BOD connection to this audit firm? Also can you (or anyone else) confirm the accuracy of the statement just released by VMAPA that they had accounting/bookeeping turnover (what was the typical staffing there for the organization) in the timeframe that was mentioned? Also can you (or anyone else) confirm that they changed accounting systems? Can you provide a timeline on the CFO & CEO situation around the same time period? If I recall what's been reported correctly it was just basically a case of musical chairs until the recent departure of the CFO? I'm just looking for some FACTs. If you don't mind just answering the questions w/o color commentary it would be much appreciated. I get the regulatory issues they currently are in but I'd like to come to my own conclusions.

This is an interesting situation. The Cadets were at least 3 organizations from '83 to now, definitely more if you go all the way back to the Holy Name Church. From where I'm sitting the latest Cadets organization took over the 'brand' of the Cadets especially since this latest configuration is under new management/BOD (and YEA was ultimately dissolved). I could understand not seeing the change over from Garfield/CBC to YEA that way since the management was probably essentially the same but maybe you could make the same argument there as well. An example of what I'm talking about from a hockey franchise/brand stand point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Monarchs_(ECHL) This AHL team was originally owned by the Kings organization. The Kings moved the AHL team (& assets/management) to CA and swapped an ECHL team (& assets/management) to Manchester but the Brand/Name stayed in Manchester they called it a "Franchise Swap". Then the Brand/Name was sold to new owners. When the team was no longer viable, a Jr program in Manchester took up the brand "Monarchs" (same logo). So is the Jr Monarchs program liable for something that happened in 2001 with an AHL team? I'm not a lawyer so I can't say how appropriate it is (or not), but it definitely has me scratching my head.

Simplex Minutemen

Maybe, but regardless their BOD should have members that do along with a multitude of diverse backgrounds in business, finance, HR, grants, medical, legal, leadership etc. I could go on (feel free to add anything I missed). The BOD should be there to advise the CEO/ED (whatever the title is) and be there for organizational oversight. All responsibility shouldn't be on the back of one person.

It's likely that this lawsuit will be covered under the organizations insurance. It's required in some cases for a facility to allow a corps to use them. Remember Sandusky a few years back? That drove the requirement by some facilities. As a result there was an increase in insurance costs for the corps to carry that form of insurance. I agree with you about the legal bills but it's the insurance companies that'll foot them for SOA/DCI and I don't know for the plaintiff. So with that said, it's unlikely you'll see anything on the 990s. Insurance premiums are probably considered a program cost. Per the IRS Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF must be filed by the 15th day of the 5th month after the end of your organization's accounting period. Thus, for a calendar year taxpayer, Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-PF is due May 15 of the following year You can also file a 6 month extension. I don't know what each groups fiscal year is. Some end Sept. I believe I saw SCV ends October, some may be on a Calendar year basis. So it'll likely take up to a year or so before you see 2023 990s. It looks like SOA's fiscal year ends in August so the financial impact of this would show up on their fiscal year 2024 financials since the suit was just filed and therefore wouldn't see anything on a form 990 for a year at the earliest, probably two years. In other words you'd need to wait until sometime in 2025.

As for #1 you do make a point, however this isn't the only instance in the activity where design staff takes their style/brand with them when moving on. For example: when Gaines went to SCV their marching style emulated what the Cavies had done for years. As far as Hannum and Ancona. I believe the relationship there pre-dates Crown quire a bit with Colin & Ancona being students together at UMass under Hannum. Makes sense that Colin would bring them in if they are available. Also people often forget Colin started his drum corps career marching with BAC. As far as spring training, I believe the current spring training location pre-dates 2017 by a few years. So I would say #2 & #3 aren't valid points. With the correct facts for #2 & #3 seems like your assessment is a non-starter and not really funny at all Seems more like a stretch to perpetuate something that really doesn't exist?

The shows in Boston don’t really work for anyone’s tour schedule other than BAC for the show in July. You could argue that the show in August is an issue for them as well. The show in August only had 4 corps (BAC, Bloo, PR & Mandarins) this year (a strong lineup). The DCI corps need to support each other to keep the activity strong, including doing each other’s shows. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the same corps to make the trip to Boston every year for the reasons you point out. However, perhaps they should all take turns or rotate? In which case maybe it’s time Crown make a visit?

Did their FY18 Audited financials really get completed in 6 days? "Report on Summarized Comparative Information We have previously audited the Organization's financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2018, and expressed an unmodified audit opinion on those audited financial statements in our report dated November 6, 2018. In our opinion, the summarized comparative information presented herein as of and forthe yearended October 31, 2018, is consistent, in all material respects, with the audited financialstatements from which ithas been derived."

I believe this has been looked into. As big as DCI is I don’t think there’s enough critical mass for SYSCO (or others) to be interested in a deal. However, I thought there was an arrangement for pricing on tractor rentals.

I wasn’t arguing for or against props or as you put it ‘luxury’ items (or cosmetic changes). I was merely pointing out that if completely eliminated, the activity is still very expensive on a per member basis. Or as you put it, eliminate line item B and it’s still costly. These ‘luxury’ items are not as big a part of the budget as most people think. I was simply trying to put forth an example (using realistic numbers) how much a budget would need to be cut (props and then much more) to get to where things would need to be to address your (and others) point on inclusion. I’m pretty sure the next director will have this (or related topics) on their agenda. The tour model needs to be looked at as it not sustainable long term. I’d expect some changes.

For arguments sake lets just say props cost $200k a year to furnish and transport etc... This # is definitely on the high side so lets say it covers that and some of the other 'luxuries' you're talking about. For a 165 member corps that's worth about $1.2k. Let's say the organization continues to subsidize the members experience at about $5k and the savings go directly to the members tuition. We're still talking about $3.8k in tuition for a member. So the total cost per member goes from about $10k to about $8.8k to pay for buses, trucks, food, housing, instruction, insurance, equipment etc. Another way to look at it is that corps would need to reduce their budget by about $825k to get to $0 membership fees provided they still can afford to subsidize the remaining $5k. Not sure where you make those kinds of cuts and not affect the members experience. Even with just basic costs of moving a group down the road it's an expensive activity, and unfortunately unattainable to many underprivileged youth despite efforts to raise scholarship money for them. The days are gone of fuel costing <$1.00 a gallon, other costs for things like insurance, food etc. are not even close to what they were. Add on top of that things that need to be taken care of that were hardly considered BITD like safety & wellness and the expectation the members have, among other things, it's just not the same. I know some organizations are offering programs in an attempt to address inclusivity, some have programs for special needs and urban programming. In some cases free to students. A great example is what Inspire Arts & Music (Boston Crusaders) do for inner city students. In fact, literally in the same neighborhood where it all started (Most Precious Blood Church in Hyde Park, MA). Maybe we can appreciate that some of these organizations are trying to fill some of the void in the communities they are from where the current drum & bugle corps model no longer works. https://inspirearts.org/services-view/hype/ With all that said, I hope the new director can figure out ways to change the model to reduce costs and/or figure out ways to increase funding so corps can better afford the costs associated with the activity.