Capital Regiment Inactive

[hairbear]

Could you be more of a malcontent? Wow...

Edited because the post was redundant. Sorry.

Edited December 22, 2009 by hairbear

[tnmaiello]

Please, blame the Open Class corps directors. They were the ones who wanted this deal.

Hi! I know I am going to regret this....

"What deal did we want?

Who are we blaming for the dismise of corps? Is it the DCI office fault if some of my kids can not pay all of their dues? Is is the DCI office fault it costs $3,000 a weekend to rent a school to practice? Is it the DCI office fault it cost $900+ day/bus in North Jersey? It is tough to run any business in today ecomony. Can we as the DCI body do somethings better to help promote our programs, fundraise, and tour more efficiently? Yes...and we are making strides.

I am sure every oc director could say...."If more people volunteered to work my bingo, help secure a low cost rehearsal site, plan, recruit, organize and execute a great fundraiser, sponsor a financially strapped member.....my corps would be "in the black"!

It hurts to see corps go inactive. HOw do we get all the drum corps vet/alumni to give back with their time, knowledge, and connections to help a corps in their area.

[mobrien]

Who cares... as long has we have the top 12, the best of the best who cares about Cap Regiment not fielding. They never had a chance of winning. If it keeps the big boys strong and they can still bring in an audience who cares.........

Out of curiosity, what should the top 12 world class corps done that would have increased Cap Regiment's unearned income or decreased their operating expenses?

I just pulled up their 990s, and as recently as 2 years ago, they were a $4 million+ a year organization (obviously most of that was bingo money getting washed through the system, but still, that's A LOT of money). At the same time, Cavaliers were competing for a national title on a $2 million budget. So what should everyone else have done that would have fixed Cap Regiment's problems? Going back in time, what should Santa Clara and Blue Devils, and Madison, and everyone else in the 70s done that would have saved the hundreds of little corps that died because they had poor management and a non-existent base of funding?

Edited December 22, 2009 by mobrien

[CasualFan]

Out of curiosity, what should the top 12 world class corps done that would have increased Cap Regiment's unearned income or decreased their operating expenses?

I just pulled up their 990s, and as recently as 2 years ago, they were a $4 million+ a year organization (obviously most of that was bingo money getting washed through the system, but still, that's A LOT of money). At the same time, Cavaliers were competing for a national title on a $2 million budget. So what should everyone else have done that would have fixed Cap Regiment's problems? Going back in time, what should Santa Clara and Blue Devils, and Madison, and everyone else in the 70s done that would have saved the hundreds of little corps that died because they had poor management and a non-existent base of funding?

And Crown is doing it on less than $1 million. Another interesting fact: Kevin Smith, Crown's Executive Director earns $0 from Crown while Rick Bays makes $57,000 a year from Cap Reg which is more than most WC directors make from their corps.

[BassShark]

As a current/former/whatever you want to call it staff member of Capital Regiment...I don't like what this topic has developed into. It's just one big "He said/She said/I said/whine and moan fest" now. The topic was..."Capital Regiment Inactive" and a post was made. Ok...Read the Press Release and move on about your business. There's no reason for former members to battle it out with people nor is it the place to air the dirty laundry of members/staff/others. We all know that funds and such of a DCI corps are public reference. If someone wants to look that information up, let them do it themselves.

My point...I think this topic should be closed. It has turned into a slandering/pointless topic now. It was made to let people who read the forums know about the recent decision made by Capital Regiment. So, it's done..people know.

Also, this post is in no way associated with the Capital Regiment organization. It is my personal thoughts and opinions.

On another note...Christmas is in 3 days. All of you people who like to complain and make all of these posts about various corps...Get in the giving spirit and help donate your time/money to the kids who need it for tour! Support the activity and its students!

I tried to add as many emoticons as possible too...It's late and I'm tired!

[Richard]

@BassShark:

No disrespect intended, but when these things happen they are worth discussing and there is some good discussion on here. The information posted by CasualFan is extremely interesting and relevant to the discussion as well. Using the example of Crown, it is very worthwhile to look at how their organization is being run before complaining that they have money to spare while smaller corps are going inactive.

There's a reason the financially stable corps are stable and it's not luck. There are corps out there doing things right (even in Open Class, believe it or not). There are corps out there who have been doing so much right for so long that they are now (seemingly) rock solid financially, i.e. the Blue Devils organization and YEA.

It is entirely worth discussing what corps like Crown are doing right and what corps like Cap Reg are doing not-so-right. The community deserves to know, especially when you consider the handful of people who aspire to one day run a corps who get 75%+ of their information from this message board.

[audiodb]

Out of curiosity, what should the top 12 world class corps done that would have increased Cap Regiment's unearned (sic) income or decreased their operating expenses?

They could have established a more equitable sharing of resources among all DCI participating units.

I just pulled up their 990s, and as recently as 2 years ago, they were a $4 million+ a year organization (obviously most of that was bingo money getting washed through the system, but still, that's A LOT of money). At the same time, Cavaliers were competing for a national title on a $2 million budget.

I think the issue there is that Capital Regiment declares their gross bingo receipts and payouts on their 990, while most other corps only show the net profit....that's why the numbers on Cap Reg's 990 seem so large compared to everyone else's.

Going back in time, what should Santa Clara and Blue Devils, and Madison, and everyone else in the 70s done that would have saved the hundreds of little corps that died because they had poor management and a non-existent base of funding?

Well, since you've already somehow determined that all those corps died from poor management and total lack of funding, then you've already concluded that nothing could have been done.

[mobrien]

They could have established a more equitable sharing of resources among all DCI participating units.

I think the issue there is that Capital Regiment declares their gross bingo receipts and payouts on their 990, while most other corps only show the net profit....that's why the numbers on Cap Reg's 990 seem so large compared to everyone else's.

Well, since you've already somehow determined that all those corps died from poor management and total lack of funding, then you've already concluded that nothing could have been done.

Perhaps the DCI corps needed to perform with their legs tied together so they couldn't march as well? Or they could have told their Board and volunteer organizations not to be as successful at raising money so they could all find themselves without resources too. I marched a little community corps from 74-77, then moved to a DCI corps when the little corps folded. The difference in managerial professionalism between the two organizations was obvious, and explained why one had already been successful for 30 years and the other, despite superior talent among some of the older marching members, never did much more than make Finals at VFW state a few times.

From an accounting standpoint, if you're running a Bingo operation or other fundraising scheme (to use the Anglo-Irish term) and it's being done directly under the aegis of your 501©(3), it should be reported on your 990s. Troopers do it, for ex. If it's being run by a separate charity that is related to your corps in mission only (a parents club, for ex) then it wouldn't be reported on your form. Cap Regiment had significantly more Bingo revenue than Troopers in 2008, even though I believe CR wasn't actually on the field that year and Troopers were.

It's not a happy occasion when any corps announces that they're having to withdraw from the field, but like most setbacks in life, it's only valuable if you can look for the teaching moment in the story. Somewhere in this story, there's got to be a lesson others can benefit from, though I doubt the lesson is "the bigger corps are trying to keep everyone else from threatening them." More parity in the activity is good for EVERYONE's bottom line, since it increases fan interest and boosts ticket sales and media sales for DCI. If anyone doesn't think the leadership of the top corps recognize that fact, then they underestimate the business acumen of the guys whose corps are sitting at the top both financially and from a competitive standpoint.

Meanwhile, I hope the kids who were planning on marching Cap Reg can hook on someplace else for the summer.

Edited December 22, 2009 by mobrien

[dustyboo]

Hi! I know I am going to regret this....

"What deal did we want?

Who are we blaming for the dismise of corps? Is it the DCI office fault if some of my kids can not pay all of their dues? Is is the DCI office fault it costs $3,000 a weekend to rent a school to practice? Is it the DCI office fault it cost $900+ day/bus in North Jersey? It is tough to run any business in today ecomony. Can we as the DCI body do somethings better to help promote our programs, fundraise, and tour more efficiently? Yes...and we are making strides.

I am sure every oc director could say...."If more people volunteered to work my bingo, help secure a low cost rehearsal site, plan, recruit, organize and execute a great fundraiser, sponsor a financially strapped member.....my corps would be "in the black"!

It hurts to see corps go inactive. HOw do we get all the drum corps vet/alumni to give back with their time, knowledge, and connections to help a corps in their area.

How about going back to being Drum Corps instead of bands and then more fans/alumni WILL come back to give their time, knowledge and money. I know, I know now 1000 people will post stating that the new rules don't have any effect on the activity but when will you realize it has when only 2-3 corps are left?

[audiodb]

Perhaps the DCI corps needed to perform with their legs tied together so they couldn't march as well? Or they could have told their Board and volunteer organizations not to be as successful at raising money so they could all find themselves without resources too.

No - those don't sound like good ideas.

I marched a little community corps from 74-77, then moved to a DCI corps when the little corps folded. The difference in managerial professionalism between the two organizations was obvious, and explained why one had already been successful for 30 years and the other, despite superior talent among some of the older marching members, never did much more than make Finals at VFW state a few times.

Understood. Now, did your little community corps get talked into taking a DCI tour to fill shows the member corps couldn't cover, while getting paid far less for their efforts?

Before we get too far afield, my point is not to rant blindly about DCI=evil. You did ask a question, though, about what DCI could have done to help the hundreds of corps that have been lost over the years. And my answer is that a system of "equal pay for equal work", as opposed to the haves and have-nots of DCI membership, would have been more beneficial. Sure, many of those corps would still have been lost (i.e. the ones with poor management and no funding, as you say)....but among the ones with half-decent management and some funding, we'd have seen some more survivors.

It has taken DCI over 30 years to arrive at a system that doesn't set a financial/organizational cliff at 12 25 21 corps. Thanks to that important evolutionary step forward, DCI world-class could conceivably grow at some point (like now, with 23 corps on the 2010 roster). Unfortunately, DCI open-class continues as a largely unsustainable model, just as non-member DCI participation has generally been over the years. Corps on the DCI open-class roster continue dropping like flies, and most of the successful units in open-class have world-class on their long-range agendas. So how's that working out?