garfield Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 It's all speculation really as to why the DCI Donors list and revenues are down. Unless one had access to the data, it's really difficult to come up with the plausable reasons. I would assume that DCI does periodic surveys with their Donors to determine what the Donors like or dislike regarding DCI operations and so forth. Without acess to data and survey feedback from Donors over this period, it's just all pure guesswork on our behalf as to the reasons for this decline. I've been a Friend for over 25 years and I've never gotten one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Anyone know if Friends of DCI has asked why freinds/ex-friends why the downturn? Seeing Garfields last post, doesn't sound like it, which ain't exactly smart. Heavens knows my college talks and listens enough when they're dialing for dollars.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayH Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Anyone know if Friends of DCI has asked why freinds/ex-friends why the downturn? Could it be that DCI really never cared for the fans, but just wanted the contributions?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 December 21, 1976 report on the global economic crisis and the bubble that was ready to burst. Note the collapses of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were predicted due to defaults on housing loans. But even more telling...in this Wikipedia article... Fall 2005: Booming housing market halts abruptly; from the fourth quarter of 2005 to the first quarter of 2006, median prices nationwide drop 3.3 percent. February–March, 2007: Subprime industry collapse; several subprime lenders declaring bankruptcy, announcing significant losses, or putting themselves up for sale. These include Accredited Home Lenders Holding, New Century Financial, DR Horton and Countrywide Financial. April 2, 2007: New Century Financial, largest U.S. subprime lender, files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Clearly, the economy was NOT booming from 2005 on, and this quite possibly affected people trying to decide if they should dispose of their disposal income or hold on to it in the event the nation had to ride things out for awhile. This would expectedly affect travel to major drum corps shows, and getting the best seats at these shows is a major reason many join Friends of DCI. If you believe, as I do, that GDP measures economic activity, then this chart suggests otherwise, Mike: And the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its all-time high in August, 2007. Homeowners were sucking money out of their equity by the bucketful, believing that real estate prices would never go down. They, apparently, didn't spend much of that on Friends of DCI, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 Maybe... then again... maybe not. If we do a corresponding comparison with College Football, College Basketball, NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR etc and similar sports attendance and revenue figures( rates of increases or decreases in similar tiome frames ), and donor list revenues and comparisons, we might be able to determine the level of the economy's effect on DCI Drum Corps attendance and Donorship. One would have to look at the typical demographic of each as well. I don't know the demographic breakdown of the typical DCI fan, but I would think that we'd probably find them to be more educated, more older, more white, more afffluent, more suburban, have higher disposable incomes, etc than the typical ( for example )college and pro sports traveling fan. If so, then the typical DCI fan should have been able to weather an economic downturn much better than these other sports. The fact that these sports attendance figures seemed to have weathered the downturn in the economy better seems to make specious the position that " the economy " was as big an influence in DCI attendance and donorship level drop offs as some might have us believe it to be. It is interesting that the upper levels of contribution membership have stayed relatively more constant than the lower ones, particularly the lowest level. It might bear out the demographics you suggest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Could it be that DCI really never cared for the fans, but just wanted the contributions?? LMAO, how many times have I asked that question when I get the Fund Drive calls. Just once I'd like to give a smart ###ed answer to "How are you doing?" to see if the stundent on the other end still follows the script. "This is IUP calling, how are you?" "Dunno... the SWAT teams on the other line waiting for me to come out with my hands up. How are you?" "Just fine thank you, as you know it's that time of year again....." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bersurkman Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Everyone is so set on looking at the negative. What accounted for the INCREASE in 2010? The economy is still bad, so can we rule that out as a factor? Were the shows better? Are people finally accepting Indy as a viable finals destination? I am a Friend, going on my third year. I will probably continue as a friend as long as my kids are marching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd Glasgow BB Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Everyone is so set on looking at the negative. What accounted for the INCREASE in 2010? The economy is still bad, so can we rule that out as a factor? Were the shows better? Are people finally accepting Indy as a viable finals destination? I am a Friend, going on my third year. I will probably continue as a friend as long as my kids are marching. Partly me... 2010 was my Friends of DCI rookie year. I only joined to ensure I got decent seats for finals week. Not going to Indy this year but have kept up the membership with a view to go back in 2012. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobrien Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) The economy boomed from '04 to '07. But household incomes for most of the country did not. Incomes for all but the top 2% flatlined throughout the decade, and given that DCI isn't exactly on the radar of most upper-income donors, the bulk of their givers are going to be regular folks. BTW, a 25% drop sounds huge - but you could also say "they lost 100 donors", and it doesn't sound nearly as drastic. Both are correct, but the absolute number is a better indicator of what really happened. The more interesting question to me is why DCI only had 400 members in this program to begin with. Personally, I've never found the program very well defined, and I've never seen a rationale for why I should support Friends of DCI vs just making contributions to the corps of my choice. Edited March 9, 2011 by mobrien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) But household incomes for most of the country did not. Incomes for all but the top 2% flatlined throughout the decade, and given that DCI isn't exactly on the radar of most upper-income donors, the bulk of their givers are going to be regular folks. BTW, a 25% drop sounds huge - but you could also say "they lost 100 donors", and it doesn't sound nearly as drastic. Both are correct, but the absolute number is a better indicator of what really happened. The more interesting question to me is why DCI only had 400 members in this program to begin with. Personally, I've never found the program very well defined, and I've never seen a rationale for why I should support Friends of DCI vs just making contributions to the corps of my choice. I disagree. Citation, please? Here's the fact... No matter how you slice it, 100 donors is 25% of membership. To say "It's only 100 donors" sugarcoats the truth and hides the impact. Edited March 9, 2011 by garfield 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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