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I disagree. Citation, please?

chart.gif

Steep rise at the top, while most other groups stayed level. A "booming economy" doesn't necessarily correlate to individual incomes, and individual incomes are a better indicator of what kind of money is available for discretionary purposes like charitable giving.

As I said, both numbers were correct, but from a professional fundraising standpoint, the absolute number is more key - because each donor is a person, not a statistic. Without knowing who the donors were, why they left, etc, it's hard to pull much meaningful information from the numbers. And, again, the more interesting question to me is why the program was so anemic to begin with.

Edited by mobrien
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Anyone ever think it is because you are telling everyone that it is "cheaper" due to the fact that you can resale the horn lines. It is never good business to tell people that what they are spending money on will have a better resale price because then their spending plan will have more income to use? Other non-profits like churches deal with this all the time, if they have a part time pastor - the congregation gives less because they know that the expense is down.

I also agree with the statement above from RayH.... is it really about the fans anymore?

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I've been a Friend for over 25 years and I've never gotten one.

You won't get a survey when you leave either. Years ago I was a Donor Friend to DCI. I could be wrong, but I thought they periodically surveyed folks like me, and I think I recall getting surveyed through the mail from DCI. In any event I stopped being a Donor after many years. When I stopped, I know for a fact that they never surveyed me as to the reasons why, and never put me back on any recall or remailing list for future solicitation. I belong to other groups ( College Alumni Assoc, etc ) they solicit for donations from me all the time, and ask me what I like and don't like , and keep me in the loop all the time about their financial status, operation, current budget, short and long term planning,and so forth.

Edited by BRASSO
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If you believe, as I do, that GDP measures economic activity, then this chart suggests otherwise, Mike:

[Chart]

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.

Maybe they sucked money out of their normal Friends of DCI payment to help pay for the mortgage that was now underwater. (?)

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oh yeah,.............keyboards, guitars, etc.

It's also... just a thought... that perhaps the loss of donors has to do with the shift in who the audience is.

For example, in decades past, a lot of the marchers in Drum Corps came from the streets to march Drum Corps. Many of them were relatively poor, many from the cities. The discipline that Drum Corps provided to them, transformed these kids, set them on a path ready for hard work and competition in the workplace. While not all became successful in their jobs and careers, many did. Since many of them came from families with little money, money was not something to scoff at. They wanted it for themselves and their spouse and children. So they gravitated towards jobs and careers where the potential was there to make a lot of money. And quite a few of them did. And when they grew up, some of that money went back to Corps and to those Drum Corps organizations that at a pivotal time in their young lives as teenagers, it literally saved their lives, by taking them off the streets where a lfe of crime and early death was all around.

Now fast forward to today and the last couple of decades. The typical marcher in Drum Corps comes from a music background. Many intend to become music teachers at the elementary and Junior High, High School level. Many have already done so. They marched Drum Corps. Got their music degree, and are out now teaching band in the schools. That's good. However, from a DCI Donor perspective, maybe this is not so good. Why ? Many of them have no money. They didn't go into careers for money. So many of them don't have a lot of it. Not a lot of dough in teaching 6th graders the trumpet or the flute or what have you. Many are just getting by with families of their own now. So they can't find the time, nor money to willy nilly fly off to Indianapolis or Allentown, or fork over cash to be a Friend of DCI. The older fans, who came up from the streets, are now out golfing or boating somewhere, or they've moved on to follow sports teams,or whatever as the current model of Drum Corps shows has no more appeal to them anymore. Once these fans stopped contributing, a lot of the newer fans from the teaching ranks were tapped out financially to fill the void. Couple this with a few hundred Corps that died out over the years, and it's not all that hard to see why DCI Drum Corps is struggling financially to keep it's head above water.

Just a thought anyway.

Edited by BRASSO
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From the chart, the biggest drop was with the "Friends" level. These were likely people that were hit harder by the economic crunch and had better things to do with their money. A lot of Silvers dropped out or possibly dropped to the bronze level. You only get one ticket, so there isn't a lot of value there. Gold dropped but Platinum has increased. I'm guessing that groups of friends get together to purchase a Platinum package to get good seats together. The Diamond level is too small to determine anything. If you ignore the $100 Friend level, I think the chart looks far less ominous.

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From the chart, the biggest drop was with the "Friends" level. These were likely people that were hit harder by the economic crunch and had better things to do with their money. A lot of Silvers dropped out or possibly dropped to the bronze level. You only get one ticket, so there isn't a lot of value there. Gold dropped but Platinum has increased. I'm guessing that groups of friends get together to purchase a Platinum package to get good seats together. The Diamond level is too small to determine anything. If you ignore the $100 Friend level, I think the chart looks far less ominous.

I have some friends who did that exact thing.

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