Stu Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 youre right about PBS but also because it didnt warrent for the amount of viewers. Read below on what another posters experience is with non profits and how people percieve Drum Corps. There are to many good charities out there trying to cure the world of many things and drum corps doesnt have an audiance close to it. I am on 3 boards of Non profits and getting anything is a challenge with a far better cause than I want to travel and play. Schools dont even give up facilities for a rehearsal anymore nor do churches..many winter guards and opercussion pay inexcess of 15 grand just to rehearse in a caferteria. Its a new world and not the one we grew up in .If thing any business asks a non profit is " Whats in it for me " this is fact. This is why I think: a) DCI needs to downsize from the top to bottom and get rid of these outrageous national tour expenditures; b) After downsizing only regrow the activity based on an equally based increase in revenue procured through sponsorships; and c)The top corps directors need to come to the understanding that they are living in la-la land if they believe their corps are something special within the grand world of entertainment, sports, and/or education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) This is why I think: a) DCI needs to downsize from the top to bottom and get rid of these outrageous national tour expenditures; b) After downsizing only regrow the activity based on an equally based increase in revenue procured through sponsorships; and c)The top corps directors need to come to the understanding that they are living in la-la land if they believe their corps are something special within the grand world of entertainment, sports, and/or education. They are getting the sponsors within our activity NO they arent going to get national sponsors. ( Disney Learned that) Whos doing the sponsoring if its done the way you think it should be...Just curious.No youre right..drum corps isnt the big thing some of these directors think it is BUT if there is a small slice of the pie you can bet the best of the best of our activity are the ones that will get it not the bottom Edited January 10, 2012 by GUARDLING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) True. However, let's say General Mills (Wheaties) is wanting to donate product; and we present an appeal to help either a 501c3 corps that really needs support in feeding youth nutritious meals, or a 501c3 corps that is already bringing in over $6 million per year and just purchased a $450k food trailer. (and then we tell them that we will make a public service announcement on tv and radio concerning which organization they are donating their product). I think that they would choose the former over the latter. Again, it would not be booked as a donation, but a marketing expense. The fact that it is a non-profit organization is irrelevant. This is my point in posting this at all.. to get people thinking a bit differently about how they approach potential opportunities for support (there are other, possibly more effective ways to approach than the 501c3 angle). I will say it one more time... even if the company only were to get a single sale, the effort is worth it because they can write down the loss. Sometimes companies (or units of companies that have separate P&L) NEED a loss when they are doing well. A donation is not the same as a loss, as it does not demonstrate an effort toward growth, expansion or diversification. It also isn't a question of which corps are in the most need or not. That is not the consideration. It is simply that if this effort is to be tried at all, the person making that decision needs to have some sort of justification for their approach, one that is defensible. The lowest risk entry for them in their mind is to start with some of the organizations that seem to have, in one way or another, proven themselves to be at the top of their game. If those tend to work out, then you expand to include the rest. It is as simple as that. Edited January 10, 2012 by danielray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 dont ignore any of your post..others YES ,,for sure. I totally get what you are saying as an interest to get a company to buy on and in the case of food there may be a little BUT I still believe we are nothing more than scraps and could be more of a headache to many companies. Other than within our own world we arent the draw or the importance of lets say cheerleading...lol..or dance competitions :w00t:and alot less of a following I agree in the grand scheme of things drum corps isn't a priority to 98% of the world. but 40+ is better exposure than 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 This is why I think: a) DCI needs to downsize from the top to bottom and get rid of these outrageous national tour expenditures; b) After downsizing only regrow the activity based on an equally based increase in revenue procured through sponsorships; and c)The top corps directors need to come to the understanding that they are living in la-la land if they believe their corps are something special within the grand world of entertainment, sports, and/or education. Many corps are sustainable at what they do. Why limit what they do because others are not? Also, people come out for some corps in all areas of the country, while some have stronger support in specific regions. What you are suggesting here, repeatedly in this thread, leans a bit socialist for a self-professed free market guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Besides the name change, it seem GH is interested in offering opportunities to bands of all levels of performance. Anyone besides me see the disconnect with his actions towards DCI structure? Zag. Read could be a tough sell for units to miss that many days of school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I agree in the grand scheme of things drum corps isn't a priority to 98% of the world. but 40+ is better exposure than 17 Likely they would start with 4-5 and then expand from there, only if it seemed to work. No one in their right mind would start with 40. They are going to start at the top, because it is the most defensible to their boss as a trial. The alternative to that is that it simply doesn't happen at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Again, it would not be booked as a donation, but a marketing expense. The fact that it is a non-profit organization is irrelevant. This is my point in posting this at all.. to get people thinking a bit differently about how they approach potential opportunities for support (there are other, possibly more effective ways to approach than the 501c3 angle). I will say it one more time... even if the company only were to get a single sale, the effort is worth it because they can write down the loss. Sometimes companies (or units of companies that have separate P&L) NEED a loss when they are doing well. A donation is not the same as a loss, as it does not demonstrate an effort toward growth, expansion or diversification. It also isn't a question of which corps are in the most need or not. That is not the consideration. It is simply that if this effort is to be tried at all, the person making that decision needs to have some sort of justification for their approach, one that is defensible. The lowest risk entry for them in their mind is to start with some of the organizations that seem to have, in one way or another, proven themselves to be at the top of their game. If those tend to work out, then you expand to include the rest. It is as simple as that. D-Ray: I will be on your side, really, if: a) You do this idea for the sake of *all* corps within DCI, or b) Take the top corps out of DCI and try it on your own as a new venture with a new corporate name leaving the DCI branding for the rest of the corps. But I cannot support the elitism of throwing the 18th - whatever placing corps out and keeping the DCI branding for just the elite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 To add to that, I would guess that average administrator would think there is much of a legit logistical correlation between being able to feed a touring drum corps (which serves meals to maybe 300 people per meal) to being able to feed a high school (which potentially 2000 + per meal). This is an interesting idea, don't get me wrong: it's beneficial to think outside the traditional cost saving/revenue generating avenues already in practice. But the problem with ours being an extremely niche activity is that there are super limited ways drum corps can cross over to the mainstream. This idea would take a school administrator who is a) willing to also think outside the box to even consider a fairly unorthodox idea and b) one who is smart enough to recognize the (potential: as with other ideas of this time the plan is painted in such broad strokes I think it's fare to say there is currently very little data to legitimately stipulate that this is a significant cost-saving measure/business venture for all drum corps & food service company involved) long-term financial savings. The point is to demonstrate 2 things: 1) if this stuff is so easy to prepare that it can serve 800 servings per day out of a truck, imagine what you could do with a proper kitchen. 2) specific recipes for specific dishes So... don't think in terms of kids, but of servings... and think that it is simply to highlight specific dishes, caloric intake or needs of drum corps kids are irrelevant. All that is important in relation to the kids is that they are healthy and appear to like the food. Yes, it would be in summer... and yes, many of the staff members would not be working during this period. But, if a sales person where to organize with them in May to meet on a specific day in July, for example... that is possible. Also, in some areas they are able to draw decision makers from multiple schools in a district, on K-12 level, get them to drop by, not just those from the individual school. You're not just dropping in and hoping someone's there. That would be pointless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Likely they would start with 4-5 and then expand from there, only if it seemed to work. No one in their right mind would start with 40. They are going to start at the top, because it is the most defensible to their boss as a trial. The alternative to that is that it simply doesn't happen at all. honestly Daniel, competitive scoring isn't going to mean #### here. profitability is. and God knows the best scoring corps arent the most profitable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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