Choosing a Corps

[march12]

I am new to Drum Corps but with a kid who 'attempted' to march their first season in a failed corps this summer I'm learning fast! Over the past few weeks I've browsed the topics and postings here and elsewhere but feel like I'm no closer to really knowing how I can help my kid choose the right corps for them to audition with this fall and not make the same mistakes that left them high and dry this summer.

While it remains a deep dark mystery of exactly what when wrong, who's fault it is and how DCI should/could have prevent Teal/Scouts/Forte from happening, personally I'm choosing to recognize it is what it is and no amount of rehashing is going to change the outcome. Right now I have an incredibly disappointed kid, a drained wallet and I need a new plan to do it all over again in a couple of months.

Moving on – how do I determine which corps to audition? There is lots of advice out there about getting experience, preparing for the audition!, learning what touring means and if you're ready for it, the importance of the experience! DCI gives you and some shaking fingers telling me I was a bad parent for not checking out the corps my kid chose better so they wouldn't end up sitting at home in the middle of July – but no concrete advice or information on choosing the 'right' corps. So, if one is new to DCI, how should anyone know which corps are solid and which are empty promises? If a DCI review in March still means you can still shut down in July just after a few shows where does a parent go for the answers?

I finally found a website called Guidestar that posts financial information for non-profits and sure enough the failed corps just don't seem to have much information available. The Big 7 are well represented and generally seem to have up to date information as do smaller groups – but what does running a deficit last year mean? If a corps isn't listed, does that mean they aren't financially sound or just don't report to Guidestar? Spirit of Atlanta is listed as their non profit status has been revoked because they haven't filed IRS 990 forms for 3 years - does that mean they're not a non-profit or operating under an AKA? Corps are non-profits so I'm not surprised to see deficits but how much red is too much? $7,000? $50,000? $100,000? Do I ask those directors what their plans are to meet those obligations? What are reasonable answers? Do I ask for copies of bus and housing contracts? Will they even have those by auditions? Do I contact the volunteer coordinators and ask what their rosters look like and who's in charge of food? Can I negotiate paying monthly through the summer so if my kids' left high and dry at least we're not out all our money? If the Board of Directors don't have a lot of experience does that mean the corps is doomed? Just because a Director has tons of experience does that mean the corps is sound? Should a Board have more then 2 members? 3? 7?

I want to do my due diligence: after my kid losing out on their $2500 in savings and my spending close to that in travel, donations, tickets and volunteering a weekend so I could see who I was leaving my kid with for the summer – fat lot of good that did me! – it only makes financial sense to do better due diligence than I did last time. But how exactly do I check out, for argument's sake, 3 different corps none of which are in my local vicinity?

Instead of DCI visiting these corps and saying, yep they've got a plan and hey, it might even work! It would be more helpful if they made more factual, qualitative information about the corps available – you know something more than the PR release the corps give them to drum up support. I understand DCI can't give 'seals of approval' but by allowing corps to sign up and post schedules they give the corps an appearance of DCI 'approval' which really in the end doesn't mean anything at all as DCI disavows any connection with any corps, successful or not.

DCI could be more helpful by making financial statements, director and board of director bios including mandatory listing of past corps experience and current contact information mandatory and available on their website or a centralized location. It's taken me days to find what little financial information I have. If non-profits have to make their finances public upon request, why can't DCI request it on behalf of the thousands of DCI participants and let us have access to all the information we need to make informed decisions instead of letting each of us try to find it for ourselves? If DCI's financial reviews aren't finding 'problems' serious enough to shut down a corps before they run out of money just 2 months later then maybe they should leave the review up to the people who are actually giving their money to them and may be a little more sceptical of their answers.

There could be a list of things to watch out for too, like the checklist that I'm making for myself – is the website up to date? Is there consistent historical evidence of successful tours (pictures, blogs, alumni waxing poetically about their experience with staff that are still with the corps), is the calendar up to date? Do the links in the website work? Without a centralized location for financial information it's a HUGE research project for a newbie like me but with nearly $5,000 on the line, it's one I'm spending a lot of time on between now and early auditions in November.

So – how do you choose which corps to audition for? Purely reputation? Made finals the last 10 years? Proximety? Say you have 1 ½ months experience marching, don't have realistic chances of making a Big 7 corps and are willing to travel for auditions but only if you feel confident you'll actually get to march all summer – who do you choose and how do you find the information to make those choices?

[MotorCityMusician]

My choice when I marched my first year was because my girlfriend was goin to audition and it was close. Next year I picked by who I like. Luckily both are somewhat bug groups and I never thought anything like this would happen.

[CLD]

Bumping for a fellow parent.

My heart breaks for your kid. So not the experience you were hoping for! I wish I had advice to give on how we went about choosing a corps, but frankly, there was no research involved. It was based purely on proximity to home. It does sound as if you are going to put a lot more into next year's decision and I wish your child the best. He or she deserves the best possible corps experience, not the bitter pill that so many kids were left to swallow this year.

[burgerbob]

I marched Troopers because I lived 45 minutes away and didn't have to fly to camps.

I'd say if the corps has been around for a while and is well established in whatever class it's in (world or open) then you're most likely going to be okay. Of course, that rule hasn't held fast and true this year, so YMMV.

[JBarO]

I'm relatively new (2nd year parent), so take my advice for what it's worth - and if someone with more detailed experience or insight shows up, well -

I can just tell you want to help your kid so much......I want to try to help.

First let me say - we chose the corps that was close to home and our kid liked (Crossmen). You are already way beyond that level of thought -- My thoughts if I were to try to make a more informed decision:

I would contact the staff in the off season (say September). See if you can get the Exec Dir. on the phone - or perhaps they have a PR person or a board member charged with speaking to the public. Try to get an appointment to meet them - even if on the phone. Tell them why you are concerned, and ask them what they can tell you. A few things I would ask - based on my limited knowledge of non-profits in general:

1. How many board members do you have? What are their roles, and their business background? How often do they meet?

2. Do you have a budget I can review?

- what level of operating capital do you keep on hand to maintain cash flow?

- What additional backing do you have access to?

- Are these financials audited? and what concerns did the audit raise?

3. How do you manage members that don't pay?

4. Why would I or my kid be glad we chose this organization.

I don't think there is any real magic to analyzing the responses to these questions. Most non-profits are either going to have an intelligent, thought thru response, or they wont. If they cant be bothered to spend 20 minutes with you to address your concerns, you probably have your answer. I suspect if you spoke to 3 of them - you would quckly determine which gave you an increased comfort level, and which made you more uncomfortable.

I am very sorry you and your kid had a bad experience - but that experience is a fairly low percentage event in DCI as a whole.

I believe that all the review and investigation in the world cant eliminate all risk of a future disappointment. A few phone calls and a visit or two with staff to get comfortable with the above questions will increase your chances of being in the majority of folks who have a great experience as opposed to the minority that have a real issue.

And dont ignore your gut - there has to be some level of emotional attachment too.

All the best....

Edited August 3, 2012 by JBarO

[RockyGranite]

I got lucky. My son had set his sights on Blue Knights three years ago and worked his butt off to get an invite from them. They are also close to home. It's worked out well for him, even though I'm sure he'd rather BK was placing higher.

I guess, from my limited experience with drum corps, my advice is to select a top 15 corps. The higher the better.

You might ask your son what HE thinks. Also, don't sell your son's experience short. Your son, with 1 1/2 months experience in a drum corps, has that much more experience than my son did when he first auditioned.

[CorpsParent]

I am also a 2nd Season parent. I have to agree with proximity - it has allowed my wife and I to volunteer at the "winter" camps (not that we want to keep an eye on him, but feel it is a way we can contribute our time to support the corps). It gives us a chance to see how the staff interacts with the kids.

The other posters have highlighted a number of things to check and have to agree with them all:

• What is the makeup of the board?
• What is their long-term financial plan - that is, who are their sponsors, are they constantly looking for more, are they writing grants, etc.
• What are the goals of the corps, beyond winning?

In our case, we have a Senior Corps that provides a HUGE support network for the kids - they do fundraising, they contribute their time and money to the corps, they spend time with the corps cooking, tutoring - they are an invaluable resource. I know that other corps have VERY active alumni organizations.

Talk to other parents. In some respects, maybe that was my mistake - the first guy I talked to convinced me to come back to each camp and work in the kitchen...

Don't give up. My son continues to gain a sense of responsibility and respect - rare in these times. Plus, he's having the time of his life.

[MalletMom]

I'm sure sorry you and your son had this happen. I know that if it were me, it's likely I would reconsider if the risk of losing my investment was worth the experience from drum corps. Thankfully you aren't thinking like this, because a summer spent on tour will certainly change your child! I don't have any good answers for you about how to make a decision and investigate the stability of a corps. I just want you to understand that you are not the only one to be trusting, it's just so unfortunate that this didn't work out for your family. Watching the experiences of the three "folded" corps this year really make me feel lucky considering our experience with my son's rookie year.

I have no musical background and had only been to a few local DCI shows because my son showed an interest. My child was 15 when he insisted it was his time. We have no corps in the state, so knew he would have to travel. After getting cut from his "dream corps", he decided to try out at a "newer" open class corps we had seen at our local drum corps show in the summer. We had enjoyed the program and they had a nice membership size and snazzy uniforms . I will freely admit we had no idea what we were getting into. I spent lots of time on the internet checking their webpage. I read what parents had to say on the facebook page. That's about it. Come November I registered him for camp, bought him a plane ticket and sent him on his merry way with little worry that someone would pick him up and get him to where he needed to be, feed him and keep him safe. Now that I look back on it, I wonder if I was stupid, naive or both! We are so lucky that everything worked out for him and the corps was FANTASTIC about taking care of him and all the kids.

It sounds as if you did a better job in your investigation of the corps than I ever did. It's just too bad that kids and their parents were the victims in this unintentional hardship. I wish you and your child good luck in the future. Don't beat yourself up and feel as if you could have done something differently. If you believe anything some folks on DCP say, given the right circumstances, this could happen to so many of the corps.

[PioneerWebmaster]

3. How do you manage members that don't pay?

With respect to 3 out of the 4 corps that chose to leave the DCI tour mid-season and 1 more that came darn close, this seems to be the biggest question that needs to be answered.

For a variety of reasons (mostly competition related), there's such an emphasis on putting a larger quantity of members on the field. In theory, a larger corps = a higher placing and more competitive corps. To this effect, lower placing corps and corps trying to make a significant move in the standings are more likely to take on members who perhaps cannot pay their full dues (or have no intention to pay their full dues) in order to have a larger corps on the field. While a corps can generally subsidize a few members of this nature, what we've seen this season is corps where as many as 80% of the members failed to meet their financial obligations. You can lay the blame a dozen different ways and fault the corps for poor budget planning, but I'm pretty sure that most corps would have been feeling a pinch if 80% of their members didn't pay. While member dues shouldn't make up the entire corps budget, they're clearly a large piece of the budget for many of the smaller corps. When members don't pay, it presents a clear problem as we've seen this season. Addressing those problems through clear payment benchmarks and clearly outlined consequences (ie. having your contract pulled, losing your spot, etc...) is the only way to assure that these problems don't put a premature end to a corps' season.

I will also second what some other people have said... All the research in the world can't prepare you for some things that might happen. 990's are one tool that you can use, but they often don't paint an accurate or detailed enough picture of a corps' financial status to make a complete decision. Even holding a copy of the corps' budget in your hands might feel reassuring, but all it takes is one small slip up to bring a world of hurt to a corps. One small gap in the cash flow of a corps can result in a late or missed payment on a line of credit. Suddenly that line of credit is no longer available and the stuff hits the fan in a hurry.

My best recommendation to any parent is to talk to the director, talk to the staff, talk to volunteers and if possible reach out to some of the parents of the veterans. Physically make an effort to come to one of the early camps and meet these people face to face. They may not be able to give you a lot of time during the busy weekend, but there's usually an opportunity to at least meet face to face for a couple minutes at some point in the day. The more people you talk to, the better picture you're going to get of the true status of a corps. If there are weaknesses, you may be able to pick up upon them the more people you talk to... especially over the course of the full camp weekend.

I wish you the best of luck and am truly sorry that you and your child had to go through the situation that you did this summer!

Edited August 4, 2012 by PioneerWebmaster

[MetalTones2012]

The best way to find out about a corps' financial situation is to talk to the parents of members that have already marched there. I wouldn't talk to the director first, since if the situation is bad he might lie or stretch the truth (that's from my own experiences).

Typically a well-established corps will, first amd foremost, be very strict about members paying their dues. In a lot of the top corps, if a member hasn't paid in full by spring training he/she doesn't get to march, plain and simple. Some less established corps will work out payment plans for kids who are in financial trouble, but that's still a good thing. If a corps let's one or more members march without a payment plan or their dues completely paid off, that's an early sign of trouble for the corps later down the road.