Gary Matczak Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 You seem to actually be suggesting that the corps should effectively lower its performance level in order to increase the local fundraising effort. nope,............but I think you want to suggest that the only way to have a good drum corps is to bring in people from all over the world, because the locals are not good enough or teachable,..........therefore we can placate the locals by starting some meaningless drum circle or other programs for the purpose of raising money locally, when what those kids really want is to be in the drum corps that hails from the name of their city,..............there is your disconnect with local teachers, students, politicians, community foundations, etc,............people are not stupid. In fact, according to this article in the Toledo Blade, the Glassmen performed a pair of concerts in January. That suggests a strong local base, contrary to the assumptions here. According to this one, the corps raised money for a local charity just recently. And the corps gets a fair amount of press (in the Blade, anyway), not so much the tv station from what I can see on the Googles. Anyway it does sound like they are trying to do the local PR thing, but maybe they could be better at it. that was the other thread,...........this thread is not about Glassmen or any other specific corps,.......this thread is titled "side discussion" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluehull Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Some posts have been removed. Please keep politics out of the discussion, as seen in the DCP Community Guidelines. Some politics and controversy are needed on this site in order to keep it relevent. A constant flow of inane topics during the off season (best 13th place show) will not maintain the viewership or participation to keep people here ..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Hope you have winter weather gear! High of 33 and snow showers predicted on weather.com (and now everyone can see why the marching arts in a season other than summer is a problem in Wyoming!) Landed in Denver in a driving snowstorm Wednesday evening. Drove up to Cheyenne through the snow...it actually stopped about 40 miles outside Denver up I25...though Wyoming was icy...I80 was closed between Laramie and Cheyenne. The drive back Thursday after my meeting was nice though. Beautiful (and wide open) country! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) Landed in Denver in a driving snowstorm Wednesday evening. Drove up to Cheyenne through the snow...it actually stopped about 40 miles outside Denver up I25...though Wyoming was icy...I80 was closed between Laramie and Cheyenne. The drive back Thursday after my meeting was nice though. Beautiful (and wide open) country! Just in time for Sandy. Easy to find my home area, it's right where the northwest turn is supposed to happen. Never heard the words "... winds might deminish a bit as the eye goes overheard..." in a local weather report before. Stay safe Mike..... Edited October 29, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Freedman Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 nope,............but I think you want to suggest that the only way to have a good drum corps is to bring in people from all over the world, because the locals are not good enough or teachable,..........therefore we can placate the locals by starting some meaningless drum circle or other programs for the purpose of raising money locally, when what those kids really want is to be in the drum corps that hails from the name of their city,..............there is your disconnect with local teachers, students, politicians, community foundations, etc,............people are not stupid. Well, I haven't been personally involved in a corps in years, and when I was it was local drum corps (that don't exist anymore), but I know that it is widely believed by those who are involved in WC and top 12 corps that this is essentially the case (the bold line above), except I would quibble with the phrasing of the last part, "...because there aren't enough locals who want to march with the corps and are both good enough and can pay for it". And I certainly wouldn't say "good" drum corps but DCI top 12 at least. And if you think that "those kids really want ... to be in the drum corps that hails from the name of their city," well, presumably they applied in that case, right? The answer seems to be that some do apply, and march with the corps, some do apply, but aren't good enough, some do apply, but don't have the funds, and some would rather march with the corps that plays the kind of music they want to play, rather than necessarily the local corps. And don't forget, some want to get as far from home as possible. that was the other thread,...........this thread is not about Glassmen or any other specific corps,.......this thread is titled "side discussion" Yup, I got cross-threaded, but the point was still valid that top 12 drum corps do indeed appear to recruit locally, so how would you magically procure more local talent? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
contraBand Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) The answer seems to be that some do apply, and march with the corps, some do apply, but aren't good enough, some do apply, but don't have the funds, and some would rather march with the corps that plays the kind of music they want to play, rather than necessarily the local corps. And don't forget, some want to get as far from home as possible. And some just want to stay as close to 'home' as possible, but can't (On a side note, I think it'd be excellent to host a small open class corps out of Bozeman or the surroundings- or host a competition here, but that's a different topic) I am learning the harsh realities of not having a readily accessible corps nearby, due in part to not having a car, as well as the horrendous expenses that come with applying for a corps you can't drive to. "Flying people in from Montana" indeed. Edited October 30, 2012 by laser.lemon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exgmdm Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Where the "annointed 150" marching members call "home" in a World Class drum corps is not the central issue. This IS America, and it IS drum corps. Those two factors add up to this: Kids with the talent and means and desire are going to march ANYWHERE they want to - the staffs will see to that. What I want to know about really boils down to this: The truly national drum corps (insert "G8", "TOC", or whatever shorthand you prefer) have all the same touring and equipment expenses (sometimes a bit more) than everyone else. What do THEY do to keep expanding their base of support? Surely the short answer is, "Everything they CAN do." All you have to do is subscribe to the Cadets email list to see that raising money and making friends for the organization is a full time effort, and no stone is left un-turned. This thread is about discovering the LLLLOOOOOONNNNGGGGG answer... what can corps like Colts, Pioneer, Glassmen, Crossmen, Cascades, Academy, Pacific Crest, Surf, Crusaders (from either coast) etc. do to make friends, cultivate alums, get volunteers, and RAISE CASH? I'll speculate here that it pretty much has to be done in that order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Some politics and controversy are needed on this site in order to keep it relevent. A constant flow of inane topics during the off season (best 13th place show) will not maintain the viewership or participation to keep people here ..... Discussing corps having money problems is not relavant to a DC discussion site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) Where the "annointed 150" marching members call "home" in a World Class drum corps is not the central issue. This IS America, and it IS drum corps. Those two factors add up to this: Kids with the talent and means and desire are going to march ANYWHERE they want to - the staffs will see to that. What I want to know about really boils down to this: The truly national drum corps (insert "G8", "TOC", or whatever shorthand you prefer) have all the same touring and equipment expenses (sometimes a bit more) than everyone else. What do THEY do to keep expanding their base of support? Surely the short answer is, "Everything they CAN do." All you have to do is subscribe to the Cadets email list to see that raising money and making friends for the organization is a full time effort, and no stone is left un-turned. This thread is about discovering the LLLLOOOOOONNNNGGGGG answer... what can corps like Colts, Pioneer, Glassmen, Crossmen, Cascades, Academy, Pacific Crest, Surf, Crusaders (from either coast) etc. do to make friends, cultivate alums, get volunteers, and RAISE CASH? I'll speculate here that it pretty much has to be done in that order. Just to clarify, you don't think Blue Stars, Madison, Colts, etc who all toured nationally, are "truly national drum corps"? Or were you speaking to membership home locations to identify "national"? To your point, if you're addressing JUST the fundraising aspects of the corps' income statements, I would contend that the playing field is pretty level between corps. Some corps have stronger alumni groups, some have stronger volunteer groups, and some have stronger donor groups; the efficacy of each corps fundraising from those groups is, obviously, different. Could all corps improve if they utilized the same alum fundraising methods that BD or Cavies use? Sure, it's possible. But I think part of your long answer needs to include the recognition that all fundraising has costs, and not all fundraising efforts are net productive compared to those costs. Therefor, a corps with a larger fundraising budget would undoubtedly be able to tilt the odds of fundraising success in their favor. When you consider that the higher-placing a "national" corps is the more money it gets for it's performances via DCI's payout structure, you begin to see the catch-22 stacked against the lower-placing corps. In order to get paid more you have to finish higher up the ladder, but to move up with consistency you need to have the income to spend on fundraising efforts to pay for staff, food, fuel, etc. If you presume that every corps raised exactly the same amount from fundraising, the issue becomes clear: a corps that takes in more from DCI can spend more of it's budget on fundraising. And let's not exclude the sweet equipment deals that higher-placing corps get. Those deals let the corps spend more on fundraising than on horns and drums, while a lower-placing corps doesn't get that great deal. The way DCI's payout scheme is structured allows for upwards of 25% or 30% of a top corps' million-dollar annual show budget to be paid for by DCI payments. A lower placing corps is lucky to get 5% of their season's cost through DCI payouts. A lower-placing corps has to spend a significantly greater proportion of their fundraising efforts on just fielding a corps, whereas a higher-placing corps has to spend less of their fundraising income on fielding a corps. A top corps can spend more of its income on fundraising because they have to spend less on fielding a corps due to the DCI payouts and equipment deals. So, it's not apples to oranges to say that lower-placing corps simply have to fundraise like the "national" corps. "National" corps have to spend less of the money that comes in from fundraising on fielding a corps than does a "non-national" corps. To field an $800,000 show a top corps has to spend less money from its own efforts; if $200,000 comes in from DCI fees a "national" corps only needs to raise $600,000. A lower placing corps needs to spend the same $800,000 to compete, but has to raise more from fundraising because they get less payout from DCI. Edited October 30, 2012 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 This thread is about discovering the LLLLOOOOOONNNNGGGGG answer... what can corps like Colts, Pioneer, Glassmen, Crossmen, Cascades, Academy, Pacific Crest, Surf, Crusaders (from either coast) etc. do to make friends, cultivate alums, get volunteers, and RAISE CASH? I'll speculate here that it pretty much has to be done in that order. I'd speculate that the first order of business is to design a show that can be competitively successful. Success breeds friends (fans), hypes up alums, gets current fans more interested in the organization which cultivates volunteers and donors. I think we can all stipulate that it is exceptionally less difficult to fundraise when your cops is competitively successful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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