Popular Post garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Popular Post Share Posted November 10, 2012 (edited) The IRS form 990 is the tax return for non-profit organizations. As such, all of the financial data for DCI and each corps is exposed for all to see; 990's are open for public view because of the filer's tax exempt status. That is, if you can figure out how to read them because the forms are notoriously hard to read and decipher, especially for non-financial people. The financial stability of DCI and the individual corps is a hot topic in DCP-land. My hope is to present the finacial data here in little bites, giving plenty of room for discussion, in hopes that we all can become more familiar with the facts about the financial health of the activity. My method for studying the 990's is to analyze the trends over as many years as are available. Typically, there are three years of 990 data available and my goal is to spot the trends over time, subject to the 990 forms available. A word of caution: nothing that we can present here is a full explanation of the background story of the numbers; complete explanations are not part of the forms even though notes are an integral part of the form filings. It's just raw data - income, expenses, assets, and liablilites - it doesn't explain how the numbers came to be. As a result there will be a natural tendency to speculate on the reasons for the numbers - something that DCP'ers are very good at. But the real back story can only be explained by the financial people at DCI or the individual corps. Still, I've always believed that numbers can tell a story. My hope is that, by presenting the numbers here, that story will reveal itself to all of us. Disclaimer: While I work in the financial industry, this thread is not official in any capacity, and does not reflect the position or opinion of DCI, any corps, or my employer. All data comes directly from Form 990's found on www.guidestar.com, is presumed to be accurate but is not guaranteed to be so. All opinions expressed are mine, personally, are not audited, and are only based upon my amateur interpretation of the 990 forms. With all that in mind, here we go! Fun with numbers! EDIT: For those who may wish to skip to their favorite corps, I've added the following index of post numbers. First the corps name and then the post number where their 990 discussion begins: INDEX OF CORPS 990's (Name: Post number) DCI: 2 YEA!: 134 Blue Devils: 204 UPDATED 2011 NUMBERS ARE IN RED Cavaliers: 286 Carolina Crown: 367 Phantom Regiment: 437 Santa Clara Vanguard: 469 The Bluecoats: 525 Boston Crusaders: 576 Blue Knights: 603 Madison Scouts: 647 Blue Stars: 669 Spirit of Atlanta: Not available Consolidated Summary of Top-11 plus DCI: 724 The Glassmen: 739 The Troopers: 767 The Academy: 808 The Colts: 824 The Crossmen: 845 Pacific Crest: 869 The Mandarins: 891 The Cascades: 917 Jersey Surf: 957 Pioneer: 969 Consolidate Summary of All Corps: 994 Edited April 18, 2013 by garfield 37 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 Let's start with DCI itself. WAY TO GO, DCI! This looks pretty great! TOTAL REVENUE: 2009: $8,592,976 2010: $8,838,914 2011: $9,722, 125 TOTAL EXPENSES: 2009: $8,542,134 2010: $8,875,705 2011: $9,429,827 REVENUE LESS EXPENSES: 2009: $50,842 2010: ($36,791) a loss 2011: $292,298 NET ASSETS: 2009: $205,958 2010: $290,657 2011: $604,119 Wow! By the measures of cash flow and assets, it looks like DCI had a fabulous 2011! GREAT JOB, DCI! It looks like DCI has gotten healthier in the last three years. But we'll look next at the numbers behind these totals to see if we can tell why that is. For now, let's celebrate what appears to be a solid performance by the staff of DCI! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 So are you going to be grouping these in a "the good, the bad and the ugly" order? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 (edited) So are you going to be grouping these in a "the good, the bad and the ugly" order? Nah, Fran, I'm not going to try to "make your day". My intent is simply to go down the list of 2012 placements from finals week, just to make it easy. This method might also illuminate whether it's true that competitive placement is a function of financial health. Edited November 10, 2012 by garfield 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 Before we dig deeper into the numbers, and at the risk of hijacking my own thread, I find this interesting: Line 1 in the summary statement asks the organization to "Briefly describe the organizations mission or most significant activities". DCI writes: "Drum Corps International is a nonprofit youth organization serving junior drum & bugle corps around the world. DCI provides leadership and guidance to these corps, as well as organizing and unifying this activity." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 Hmm... a negative rating on the intro? Interesting. With no comment posted it's not easy to tell what the poster is opposed to. Is it the premise? A waste of time? You're bored? I surely understand that there are those who don't give a darn, but I surely don't understand the opposition to learning. But that's just me. Meh...ignored. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barifonium Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 I find it fascinating, garfield! Keep going! and way to go DCI!! Did DCI ever get a Chase grant? Angel donor? Investments? Frugality? That's a huge jump in 2011! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 first off...ratings are...well...I mean look at mine. way too high. so who cares if you get reds or greens, keep doing what you're doing! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 first off...ratings are...well...I mean look at mine. way too high. so who cares if you get reds or greens, keep doing what you're doing! First off, thanks. And to the rating, it's the sentiment, not the number. I'm going to keep staring at the 990's but I sure don't need to post them if no one cares. So I'll keep going until the thread dies in, oh, about 25 corps from now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted November 10, 2012 Author Share Posted November 10, 2012 So, let's look at "Revenue". First is an entry called "Gross Receipts". This is the highest level of classification for the "size" of DCI. I suspect that all sources of "receipts" are included here. So for the past three years, DCI has made some progress: 2009: $10,224,576 2010: $9,859,668 (minus $364,908 from 2009) 2011: $10,828,969 (plus $969,301 from 2010, and $604,393 from 2009. A 5.9% increase over the three years) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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