gbass598 Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Terrible. Ohio is a strong MB state and we went from 3 drum corps to 1 in a decade. And people say drum corps is alive and well. What a joke. Bluecoats are barely tethered to Ohio as it is with the whole Texas connection going on. Part of me wants to blame Salas, but I don't know enough about the situation to comment further. Madison went through a bit of a financial crisis after his tenure, so I kinda assume the same thing happened with Gmen. Edit: Dangit. Now I'm having unreasonable pipe dreams of starting an open class corps in ohio. Sal was the corps director of the Scouts. He was not the corps director of the Glassmen. I also think it was a real stretch to try to blame Sal for people in Toledo no longer going to Bingo. Its the boards fault for continuing to run an organization that had no income. Plain and simple. They continued to try and operate a fully touring drum corps for almost 5 years after the bingo went belly up and stopped providing sustainable income. It was all kept a secret until it was too late to dig out of the hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 I don't know this guy mentioned in the thread, but the board makes the decisions that dictate the direction, and the director reports to the board. It is contrary to best practices to have the corps executive director/ director be a major influencer on the board. The board of a non-profit, while ultimately responsible, is composed of volunteers, and often you find that many of them are too busy with their real jobs to do more than broadly advise the staff led by the executive director. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 I think we'd all be surprised to find out just how close other corps are to following these guys. We shouldn't be. Garfield's 990s threads made the situation very clear. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbass598 Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 The board of a non-profit, while ultimately responsible, is composed of volunteers, and often you find that many of them are too busy with their real jobs to do more than broadly advise the staff led by the executive director. Therefore a system of checks and balances is missing. The board hires a director to run the day to day operations. If the director starts failing at those duties, its the boards job to step and right the ship and start making decisions. The board should prevent a director from having too much power and another party (executive director or otherwise) should have been making sure the BOD was doing their job too. The board was essentially asleep at the wheel here and both director and board were ignoring the elephant in the room. until it was too late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Therefore a system of checks and balances is missing. The board hires a director to run the day to day operations. If the director starts failing at those duties, its the boards job to step and right the ship and start making decisions. The board should prevent a director from having too much power and another party (executive director or otherwise) should have been making sure the BOD was doing their job too. The board was essentially asleep at the wheel here and both director and board were ignoring the elephant in the room. until it was too late. Agreed. I'm just explaining how it happens, whether to the Glassmen, or, to take my field, to much bigger organizations (than most corps) like Studio Arena or San Jose Rep. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Part of me wants to blame Salas, but I don't know enough about the situation to comment further. Madison went through a bit of a financial crisis after his tenure, so I kinda assume the same thing happened with Gmen. Bingo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drangin Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Glassmen Bridgemen 27th Lancers Precisionnaires I need to stop having favorite corps. (I never cared for Bluecoats. I never cared for Bluecoats...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntheMood Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I tried to raise the red flag about this awhile back. However, I was slammed by alum,bod members and the forum police who try to shout down people on what can and can not be said on these boards. (not the mods.) IMHO the BOD was indeed a rubber stamp for Brian and he had complete control of the BOD. 1 1/2 years before our 50th I received 2 phone calls, one from an ex board and one from (at the time) current board member telling me how dire the Glassmen finances were. I asked if the Glassmen were going to field a Corps for our 50th? I was told that by all rights they should not be fielding a Corps that year let alone our 50th. I was also told, do you really think Brian would let the Corps fold on our 50th under his watch? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleran Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 (edited) I think we'd all be surprised to find out just how close other corps are to following these guys. Non profits are a business and should be run as such.... Tons of for-profit businesses start up and fail each year as well. Having business acumen doesn't guaranty success when your industry doesn't necessarily command the appropriate economic return needed to stay afloat. There is no magic panacea to keep drum corps in the black. Though having good business background will help you face the challenges, there is no guaranty of success so long as the product doesn't sell itself, which drum corps simply does not. Edited August 20, 2014 by Eleran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKT90 Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 (edited) Tons of for-profit businesses start up and fail each year as well. Having business acumen doesn't guaranty success when your industry doesn't necessarily command the appropriate economic return needed to stay afloat. There is no magic panacea to keep drum corps in the black. Though having good business background will help you face the challenges, there is no guaranty of success so long as the product doesn't sell itself, which drum corps simply does not. Yeah, I disagree. A properly structured board will have a 5 yr.+ business plan for a revenue generation stream. Too many boards are run by non business people who do not have experience in setting up a business plan or any idea how to generate revenue. Having your board comprised with a majority of retired teachers, nurses and some band directors isn't all a board should be, and many boards are just that. A few of my colleagues have consulted with a professional on how to set up a proper non-profit board, after understanding this and then looking at others board, I can see why corps struggle badly, run out of money or plain out fail. Edited August 20, 2014 by JKT90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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