Per the California Attorney General Vanguard is operating illegally as a non profit

[Richard Lesher]

Reminding folks who I am. 

Richard Lesher, CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and prior board member/treasurer of Vanguard and from 2006 to 2012. I'm also currently a commissioned officer in the US Army Reserves. So I guess that gives me some legit credentials to have certain opinions. 

 

I've recently been censored from the SCV Alumni Facebook forum (which is under control of SCV the organization with a director level employee still as an Admin). 

So I will now voice my serious concerns here for the whole Drum Corps community. 

As of 14-April-2023 Vanguard is Delinquent as a Charity in the State of California. 

https://rct.doj.ca.gov/verification/web/SearchResults.aspx 

https://rct.doj.ca.gov/verification/web/Details.aspx?result=42a872a8-e982-469d-9401-bfc112f97bf4

The problems started as far back as 2020 with Vanguard's failure to supply the State Department of Justice with audited financial statements. 

At this point the Attorney General is merely pointing out that Vanguard failed to provide Audited Financial Statements. 

A year passes, and Vanguard has still not provided Audited Financial Statements to the California Attorney General. 

Now the Attorney General is warning Vanguard of penalties to include up to having their status Revoked. Vanguard is no longer in good standing. 

We are now at September 9, 2021. 

This is a very important date folks as we all know this is basically the start of the drum corps season for the year 2022, and we all know what happened after that. 

Oh and the following month we have the Attorney General reminding Vanguard they still haven't provided Audited Financial Statements. 

Here an indication of a duplicate payment for registration (I guess they get "some credit" for trying), but a reminder they not in compliance without independently audited financial statements. 

 

*****************

What does this all mean?

Being delinquent in the state of California with this Charity Registration means that:

1) Vanguard cannot solicit donations. They are, and they have been, and it's reported on their 990 filings (Grants, and such). 

2) They have been delinquent since 15-MAR-2020, so all solicitation thereafter is in violation of the law. 

3) I will bring up the Bingo Salaries again here and I will not take it down this time. 

           a) Bingo employees cannot be paid with bingo income. 

           b) OK, Bingo employees "are not" being paid with bingo revenue. 

           c) Well, if Vanguard cannot solicit donations, and they cannot disperse donations then what are Bingo employees being paid with? 

                  i) where ever the funding came from it's an illegal source 

                  ii) even if the funding was from savings and investments, those funds originated from donations and bingo, neither of which can be dispersed while Vanguard is                    delinquent 

Remember, Vanguard operated as like nothing was wrong during the entire competitive year of 2022 and was in violation the entire time. 

Vanguard also took audition fees for 2023 and right on the heels of that terminated the season. So someone high up knew where they were going in terms of finances and decided to take money in anyway for services they new they couldn't provide. 

Jeremy Van Wert is not the singular cause of this gross mismanagement. 

OK, I'll be back later with more. 

These three letters from the California State Attorney General give me a lot of coverage and protection from defamation. So my future posts should be fun read for you all. 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Richard Lesher

[IllianaLancerContra]

Golly.  
 

Thank you for taking the time to post this.  

[JimF-LowBari]

Wow… arrogance abounds… thank you for the details 

just reread and 3 freaking years?

Edited April 15, 2023 by JimF-LowBari

[IllianaLancerContra]

So did they not want to do the audit because they knew/suspected financial shenanigans were afoot, or did they do the audit & they found financial shenanigans?   

 

[scheherazadesghost]

... and which population is hurt the most by this?

Members like I was... the downstream effects of mismanagement seem to be similar to those from the bingo theft that was happening when I marched, according to alum reporters I'm in contact with. They are the most at risk for being shorted and/or harmed when orgs can't manage everything properly.

This has been my consistent message for the last year.

Edit to add: since censorship has already been leveraged elsewhere regarding this news, I welcome anyone to review the public information available about this on the CA DOJ's charity tracking website. All statuses and records are available to the public for review. ... because transparency in the non profit world is irreplaceable.

Edited April 15, 2023 by scheherazadesghost
clarification

[LabMaster]

Who has been the leadership team throughout these past years of a lengthening period of ubermismanagement?  SCV leadership and BOD leadership.

[Terri Schehr]

12 minutes ago, LabMaster said:

Who has been the leadership team throughout these past years of a lengthening period of ubermismanagement?  SCV leadership and BOD leadership.

I don’t think they’re ever coming back.  

[LabMaster]

2 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:

I don’t think they’re ever coming back.  

It is looking like it is heading that way.  Legal issues are mounting.

[JimF-LowBari]

So no one has taken the top leadership role 🤔

[keystone3ply]

Most recent post on their social media from yesterday includes one of two major fund raising campaigns.  Are these donations eligible for tax deduction? @Richard Lesher

Edited April 15, 2023 by keystone3ply
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