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

[scheherazadesghost]

1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

After looking my take is lot of pleas for money and how well the fund raising to relieve the debt is going.

Alum fundraiser donations are restricted, meaning they're only supposed to go to food, housing, travel and scholarships for the next season.

Bingo revenue is what's clearing the debt, projected to be zeroed by next month.

Just providing what I know for clarity.

[IllianaLancerContra]

On 4/15/2023 at 10:10 AM, keystone3ply said:

I guess they could convert to a "for profit" & still receive donations? Or purchase a $.99 lapel pin for $100 or so.  I donate to Walmart two to three times a week. 😁 

As a for-profit I believe  there would be considerable tax implications.  

[IllianaLancerContra]

14 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

Ok cause some of the letters didn’t look like things that would be publicly available 

 

14 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

They are. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Surprised me as well.  We Drum Corps fans are not used to bureaucratic transparency.  

[Hook'emCavies]

On 4/15/2023 at 1:49 AM, Richard Lesher said:

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. 

This is shocking to say the least. I knew someone who used to work with the corps in the 2010s. She did tell me a little bit about the financial problems. Basically just saying SCV was broke... 

It's not surprising that the SCV community on Facebook basically blacked you out, but this is information that they need. It's a hard pill to swallow, but it has to be done. 

I hope that SCV will return someday.

[greg_orangecounty]

4 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

Please feel free to be less insulting and clearly line out for everyone here why this is.

The only thing I've done in this thread and elsewhere is explain why I'm concerned about the documentation I've found as it refers to the stated regulations and laws in California.

VMAPA = delinquent status with The State of California's DOJ

Delinquent = no soliciting or operating

Do you actually think I want to be right about this? Or any other instance of institutional abuse that's been reported to me over the last year?

Please feel free to prove me wrong. That would make my day. Edit to add: assuming you could do so respectfully without insults.

But before you call anyone a troll, consider that we are facing an organization, with grown adults running it, that is censoring critical feedback about finances, member treatment, and staff treatment. We, separately, have taken a hundred other steps outside of DCP before arriving here.

Good morning.  I already did that and if you or anyone else does not believe my opinion on the structure of VMAPA and it's current "delinquent" status - what it can/can't do, that's your choice.

Yes, that was a snarky comment last night on my part to you and I do apologize for that.

[JimF-LowBari]

2 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

As a for-profit I believe  there would be considerable tax implications.  

Oh yeah…. Happened to my car club when they stupidly lost nonprofit for a few years. Club sponsors a major car show that takes in 6 figures all together. Of course expenses are up there too but club had to be very careful with details of money coming in and going out.

Edited April 16, 2023 by JimF-LowBari

[scheherazadesghost]

18 minutes ago, greg_orangecounty said:

Good morning.  I already did that and if you or anyone else does not believe my opinion on the structure of VMAPA and it's current "delinquent" status - what it can/can't do, that's your choice.

Yes, that was a snarky comment last night on my part to you and I do apologize for that.

All good.

Honestly, adversarial collaboration is my jam so...

I'm seeing you say it's not illegal and that's all unless I missed something. But I don't understand how delinquency doesn't mean what the DOJ says it does, which is that delinquent orgs can't operate or solicit. The DOJ clearly defines it as such so I hope it is understandable why I'm still confused.

I'm not "choosing" to believe this. I'm leveraging the facts as I read them on the state's website as a former long term non profit professional, just like any major funder would.

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

All good.

Honestly, adversarial collaboration is my jam so...

I'm seeing you say it's not illegal and that's all unless I missed something. But I don't understand how delinquency doesn't mean what the DOJ says it does, which is that delinquent orgs can't operate or solicit. The DOJ clearly defines it as such so I hope it is understandable why I'm still confused.

I'm not "choosing" to believe this. I'm leveraging the facts as I read them on the state's website as a former long term non profit professional, just like any major funder would.

Legal or not, I would think this would cause any potential donor performing due diligence before donating to hold off for the time being. 
 

Another question is the “independent audit” - why hasn’t this been accomplished despite being reminded by State of California on several occasions?  Is this a new requirement for non-profits?   It makes me wonder if there is something within the financial books that SCV doesn’t want disclosed.  

[resipsaloquitur]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

seeing you say it's not illegal and that's all unless I missed something. But I don't understand how delinquency doesn't mean what the DOJ says it does, which is that delinquent orgs can't operate or solicit. The DOJ clearly defines it as such so I hope it is understandable why I'm still confused.

I supposed the distinction being made here is that being delinquent is the legal state of being, and by law you are not supposed to solicit donations. Being under enforcement for being delinquent is another. You can not have car insurance and still drive a car, until you get into an accident and you are caught and action is taken to enforce it against you (while the rest of us pay up for uninsured motorist coverage).

[KVG_DC]

Yeah, I guess my take of the CA State DOJ definition of "delinquent" as quoted a number of posts back.  SCV's non profit status isn't 'revoked' so there is a pathway to getting fully in the clear.  But they are in a status where the law says "do not raise funds as a non-profit" and ... they're ostensibly doing so here?    So.  Yikes.

 

The lack of transparency for three years seems to be more than "we're incompetent at getting things done" and points to, "there's something we don't want the sunlight on here."