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

[KVG_DC]

I mean. Yes...there's been a lot of revolving doors, but ... someone should have been on that.   

This goes back to the 'board development' need I've picked up on more and more after joining conversations here and being more than a "watcher of what's on the field" as a result.  As many others have pointed out, Drum Corps need to deliberately develop their boards to understand their role and what fiduciary and operational oversight means as part of their responsibility in order to free up the director to do the job of directing.  

This seems an area where DCI could collaborate with arts non-profit foundations to develop training and guidelines for corps. There's value in this even if they're NOT trying to be an enforcement agency by mandating such guidelines MUST be followed, because of the preference in the activity for operational power to be decentralized into the corps and DCI being just a tour and promoter body.  DCI can operate as a resourcing network for best practices in this way.  It'd still be on the heads of corps to carry it out or face the consequences, but DCI could assist in building the capacities of corps.   

I look at BAC, BD, and Bloo in particular and I see boards that know their role to fundraise, oversee operations, and make possible the vision of the director that allows the director to do their thing in making the marcher experience and artistic production on the field the best it can be.  

[JimF-LowBari]

56 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:

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.

 

Someone with younger eyes will have to check but looked at some of the corps website and believe I saw “nonprofit” mentioned in 1 or 2 pages. Did not notice “tax deductible” anywhere.

[Richard Lesher]

I few items that are eating at me regarding this whole mess SCV has put itself in.

1)      It was never once mentioned in the rebuilding plan communicated by SCV leadership that getting the organization back on track with regulatory compliance was a priority let alone priority #1. All energies and resources toward that so called rebuilding effort have been wasted.

2)      Why were economic resources expended towards retaining the instructional and design staff of the Corps as a higher priority than retaining CPA Firm services to execute the critical task of an independent financial audit which is the foundation of compliance.

In response to the question about the requirement of Independent Audits.

1)      The audits have always been required. I am the Board Member in 2006 that reestablished new CPA relationships that executed those audits.

2)      At the end of my time on the Board of Directors the CPA firm would send a representative to the Board Meeting (around the end of the calendar year), and the representative would give a presentation and discuss the Independent Audited findings, and explain the financial report of the audited financial statements. Those meetings were open to anyone that wanted to attend in person. 

3)      The correspondence from the Attorney General left the door open for SCV to provide the exception why SCV no longer needs to provide an audit. It does not appear SCV has attempted to do this.

[MGCpimpOtimp]

2 hours ago, KVG_DC said:

I mean. Yes...there's been a lot of revolving doors, but ... someone should have been on that.   

This goes back to the 'board development' need I've picked up on more and more after joining conversations here and being more than a "watcher of what's on the field" as a result.  As many others have pointed out, Drum Corps need to deliberately develop their boards to understand their role and what fiduciary and operational oversight means as part of their responsibility in order to free up the director to do the job of directing.  

This seems an area where DCI could collaborate with arts non-profit foundations to develop training and guidelines for corps. There's value in this even if they're NOT trying to be an enforcement agency by mandating such guidelines MUST be followed, because of the preference in the activity for operational power to be decentralized into the corps and DCI being just a tour and promoter body.  DCI can operate as a resourcing network for best practices in this way.  It'd still be on the heads of corps to carry it out or face the consequences, but DCI could assist in building the capacities of corps.   

I look at BAC, BD, and Bloo in particular and I see boards that know their role to fundraise, oversee operations, and make possible the vision of the director that allows the director to do their thing in making the marcher experience and artistic production on the field the best it can be.  

DCI already does a TON of training and resource sharing regarding board of directors stuff, including several in person meetings where members of boards from all corps meet and present to each other best practices etc.

[KVG_DC]

Good to know.  I’ve not really kept the pulse on that aspect of things. 
 

It is ultimately on the corps to do the work and develop their boards after all. 

[DudleytheWest]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:44 AM, Terri Schehr said:

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

I thought this from the day they announced they were not fielding a corps in 2023. Whether they make it back on the field or not, they will not pick back up right where they left off. Who in their right mind would audition for this corps after how they handled 2023? If they are back in 2024 (or whenever) they are going to have an extremely difficult time attracting top talent and perhaps even a full corps.

I've been involved with this activity since the early 80s and this is by far the most devastating thing that has happened, to me.

I blame DCI and their policies - policies that have eliminated any type of fair playing field amongst member corps and increased the costs to field a corps exponentially. I know the corps are DCI and it's the corps that did this to themselves. This is the beginning of the end of the end. The beginning of the end was decades ago when all of us saw this activity declining and the powers-that-be did nothing to stop it.

[scheherazadesghost]

In the January Q&A with alumni, alumni association, some board members, CFO and then-CEO present... JVW stated that they do conduct yearly third-party audits, but they aren't made public.

[Jeff Ream]

22 hours ago, Richard Lesher said:

I posted the links. This is a great question. I am the loudest voice, and there are quite a few people directing me towards information who are happy to share information and hints of data, and use my voice. 

That said........ I literally downloaded these letters in PDF format from the State Attorney General's Office. 

I did provide the links for the sources.

Through this source I also looked at Blue Devils and Mandarins, both of who appear to be entirely in the clear. AS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also got my hands on Blue Devil most recent Audited Financial Statements. Of course I don't have those for SCV. 

So to your question, where did I get this information. I am embarrassed to say it has been public domain this entire time through the state of California. I came across it previously in the last few months, but I finally decided to click on the file links one by one and sift through EVERYTYING. See not all the file names are named in a manner that gives any hint of the contents of the file. So it's like finding a needle in a hay stack. So sometimes one has to look through every single straw of hay (or just use a magnet 🙂 

That said, I can tell you now, I am benefiting from my 4 years as a Military Intelligence Analyst with the Army. 

very cool. thanks for sharing! i just do mortgages, and trust me, whats supposed to be public record there isn't always so!

[Jeff Ream]

21 hours ago, greg_orangecounty said:

I don't know what state you are licensed to practice law but this statement is 100% inaccurate.  As is the O.P. 

well a quick web search  kinda killed your argument:

 

https://oag.ca.gov/charities/delinquency

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

In the January Q&A with alumni, alumni association, some board members, CFO and then-CEO present... JVW stated that they do conduct yearly third-party audits, but they aren't made public.

apparently the state needs them