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

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, JimF-LowBari said:

My first thought was “to do it right?” or “be able to do it at all?” 🥲

Sometimes when you want it really bad, you get it really bad

[JimF-LowBari]

16 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Sometimes when you want it really bad, you get it really bad

The old work question “do you want it done quick or done right “

[keystone3ply]

Forgive me if this has already been shared, but these two items (sounds like good news?) were in my latest edition of the 05/01/23 Vanguard Voice email:

Debt and Savings Update
From CFO Jennifer Bauman

VMAPA is happy to report that our continued efforts to pay off all remaining debt from the 2022 tour has paid off - literally! We have not only been able to get back to a zero balance, but we have already started putting money into our savings account toward the future of Santa Clara Vanguard. Thank you to everyone who has come out to play bingo at the corps hall in recent months!

 

Road to 2024
From Santa Clara Vanguard Corps Director, Gio Bastante
 

The efforts toward getting the Santa Clara Vanguard on the field in 2024 have continued and great strides have been made. Conversations have continued between Corps Director Gio Bastante and key staff members of the Santa Clara Vanguard regarding details of what a return to the field should look like. Additionally, communication between Gio and the alumni is strong and that partnership is instrumental in the future of the organization, which is looking brighter every day.

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by keystone3ply
cx

[scheherazadesghost]

24 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Sometimes when you want it really bad, you get it really bad

This is why I try to encourage temperance among alum.

Try to imagine having a dozen alum reports make it your way in one year. You have no way of verifying which are true, except to trust the word of your fellow alum who are clearly showing signs of concern and are in widely various states of recovery from what they endured or witnessed. None of them want to talk to each other. The emotional labor they exhibit to tell their stories has kept you up at night.

So, one option is to believe all are true and fight like hell to stop the bleed. Always respecting the expressed desires of whistleblower confidentiality first.

There's also the option to assume that many are true, in which case it's still important to try and advocate among the alum and larger community, and raise awareness of these potential issues.

Hmm, now let's imagine instead that few of them are true. Okay, less members were harmed, great! But some still were and some of them are feeling dissatisfied with mutual attempts at resolution. Best approach is to work the whistleblower channels that exist respectfully but without sugarcoating anything.

Okay... the last option is to assume all reporters are lying to me out of some strange vindictiveness. Lying about abuse/misconduct/etc to sabotage a struggling nonprofit? What caused those alum to be so vindictive?

Let's just say returning to my old house to discover that any of these scenarios is possible has increased my hard-earned gray patch significantly over the last year. Most of my fellow alum look like dear in headlights when I tell them anything about any of this.

[keystone3ply]

And for the record, I want them to return even stronger.  I will miss the magic of "The Rennicks".  Especially Ms Sandi; those front arrangements are just incredible.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by keystone3ply
cx

[greg_orangecounty]

17 minutes ago, keystone3ply said:

Forgive me if this has already been shared, but these two items (sounds like good news?) were in my latest edition of the 05/01/23 Vanguard Voice email:

Debt and Savings Update
From CFO Jennifer Bauman

VMAPA is happy to report that our continued efforts to pay off all remaining debt from the 2022 tour has paid off - literally! We have not only been able to get back to a zero balance, but we have already started putting money into our savings account toward the future of Santa Clara Vanguard. Thank you to everyone who has come out to play bingo at the corps hall in recent months!

 

Road to 2024
From Santa Clara Vanguard Corps Director, Gio Bastante
 

The efforts toward getting the Santa Clara Vanguard on the field in 2024 have continued and great strides have been made. Conversations have continued between Corps Director Gio Bastante and key staff members of the Santa Clara Vanguard regarding details of what a return to the field should look like. Additionally, communication between Gio and the alumni is strong and that partnership is instrumental in the future of the organization, which is looking brighter every day.

 

This and a prior post about filing past due paperwork (audits?) give me more hope for them, but maybe bad news for some. 

[IllianaLancerContra]

22 minutes ago, greg_orangecounty said:

This and a prior post about filing past due paperwork (audits?) give me more hope for them, but maybe bad news for some. 

I don't think this is bad news for anyone, so long as it is true.  Most fears here seem to be of a wallpapering-over of massive cracks in the foundation.  Sort of like a Neualyzer.

 

[Richard Lesher]

11 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

I am just saying that the end result could be the forever death of that which you want to save. Glad you feel ok with that. it could bring you far more enemies than you have now.

I hear ya. Others have said it before. However, let's look at the quantifiable aspect of it. I didn't crawl out from under my rock until both Corps were terminated. Enemies? Meh...... this isn't organized crime. I'm not losing drinking buddies out of all this. 

At worst, I'm the one pressing the accelerator. I'm not changing the destination. 

There are three groups of folks at play here: 

1) Those I am a mortal enemy of. These are folks closely tied to the current SCV leadership. They are constantly on the look out for ways to explain away the responsibility off of the shoulders of those in actual positions to execute material change and improvements. Somehow I am the one preventing progress. 

2) Those in my camp making efforts to force material change who know the behind the scenes score. Believe me, I'm often the one used as the mouth piece. Not many are willing to put themselves out like this. I'm not doing this single handedly. 

3) Then the overwhelming silent majority who simply don't know the ins and outs of the organization but are distant stakeholders. They don't like the direction of SCV, and they don't like my blunt head on tactics. They don't like what SCV is pushing out, and as much as they don't like what I say they can't ignore written warnings from the Department of Justice, absent financial audits, 990 tax filings, and two no longer existent Drum Corps. 

*****

I've seen this before. It took me two years while on the board to get a direction where the financials could be cleaned up. That was working from the inside, and even then being the loudest voice in the room finally pushing the issue until it couldn't be ignored. 

Now I totally get it. I know how the business model works, and even with my limited current information the fact both corps are defunct now is just about the worst possible outcome. So things are just not adding up. 

People fear SCV going away forever. I don't see that happening. There is too much money to be had from Bingo. Greed will dominate that outcome. SCV is needed in some remote capacity for the Bingo Cash Cow to continue to be milked.

All things absent of SCV existing as a drum corps there still is $3,000,000 of bingo market share they have easy access to. I don't see people in a position to keep that going letting it die by the wayside. 

If SCV doesn't come back it will be because those in a position to make them stay alive didn't follow through on what is needed to make them survive. 

Someone will still be cashing in on Bingo. That is for certain. 

[IllianaLancerContra]

3 minutes ago, Richard Lesher said:

I hear ya. Others have said it before. However, let's look at the quantifiable aspect of it. I didn't crawl out from under my rock until both Corps were terminated. Enemies? Meh...... this isn't organized crime. I'm not losing drinking buddies out of all this. 

At worst, I'm the one pressing the accelerator. I'm not changing the destination. 

There are three groups of folks at play here: 

1) Those I am a mortal enemy of. These are folks closely tied to the current SCV leadership. They are constantly on the look out for ways to explain away the responsibility off of the shoulders of those in actual positions to execute material change and improvements. Somehow I am the one preventing progress. 

2) Those in my camp making efforts to force material change who know the behind the scenes score. Believe me, I'm often the one used as the mouth piece. Not many are willing to put themselves out like this. I'm not doing this single handedly. 

3) Then the overwhelming silent majority who simply don't know the ins and outs of the organization but are distant stakeholders. They don't like the direction of SCV, and they don't like my blunt head on tactics. They don't like what SCV is pushing out, and as much as they don't like what I say they can't ignore written warnings from the Department of Justice, absent financial audits, 990 tax filings, and two no longer existent Drum Corps. 

*****

I've seen this before. It took me two years while on the board to get a direction where the financials could be cleaned up. That was working from the inside, and even then being the loudest voice in the room finally pushing the issue until it couldn't be ignored. 

Now I totally get it. I know how the business model works, and even with my limited current information the fact both corps are defunct now is just about the worst possible outcome. So things are just not adding up. 

People fear SCV going away forever. I don't see that happening. There is too much money to be had from Bingo. Greed will dominate that outcome. SCV is needed in some remote capacity for the Bingo Cash Cow to continue to be milked.

All things absent of SCV existing as a drum corps there still is $3,000,000 of bingo market share they have easy access to. I don't see people in a position to keep that going letting it die by the wayside. 

If SCV doesn't come back it will be because those in a position to make them stay alive didn't follow through on what is needed to make them survive. 

Someone will still be cashing in on Bingo. That is for certain. 

So, to sum it up, SCV is a bingo operation that thinks it is a Drum Corps.

[Richard Lesher]

Just now, IllianaLancerContra said:

So, to sum it up, SCV is a bingo operation that thinks it is a Drum Corps.

As well as the Blue Devils, however, the Blue Devils KNOW THAT