Santa Clara Vanguard 2024

[Hook'emCavies]

14 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

OT

:)))))) LOL

[scheherazadesghost]

Just now, Hook'emCavies said:

:)))))) LOL

psssstttt.... hook'em horns!

[Hook'emCavies]

10 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:

psssstttt.... hook'em horns!

Good score though 

[MarkHornGA]

7 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

here's a question....do the members know their money goes to pay for bingo workers or do they assume it covers their costs?

Here’s the thing…unless an org has multiple banking accounts to handle different revenue and expenditures, which most probably do not, then all of the money that comes in goes into the same pot. 
 

If corps X needs $4M to operate, then that is the magic number. It doesn’t matter how it itemizes out. It’s highly unlikely that every incoming dollar is earmarked by category. It’s money in and money out. 

[cixelsyd]

12 hours ago, DSpruce said:

I know stuff about the audits status as well but holding back

Then surely you must realize what breathtakingly awful PR it is for VMAPA to preach spirit of honesty and transparency while spending a full YEAR purposefully silent about the audit issue.

[Mello Dude]

7 hours ago, C.Holland said:

kids… get a lawyer.  Always get a lawyer when your corps falls apart and leaves you out to dry. (In both literal ways, as well as proverbial) 

Worst advice ever.  Just don't.  You will have huge bills wondering why you did this.

[Slingerland]

1 hour ago, MarkHornGA said:

Here’s the thing…unless an org has multiple banking accounts to handle different revenue and expenditures, which most probably do not, then all of the money that comes in goes into the same pot. 
 

If corps X needs $4M to operate, then that is the magic number. It doesn’t matter how it itemizes out. It’s highly unlikely that every incoming dollar is earmarked by category. It’s money in and money out. 

In cases where Bingo revenues are involved and where the state/county requires that Bingo payroll expenses do not come from Bingo proceeds, they would almost certainly need to show separate accounts with some sort of firewall between them. In Vanguard's case, it's entirely likely that the member fees will be needed to feed the Bingo beast, and while Bingo revenues can be used to pay corps expenses, a question remains whether California will decide that the organization has operated in bad faith the last few years (because they have) and assess taxes on Bingo funds. If that happens, it'll likely be lights out.

[scheherazadesghost]

34 minutes ago, Slingerland said:

In cases where Bingo revenues are involved and where the state/county requires that Bingo payroll expenses do not come from Bingo proceeds, they would almost certainly need to show separate accounts with some sort of firewall between them. In Vanguard's case, it's entirely likely that the member fees will be needed to feed the Bingo beast, and while Bingo revenues can be used to pay corps expenses, a question remains whether California will decide that the organization has operated in bad faith the last few years (because they have) and assess taxes on Bingo funds. If that happens, it'll likely be lights out.

Indeed the question remains:

What has been feeding the bingo beast while Vanguard was not fielding corps (ie not actuating its sole nonprofit mission, which validates the very charity status that bingo revenue and donations rely on?) Both during hiatus and during the pandemic since delinquency goes that far back.

When alum ask this, we get smoke and mirrors, ignored, or legal-eze in response. That's not transparency.

If everything is fine, then explain it to us. How it happened. What's been done to remedy it. And how it will be prevented in perpetuity.

Edited September 10, 2023 by scheherazadesghost

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

Indeed the question remains:

What has been feeding the bingo beast while Vanguard was not fielding corps (ie not actuating its sole nonprofit mission, which validates the very charity status that bingo revenue and donations rely on?) Both during hiatus and during the pandemic since delinquency goes that far back.

When alum ask this, we get smoke and mirrors, ignored, or legal-eze in response. That's not transparency.

If everything is fine, then explain it to us. How it happened. What's been done to remedy it. And how it will be prevented in perpetuity.

As I suggested a few pages back - pay someone on staff with bingo funds.  Then that person passes the money to someone else, who donates it to the Corps.  Corps then uses the ‘donated’ $$ to pay bingo workers.  
 

This is probably not legal.  And this is also why I would make a lousy underworld crime boss. 

[lawdn]

9 hours ago, C.Holland said:

Worse, let’s relive the 80s and 90s.  You get to tour time and the bus company isn’t paid. So no one gets to go on tour.  Or your tractor rentals aren’t paid, so the semis can’t go on tour.
 

Or worse yet… Suppose they get 30-45 days on the road and it all falls apart.  There’s no money for food. (Oddly This isn’t an uncommon problem in drum corps.. seriously)  
 

Perhaps they hit Charles city, IA and have to shut down, and then everyone ends up ubering to the podunk airport (should Uber operate there…. or worse… no Uber in bumble**** nowhere) and then everyone just gotta find their way home.  
 

kids… get a lawyer.  Always get a lawyer when your corps falls apart and leaves you out to dry. (In both literal ways, as well as proverbial) 

If I were a parent of a potential MM, I would be doing a lot of due diligence on the corps my kid was interested in marching, especially if I were providing financial support. If one of those corps had not filed a 990 for periods after October 2020, I would be strongly discouraging or vetoing my kid from marching there, and if they did it anyway, I would have an extraction plan ready. But by disposition, training, and experience I tend to have backup plans for backup plans.

What @DSpruce says about audited financials being completed gives me hope that the ship is being righted, and it would be fantastic to see the late 990s filed and VMAPA return to good standing as a CA nonprofit. That should be key information for potential MMs and their financial supporters as stakeholders, as it would be for any corps, especially any returning after an absence from competition.