Santa Clara Vanguard 2024

[scheherazadesghost]

56 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

so what's D-Day for the state to pull the plug again?

• Doc "RCT-451A-S Delinquency Notice - 2nd" dated Nov 16 2023 states:

"To avoid the above-described actions, please send all delinquent reports and fees, together with a copy of this letter, to the address set forth above within sixty (60) days of the date of this letter. Any deadlines specified in letters sent previously supersede this one."

• Doc "RCT 451-S Delinquency Notice - 1st" dated Aug 25 2023 states:

"To avoid further adverse actions, please send all delinquent reports and fees, together with a copy of this letter to the above address immediately."

• Doc "CT-451 1st Delinquency Notice" dated Sep 9 2021 states the following. Any bolded text is original, not mine:

"Unless the above-described reports are filed with the Registry of Charitable Trusts within sixty (60 days) of the date of this letter, the following will occur:

1. Dis-allowance of tax exemption via CA Franchise Tax board (summarized)

2 Late fees will be imposed by the RoCT for each month or partial month for which the report(s) were delinquent. Directors, trustees, officers, and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file these reports are also personally liable for payment of all late fees.

PLEASE NOTE: Charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs. Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest, and other costs incurred to restore exempt status.

...

In order to avoid the above-described actions, please send all delinquent reports to the address set forth above, within sixty (60) days of the date of this letter."

________

VMAPA has submitted documentation for FYs ending in 2020, and 2021, 2022. 2020 is listed as "accepted." 2021 submitted 9/18/23 and is listed as "in process." 2022 was submitted 10/20/2023 and is listed as "rejected," which the new CEO has explained. He has stated publicly that they are on time for end-of-2023 submission of that audit to the DOJ.

One way of interpreting this is that they're cleared because documentation has been/will soon be submitted. Wouldn't that be nice? Alas, the delinquency status isn't cleared officially on the registry website yet. That's what I'm waiting for.

________

The recent alumni association officer elections were telling. (I didn't participate 'cause I don't receive their emails anymore for some weird reason and I'm not on Facebook.) Roles for the 70s, 80s, and 90s are filled.

No alum from later decades (00s, 10s, 20s) even applied.

I'd be taking a hard look at this if I were them.

Edited December 22, 2023 by scheherazadesghost
edited my numbers, darn dyslexia

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

• Doc "RCT-451A-S Delinquency Notice - 2nd" dated Nov 16 2023 states:

"To avoid the above-described actions, please send all delinquent reports and fees, together with a copy of this letter, to the address set forth above within sixty (60) days of the date of this letter. Any deadlines specified in letters sent previously supersede this one."

• Doc "RCT 451-S Delinquency Notice - 1st" dated Aug 25 2023 states:

"To avoid further adverse actions, please send all delinquent reports and fees, together with a copy of this letter to the above address immediately."

• Doc "CT-451 1st Delinquency Notice" dated Sep 9 2021 states the following. Any bolded text is original, not mine:

"Unless the above-described reports are filed with the Registry of Charitable Trusts within sixty (60 days) of the date of this letter, the following will occur:

1. Dis-allowance of tax exemption via CA Franchise Tax board (summarized)

2 Late fees will be imposed by the RoCT for each month or partial month for which the report(s) were delinquent. Directors, trustees, officers, and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file these reports are also personally liable for payment of all late fees.

PLEASE NOTE: Charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs. Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest, and other costs incurred to restore exempt status.

...

In order to avoid the above-described actions, please send all delinquent reports to the address set forth above, within sixty (60) days of the date of this letter."

________

VMAPA has submitted documentation for FYs ending in 2020, and 2021, 2022. 2020 is listed as "accepted." 2021 submitted 9/18/23 and is listed as "in process." 2022 was submitted 10/20/2023 and is listed as "rejected," which the new CEO has explained. He has stated publicly that they are on time for end-of-2023 submission of that audit to the DOJ.

One way of interpreting this is that they're cleared because documentation has been/will soon be submitted. Wouldn't that be nice? Alas, the delinquency status isn't cleared officially on the registry website yet. That's what I'm waiting for.

________

The recent alumni association officer elections were telling. (I didn't participate 'cause I don't receive their emails anymore for some weird reason and I'm not on Facebook.) Roles for the 70s, 80s, and 90s are filled.

No alum from later decades (00s, 10s, 20s) even applied.

I'd be taking a hard look at this if I were them.

i wonder if more recent alums also aren't getting the emails

[IllianaLancerContra]

Any updates?  We’re less than 2 week out from CA DoJ deadline.  

[HockeyDad]

43 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

Any updates?  We’re less than 2 week out from CA DoJ deadline.  

According to the Reddit postings, all is well. Full steam ahead. 

[IllianaLancerContra]

13 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

According to the Reddit postings, all is well. Full steam ahead. 

From what I see on CA DoJ website it seems nothing has changed.  CA DoJ counts; Reddit doesn’t.  

[scheherazadesghost]

15 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

According to the Reddit postings, all is well. Full steam ahead. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/drumcorps/s/LPWTTgiVUS

Except for at least one young, anon soul out there who thinks us a "sketchy corps."

I feel for those members already contracted too. How conflicting things might feel rn. Welcome/welcome back to the family. 😪

On the plus side, I communicated with the CEO about a concern and appreciated his response. It was unrelated to topics discussed herein (and still confidential atm.) But I will happily give credit when due.

[HockeyDad]

2 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

From what I see on CA DoJ website it seems nothing has changed.  CA DoJ counts; Reddit doesn’t.  

So you’re saying you had the answer to your question when you asked it? 😎

[IllianaLancerContra]

12 minutes ago, HockeyDad said:

So you’re saying you had the answer to your question when you asked it? 😎

I have an answer, but I’m not certain I looked in most up-to-date place.  There are others here, one especially so, that is far more familiar with the online databases. 

[Richard Lesher]

4 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

From what I see on CA DoJ website it seems nothing has changed.  CA DoJ counts; Reddit doesn’t.  

Yes, we are 2 weeks until the last 60 day notice to revoke nonprofit status expires. At which point the DOJ can pull the plug at any time. 

I want to further mention, in my efforts to understand the DOJ process I've looked up data from other defunct nonprofits to get a sense of the timeline. When the DOJ acts upon it's warning letters  is very inconsistent. HOWEVER, many other organizations that were on their last breaths submitted requests for appeal or wrote the DOJ for more time. Those correspondence were uploaded and made public by the DOJ. 

SCV does not appear to have any such requests on their behalf. 

It appears SCV is just letting the clock run out. 

I think the DOJ will get to SCV in due time, and I think based on the enforcement actions of the DOJ of other organizations they will do so when everything is wrapped up nice and pretty.  Some cease and desists are a simple letter, some cease and desists are a legal brief. I suspect SCV is deserving of a legal brief based on their longevity (to when the decision comes the DOJ will have made a much stronger case for the action). 

There is only one entity in the cast of actors that is executing their responsibility according to their role in this circus: 

1) I reached out to management int he warmest nicest way possible when the Vanguard Cadets were terminated. I was blown off. 

2) I reached out to the board (nearly every single one of them individually) in an escalated manner as appropriate and was blown off, and pathetic attempts to intimidate me with legal action were  

3) I reached out to DCI and learned they are nothing more than very similar individuals from other corps running on the edge of collapse as well. They have done nothing. 

4) I reached out to the Santa Clara Police (the authority over SCV's bingo license) and I can't say they are going anything or not, but it doesn't appear so. 

5) It appears only the State of California is doing anything. They do it slow, but they have the least vested interest in doing anything. It is not their job to ensure the four prior mentioned actors do their job. The state merely plays the roll of warning the general public about SCV's non compliance. 

5a) So it appears the CA DOJ will just eventually get to SCV, pull the plug on Nonprofit status, and by default as a requirement of state law Bingo will have to be shut down based on an enforcement action of the State, and the Santa Clara Police will be irrelevant as well. 

I think 2024 is that year for SCV. It can happen as soon as 17-JAN-2024, or from the looks of things the state takes sever more weeks than that. 

When everyone was operating under COVID it looked like the DOJ was slow to get to things. 

The last November notice was based on a previous notice from August as a result of 2021 being late (which still requires an audit). They they were given 60 days from August's 2021 first warning. Then with a much improved time line the second warning came in November, and another 60 days were given (which has us all talking, and that will be up in mid Jan). 

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

Now............... mechanically this doesn't stop idiots from running a tour. It's not against the law to get on the busses and tour until the money runs out. It also doesn't stop SCV from running bingo until someone with badges and guns comes to the front door and forces them to stop. They have been operating bingo illegally for a few years at least anyway, so why would they stop on their own. 

So this will probably drag on much longer than I might expect. 

Everyone should realize................... that the only actor doing their job (the State of CA) considers the start of this nonsense back to March-2020 and they will probably use that in consideration with their decision. 

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

Now, this can all magically fix itself if by some chance SCV is holding in hand all the required filings and audits, but why are they dragging it out things so long?

Edited January 2 by Richard Lesher

[Richard Lesher]

4 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

I have an answer, but I’m not certain I looked in most up-to-date place.  There are others here, one especially so, that is far more familiar with the online databases. 

I look every day. I don't expect anything new from the DOJ until after two months from the last November notice. The only thing new would have to come from SCV, and what has happened recently is:

1) 2019 was finally submitted (the original reason for the delinquency) with an audit. The audit itself was completed in 2022, so they were literally  sitting on it more than a year before it was submitted. If they submitted it when they first could have then I would have never known they were delinquent to begin with. 

2) 2020 was submitted, but never required an audit because based on self reporting they only earned 1.95M in revenue (below the $2M audit requirement). 

3) 2021 was submitted with an attempt to submit an audit, but it turned out that audit was a duplicate of 2019. I notified the state, and while the registration was submitted, they still need an audit for 2021. This is still in process, and the wrong forms were submitted. The DOJ gave them first notice of this late filing in August of 2023, and had they submitted the 2019 filings long ago when they could have this would have been the first time I would have been made aware they were ever delinquent and this whole mess would seem to only be newly recent (not going back to March of 2020). 

4) 2022 was submitted and was rejected for lack of audit. The renewal itself has the 2022 990 attached to it. The impression I get from the 2022 990 is that SCV's operational troubles were from a collapse of Bingo Net Profitability in the face a dramatic Bingo Revenue Increases. While expense management wasn't stellar they would have been fine if the Bingo profitability hadn't tanked when bingo operations changed hands after the long tenured bingo manager retired.  

 

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

Summary: 2019 was the original reason for the start of the delinquency. 2021 and 2022 are the cause of the continued delinquency. SCV is two weeks out from the state's timeline when it can act against nonprofit status. Actually, the state also left open a window to act on any previously given notice going back to 2020. Additionally, the State Tax Board has also been brought into the decision process as well as of the November notice. So two different state agencies can act independent of each other (the DOJ, and the Tax Board). 

If they magically get cleared of 2021 and 2022 then 2023 will be due in March, and late in September and it will probably start all over again (if they make it that far).