19 Sep SCV Meeting Summary on Reddit

[fighterkit]

48 minutes ago, lawdn said:

The talent levels at The Academy in 2018 were impressive and the show had a lot of demand, is what I recall. I cannot imagine how good one has to be to make a finalist corps, so props to you for your work and dedication. 

I appreciate the kind words.

I actually started as the euph alt and got moved to contra after someone dropped early on in spring training. 

It taught me so many valuable lessons about pushing to be my best and having to fight to catch up. 

And a plus was that the next season when I auditioned for Boston on baritone it was the easiest summer of my life. That horn felt like nothing after a season on a jup Contra. 

[DCI-86]

An alternative view:

• Maybe they have $600k in the bank AFTER accounting for staff fees etc.
• What about the additional revenue they are going to generate (via bingo etc.) from now til August?

[Jeff Ream]

8 hours ago, DCI-86 said:

An alternative view:

• Maybe they have $600k in the bank AFTER accounting for staff fees etc.
• What about the additional revenue they are going to generate (via bingo etc.) from now til August?

point A would need to be clarified.  as for point B there's no guarantees in life or gaming

[Richard Lesher]

23 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

point A would need to be clarified.  as for point B there's no guarantees in life or gaming

They are sitting on audited financial statements (as a function of claiming they submitted all the required registrations to make them current), and continue to only verbally disclose selective financial information that is otherwise going to be public at some point in time as a function of submitting the 990s. 

This is a huge red flag given the credentials and experience of the Board President, the Board Treasurer, and the CFO. 

 

Bingo could actually be the magical savior. It was last time when in my board tenure we stopped the bingo embezzlement. All the sudden SCV was making money hand over fist and couldn't spend it fast enough. We had all the resources we needed if we would have only limited our ambitions to having two Corps. 

 

In regard to bingo now:

1) There was no Bingo operations representative at the board meeting. 

2) The over all guy in charge of running bingo lives in and works from Hawaii (yes, the state in the middle of the pacific ocean). 

3) It does not appear the Board has any visibility on Bingo Operations. Lord only knows what's going on there. 

[scheherazadesghost]

2 hours ago, Richard Lesher said:

In regard to bingo now:

1) There was no Bingo operations representative at the board meeting. 

2) The over all guy in charge of running bingo lives in and works from Hawaii (yes, the state in the middle of the pacific ocean). 

3) It does not appear the Board has any visibility on Bingo Operations. Lord only knows what's going on there. 

In an effort to report out from the alumni association meeting neutrally, here's what was said about this last night by the CEO:

He is on an Operations call every Tuesday

He reports Ops and Bingo are doing well and hungry to do better; no one is satisfied with current state

He said they are on an upward trajectory

(For alumni who read this, please note the pointed neutrality and that these are direct quotes without any opinion inserted. You'll also hopefully note that this is all positive communication outward.)

[IllianaLancerContra]

5 hours ago, Richard Lesher said:

They are sitting on audited financial statements (as a function of claiming they submitted all the required registrations to make them current), and continue to only verbally disclose selective financial information that is otherwise going to be public at some point in time as a function of submitting the 990s. 

This is a huge red flag given the credentials and experience of the Board President, the Board Treasurer, and the CFO. 

 

Bingo could actually be the magical savior. It was last time when in my board tenure we stopped the bingo embezzlement. All the sudden SCV was making money hand over fist and couldn't spend it fast enough. We had all the resources we needed if we would have only limited our ambitions to having two Corps. 

 

In regard to bingo now:

1) There was no Bingo operations representative at the board meeting. 

2) The over all guy in charge of running bingo lives in and works from Hawaii (yes, the state in the middle of the pacific ocean). 

3) It does not appear the Board has any visibility on Bingo Operations. Lord only knows what's going on there. 

How much day-to-day control can someone have on a bingo operation from Hawaii?   Seems that either

1- There would be someone local running the day-to-day bingo operation, which begs question ‘What value does Hawaii guy add?’, or

2- The bingo operation is running without close board oversight, which could lead to other problems such as funds going missing (as it did in past).  
 

 

[Richard Lesher]

23 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

How much day-to-day control can someone have on a bingo operation from Hawaii?   Seems that either

1- There would be someone local running the day-to-day bingo operation, which begs question ‘What value does Hawaii guy add?’, or

2- The bingo operation is running without close board oversight, which could lead to other problems such as funds going missing (as it did in past).  
 

 

I have a very lengthy and overly descriptive explanation for that. 

So here it goes:

 

Well............................duh........................................

 

 

 

[Reggi93]

For anyone curious...this is the last dataset for SVOG recipients.  

https://data.sba.gov/dataset/svog/resource/e99e8853-d322-4533-9231-a52b149d7444

I can speak in a lot of depth about several covid relief based programs that aided organizations in the activity.  PPP loans went through 2 rounds to assist with employee salary (W-2 only) and a percentage of overhead.  They were fully forgivable if you completed the process on time and stayed within the program parameters.  SVOG went through a primary award and a supplemental round.  Then there were a couple of appeal windows in there for those that felt the calculations and awards were incorrect.  My org benefitted greatly from our appeal.  Vanguard DID receive an award.  There is a required single audit of the entire org required to close out the award process and be forgiven of any potential penalty.  I absolutely cannot speak of any hiccups they may be experiencing during all of this and if they are at any risk with this award.  My orgs have both closed out and audited the award so we are clear.  The algorithm of the award process reduces the grant award if an org was granted a PPP award.  In order to stay clear of any PPP entanglements I advised my organization to stay away from W2 employee salaries when allocating SVOG money in the budget.  

I did not see the meeting nor did I read the reddit thread to truly understand what SCV was stating in regards to SVOG nor do I want to speak in any way that would signal smoke where there is no fire so I won't begin to surmise what they are speaking to or dealing with when it comes to the SVOG award they did receive.  

[Reggi93]

Also should state that my knowledge came from writing SVOG applications, supplementals, and appeals for 2 different organizations.  I have nightmares.  LOL

[Toby]

On 9/20/2023 at 11:37 AM, fighterkit said:

Agreed. 

600k is not a lot. Yes they will get more with member fees. But the fact of the matter is that they're a Cali corps and have to travel further. Gas will probably be 150-200k of costs alone. 

That 600k will be stretched thin, especially considering member fees cover very little when it comes to the actual cost for the member itself. 

I worry that SCV will approach this season like they are still a top 4 drum corps and spend way beyond their means and run out of money halfway through the season. 

Teal Soundta Clara Vanguard?