Old Guy Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 5 hours ago, cixelsyd said: Since everyone wants to increase "revenue", but no one will offer a specific idea... allow me. Suppose we challenge that assertion? For 11 weeks of housing, 4 meals a day, expert instruction in music/movement, and cross-country travel too, $5000 is a bargain. It is a bargain at twice the price. If we are to address this from the revenue side, then how about we charge members something closer to what this experience really costs? While it is a bargain, it could also be the most you can ask in your market. Not all corps have the same market and not all corps have the same attraction power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waliman4444 Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 " We'll Always have Paris"...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cixelsyd Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 34 minutes ago, ContraFart said: You were wrong 11 years ago and you are wrong now. You are entitled to that opinion. Quote You are making the assumption that drum corps cannot afford the equipment when they most clearly can. Cadets cannot afford 2024. That is not an assumption - they told us that in a press release. Quote Props are resold, equipment is resold. THEY ARE NOT THE ISSUE!!!!! Not all props are sold after use. Not all equipment is sold either, and that which is will not be worth the same amount as it was pre-season... so resale is unlikely to recoup cost unless an endorsement deal is so special as to compensate for that, which is a privilege only certain top corps ever have. Good for them. Bad for the other corps, of which there are fewer and fewer. I do not claim to know precisely how far out of balance Cadets are financially, so therefore I cannot (and do not) say whether any one of these line item costs (or any combination thereof) will be enough to bring them back to perennial feasibility. I can only suggest consideration of ideas generally, and with more vigor as corps financial failures become more frequent and higher reaching in the DCI aristocracy. Quote Cutting costs around the margins really does nothing to improve the activity or member experience. What? Folding up shop for the season completely ends the member experience. Quote You are treating a scratch on the head with a band aid when that persons leg has been chopped off. I think medically-induced coma would be the more appropriate analogy for being out for a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denverjohn Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 My 2 cents (adjusted for inflation). Energy costs affect everything. Drill baby, drill. (No marching pun intended.) 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ContraFart Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 11 minutes ago, cixelsyd said: You are entitled to that opinion. Cadets cannot afford 2024. That is not an assumption - they told us that in a press release. Not all props are sold after use. Not all equipment is sold either, and that which is will not be worth the same amount as it was pre-season... so resale is unlikely to recoup cost unless an endorsement deal is so special as to compensate for that, which is a privilege only certain top corps ever have. Good for them. Bad for the other corps, of which there are fewer and fewer. I do not claim to know precisely how far out of balance Cadets are financially, so therefore I cannot (and do not) say whether any one of these line item costs (or any combination thereof) will be enough to bring them back to perennial feasibility. I can only suggest consideration of ideas generally, and with more vigor as corps financial failures become more frequent and higher reaching in the DCI aristocracy. What? Folding up shop for the season completely ends the member experience. I think medically-induced coma would be the more appropriate analogy for being out for a year. I already said that we cannot speculate on why Cadets are out this season, but I will bet everything I own and will ever own that is it not props and electronics that is keeping them off the field next summer and they are not reason they are in this position. Trimming 3% off the top is not the make or break of getting a corps down the road, if it is, then they should not be on the road in the first place. Have you ever considered that maybe they are doing the right thing by taking a year off? That maybe they could get down the road this summer, but it would make things worse long term? It sucks, yes, but making the call this early was smart and responsible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Holland Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 Just now, ContraFart said: I already said that we cannot speculate on why Cadets are out this season, but I will bet everything I own and will ever own that is it not props and electronics that is keeping them off the field next summer and they are not reason they are in this position. Trimming 3% off the top is not the make or break of getting a corps down the road, if it is, then they should not be on the road in the first place. Have you ever considered that maybe they are doing the right thing by taking a year off? That maybe they could get down the road this summer, but it would make things worse long term? It sucks, yes, but making the call this early was smart and responsible. It is likely that the board had numbers for give (contributions) and get (beg borrow or steal) to meet, and they didn’t meet them by a large number. Which means you either then pass that deficit onto the members, or if it’s too large a gap, you either cripple your members experience to a 2 week seminar of a tour, or you go on hiatus while you try to figure out how to raise money. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Terri Schehr Posted October 15, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted October 15, 2023 I’m sad tonight. Maybe delayed grief. The show that changed EVERYTHING for me and I believe, the activity. I still remember that tenor break in Concerto in F like I had first heard it yesterday. I first saw this show in Madison, Wisconsin at Drums On and I was in love. I never thought much about Garfield before then. They certainly got my attention that night. Groundbreaking is a term overused in drum corps. This was legitimately groundbreaking. if posting this is not permitted, I apologize. 7 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Guy Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 Out of nowhere… Taking a break to catch you breath is sometime a necessity. But… If there was 50-100k missing… you keep going. 100-200k can be trim on a 2M budget 200k-1M…. What/who the ### happen/supervised the budget? I have the feeling pride sometime get in they way. Or further consideration such as worrying about attraction of new members if the corps doesn’t play at the same level or come out with a smaller corps, doesn’t have brand new instruments. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 7 hours ago, Slingerland said: Well aware of the concept. Completely misplaced (imho) when it comes to small, scrappy non-profits who have no reason to be trying to grow past the low 7 figures, economically, since they are landlocked in terms of how many kids they can serve. Individual corps are simply too small and their programming too specific to warrant significant investment from local foundations, when those foundations also have a plethora of museums, educational, and youth-at-risk programs asking for their resources. The org who has to worry about large scale donor and sponsor dollars is DCI - not the individual corps. Unlike the member corps, DCI can honestly say that they serve a client base in the thousands and that they have the eyeballs of hundreds of thousands of followers. The fact that they, as an organization, have so utterly failed at successfully landing major tour sponsors is an indictment of the leadership of the org, at both the Board and executive level. If there’s a thing about the new CEO that makes me hopeful, it’s that he appears to have some experience at developing those relationships. I’d argue that the bigger concern for local corps is lack of alumni support from throughout the activity. There are a few corps that do well in that regard (Cadets WERE successful, at one point), but not nearly enough who can say, with some confidence, that their alums can be counted on to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Those who say it’s a revenue problem are absolutely correct, but the “problem” has to do with the lack of support from the adults who have already benefitted from what the activity did for them. More’s the pity. The np I linked a few pages back, ADF, is roughly the same size and follows the model I mentioned. So has every other similar or smaller size np I've worked for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted October 15, 2023 Share Posted October 15, 2023 (edited) In response to a few of you: I'm super aware corps can't afford to hire a development pro. There are other ways, including making space for them on boards and starting partnerships with undergraduate and graduate programs who focus on that area and offer internships or other similar opportunities. Nothing is impossible. Especially if y'all stop trying to approach nps with your for profit perspectives. Edited October 15, 2023 by scheherazadesghost 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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