Siggamiggon Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Allowing a few weeks to pass . . . How much, on average did each alum spend on participating? If each alum spent, on average, (plane tickets, time off of work, food, etc, etc,) $500 (and that is a conservative figure, over a several week period) and there was 250 alums whom participated, that would be about $125,000 in toto ($500 x 250 = $125,000, double that figure and you have a quarter of a mil) just think what the Scouts could have done with that money had the Alums spent the money more wisely by donating it to their alma mater instead of having (RE)lived their childhood dreams (Peter Pan Syndrome???) which provided a rather "ho hum" crowd worth of 15 minutes of entertainment, by putting that money to better use??? (In other words, was it REALLY worth it, considering the legacy of the SCOUTS is in limbo). (e.g. corps are going belly up due to $$$ and the Scouts of late have had rumors about their financial stability--maybe if the corps had the resources we would not be having the discussions on this board why they are in the bottom tier and not vying for the top spot like the others) Hey Alum, you had your time, get over it, and provide the resources to the next generation. By "showing up" the new generation is unprofessional, and defintely not in the Scout Tradition--that being classy. What say you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dckid80 Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 :feednotroll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdon15 Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Allowing a few weeks to pass . . . How much, on average did each alum spend on participating? If each alum spent, on average, (plane tickets, time off of work, food, etc, etc,) $500 (and that is a conservative figure, over a several week period) and there was 250 alums whom participated, that would be about $125,000 in toto ($500 x 250 = $125,000, double that figure and you have a quarter of a mil) just think what the Scouts could have done with that money had the Alums spent the money more wisely by donating it to their alma mater instead of having (RE)lived their childhood dreams (Peter Pan Syndrome???) which provided a rather "ho hum" crowd worth of 15 minutes of entertainment, by putting that money to better use??? (In other words, was it REALLY worth it, considering the legacy of the SCOUTS is in limbo). (e.g. corps are going belly up due to $$$ and the Scouts of late have had rumors about their financial stability--maybe if the corps had the resources we would not be having the discussions on this board why they are in the bottom tier and not vying for the top spot like the others) Hey Alum, you had your time, get over it, and provide the resources to the next generation. By "showing up" the new generation is unprofessional, and defintely not in the Scout Tradition--that being classy. What say you? As Shiela Broflovski would say... "What what what?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siggamiggon Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 Apparenlty you both miss the point-- Corps are going belly up (like the corps you marched) and there is a serious issue about the scouts and their financial stability. Why do Alumni have to spend money (lots of it) to relive their youth when the money could be better spent by contributing to their alma mater and giving the youth of tomorrow a greater opportunity????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vferrera Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) You completely missed the point. The performances were just the icing on the cake. The main thing was the "reunion" aspect of the project. If anything the MSARP re-energized the Scouts alumni base. I think it also gave the current Scouts a boost in morale at the end of a long, difficult season. As part of the project, the organizers (Scott Pearson and Randy Ferrie) compiled an alumni database that the Scouts can now use for fundraising. Many "lost" alumni were brought back into the fold. Also, I had 16 family members at semifinals, none of whom would have gone otherwise, so that's about $600 for DCI. Now my niece is interested in color guard, something she had never thought about before. In dollar terms, the "official" costs were $250 per member. $50 of that went to the Scouts, so that generated about $12,500. After the performance on Weds Aug 9th, the Scouts got a check for $15,000. Overall, the project directly resulted in about $27,500 for the Scouts. As for the total costs per member, it varied quite a bit. A lot of guys were local, so their costs were minimal. I was coming from NYC, so I probably spent a total of about $2500. That didn't reduce my usual annual donation to the Scouts. The MSARP was a win-win for everyone involved - the alum, the Scouts, the fans and DCI. You sound like Scrooge complaining about all the money that is "wasted" on Christmas. Edited September 3, 2006 by vferrera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Most alumni members take care of their own financial issues and are not reliant upon the corps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJH Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) Allowing a few weeks to pass . . . How much, on average did each alum spend on participating? If each alum spent, on average, (plane tickets, time off of work, food, etc, etc,) $500 (and that is a conservative figure, over a several week period) and there was 250 alums whom participated, that would be about $125,000 in toto ($500 x 250 = $125,000, double that figure and you have a quarter of a mil) just think what the Scouts could have done with that money had the Alums spent the money more wisely by donating it to their alma mater instead of having (RE)lived their childhood dreams (Peter Pan Syndrome???) which provided a rather "ho hum" crowd worth of 15 minutes of entertainment, by putting that money to better use??? (In other words, was it REALLY worth it, considering the legacy of the SCOUTS is in limbo). (e.g. corps are going belly up due to $$$ and the Scouts of late have had rumors about their financial stability--maybe if the corps had the resources we would not be having the discussions on this board why they are in the bottom tier and not vying for the top spot like the others) Hey Alum, you had your time, get over it, and provide the resources to the next generation. By "showing up" the new generation is unprofessional, and defintely not in the Scout Tradition--that being classy. What say you? Let me guess... You want to take from each according to his abilities and give to each according to his needs!? <$1 to socialists everywhere> Listen, if you want to go after somebody because your favorite corps is on the verge of folding (or has already folded), take a look at the entire DCI organization. They have allowed an environment to develope that allows corps to feel like they need a million dollar budget to even compete. Madison Alumni gave over $25,000 to their corps. In pre DCI days, that was more than the budget of many (maybe all) top corps. Face it, DCI is no longer about the marching members. It has grown in to a place for drill designers, horn arrangers, percussion writers, and all kinds of band staff to compete. Maybe they could change the name to BSSI or Bando Staff Self Importance. Every year DCI gets closer to becoming "Super Band Competition". For God's sake, they don't even play bugles anymore. I'll tell you what, kid... Take your corps dues for next year and donate them to the homeless shelter, then spend your weekends picking up trash in your neighborhood and donate your computer to the local reading program, then come back and talk to us about making some self-less donations. When you grow up and see that the real world isn't about handing out money to what ever worthy causes that come along, you'll understand why these people took the time to share a very important life experience with each other once again. BTW, grow a pair and sign your post the next time you want to spank someone in public. Edited September 3, 2006 by MJH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siggamiggon Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) vferrera: It appears that the whopping $27,500 provided enough food and gas for the corps for three days. If the alumni provided to the corps the money they spent and put it in a trust the corps would not have to worry for finances for at least a year. You already marched. If you want to march again there are plenty of DCA corps out east--would not the money be better spent by Alumni by providing the corps a strong financial base to insure its existence and its competitive edge for years to come??? Also, if your niece wanted to try out drum corps--she could have went to any show--she would not be elible for the Scouts. So saying the alumni show put her world upside down is going a bit far. In addition, your 16 + family members came to watch you--not DCI. Did any of them really give a hoot about the Scouts program and its longevity? Did they put money in the coffers??? Edited September 3, 2006 by Siggamiggon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomR Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 (edited) I missed the memo that said the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle corps is fiscally irresponsible. I got stuff in the mail almost daily from corps asking to supply for their fuel funds... not one time did I get something from Madison. So either Madison is just fine with their finances, or they are just not doing a good enough job... I'm thinking it's the first of the two. I don't see why you're blaming anything on the Madison Alumni corps. ~>conner Edited September 3, 2006 by PhantomR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vferrera Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 vferrera:It appears that the whopping $27,500 provided enough food and gas for the corps for three days. If the alumni provided to the corps the money they spent and put it in a trust the corps would not have to worry for finances for at least a year. You already marched. If you want to march again there are plenty of DCA corps out east--would not the money be better spent by Alumni by providing the corps a strong financial base to insure its existence and its competitive edge for years to come??? The corps newsletter used to publish the alumni donations. In a typical year, they would add up to about $12K. So we more than doubled that. Plus, as I pointed out, the corps now has a huge, up-to-date alumni database for fundraising. By your reasoning, people should give up all luxuries and donate the savings to charity. How much did you contribute? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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