PARTNERSHIP COMMITMENT &
FINANCIAL DUE DILIGENCE
Virginia Beach Competitive Arts Festival 2027 · NACPA Charter Participation
Purpose of this packet. Directors committing their students, instructional time, and booster funds to a newly formed governing body are entitled to verify the solvency, governance, and contractual posture of the organization asking for that commitment. This document answers those questions in writing. It is prepared for review by department chairs, institutional business offices, and booster leadership, and is suitable for a procurement or travel-approval file.
Corporate & Fiscal Structure
Who the institution is contracting with, and under what legal form.
| Entity | Legal Form | Role | Fiscal Posture |
|---|---|---|---|
| J M McMillan Enterprises, Inc. | Benefit Corporation (Parent) | Holds platform technology, operating infrastructure, and commercial contracts. Benefit Corporation status legally binds the entity to a public-benefit purpose alongside financial return. | Commercial operating entity |
| Sound Achievement Foundation (SAF) | 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Public Charity | Charitable arm. Receives donations, administers Future Legends scholarships, and backs the Triad of Student Agency curriculum. All student-facing philanthropic funds flow through SAF. | Tax-deductible contributions; annual Form 990 filing |
| National Alliance and Coalition for Performing Arts (NACPA) | 501(c)(3) Governing Body | Sanctioning authority for collegiate competitive arts. Issues charters, publishes adjudication standards, maintains divisional structure, and governs Safe Arts policy. | Institutional dues basis; governance independent of festival operations |
| Viable Arts Alliance (VAA) | Operating Division | Public platform, ensemble services, and festival operations delivery. | Service revenue |
Charitable and governance functions are held in separate 501(c)(3) entities from the commercial operating entity. This separation is deliberate: sanctioning authority and student philanthropy do not sit inside the company that sells services.
Institutional Standing & Independent Verification
The public registrations that establish this organization is cleared to receive public and institutional funds.
Our organization is a registered vendor at the federal, state, and local levels, and our charitable arm is a vetted Benevity Causes organization. Each is a matter of public record and may be verified directly at the source named.
| Vetting Authority | Registry | Identifier | Registered Holder | Verify At |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Federal Government | SAM.gov — System for Award Management | UEI VT2XH74A9AS4 | J M McMillan Enterprises, Inc. | sam.gov entity search |
| Commonwealth of Virginia | eVA — Virginia eProcurement Portal | Active registered supplier | J M McMillan Enterprises, Inc. | eVA public Vendor’s List |
| City of Virginia Beach | Municipal vendor file | Registered vendor | J M McMillan Enterprises, Inc. | City of Virginia Beach Purchasing |
| Benevity Causes | Vetted charitable organization — corporate giving network | Cause ID 840-462223835 | Sound Achievement Foundation (SAF) | Benevity Causes Portal |
Federal, state, and municipal procurement apply independent standards, and Benevity validates charities before corporate partners may give to them. Clearing all four allows us to invoice an institutional business office and receive corporate matching gifts without exception handling.
Fee Structure
Every rate the institution will be asked to pay, stated in full.
| Tier | Amount | Basis | What It Includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director Registration Fee | $450 — waived for 2027 | per director registration; waived for every Inaugural Charter Member in the 2027 season with a signed partnership agreement | WOODSHED+ and Triad of Student Agency access, adjudicated performance slot, GNN performance report card, and institutional participation documentation. |
| Music & Arts Intensive — Scholar Rate | $150 | per participating student | Intensive track enrollment, clinician instruction, performance participation, lifetime Future Legends standing, and Academy platform access. |
| NACPA Institutional Dues | $1 | per rostered Collegiate Competitive Performer, annually | Charter standing, divisional placement, sanctioning eligibility, and governance voice. Deliberately nominal — dues are a governance instrument, not a revenue line. |
There are no additional mandatory fees, adjudication surcharges, or per-performance assessments beyond the rates listed above. Any optional service is quoted separately and requires separate written authorization.
Fund Flow & Financial Controls
How money moves from the parent to the organization, and what the director controls at each step.
The director receives a single institutional invoice covering their ensemble. No individual student is invoiced by us. The institution or booster organization remains the counterparty of record.
Director control: Written invoice with reference number, itemized headcount, and stated due date.
A 90-day Commitment & Remittance cycle allows parents to split payments through the booster organization on the schedule the program already uses.
Director control: Director controls collection method, timing, and any internal fundraising offset.
The institution remits the collected total directly to the designated operating account. Payment processing runs through Stripe — no third-party intermediary holds program funds.
Director control: Transaction-level receipt issued to the institution for its own audit file.
Each remittance is reconciled against the invoice and a written participation confirmation is issued to the institution, naming the ensemble, headcount, and event standing.
Director control: Director-facing reconciliation record available on request at any time.
Scholars participating through a director-remitted registration receive lifetime Future Legends standing — permanent access to Academy programming at no further cost.
Director control: Standing recorded per scholar and independent of future payments.
Written Commitments
What is guaranteed to the institution — and what the institution is never asked to surrender.
What the institution receives in writing
- A named charter or participation agreement identifying the institution, ensemble, and director of record.
- A stated adjudication standard published in advance of the event — no scoring criteria introduced after commitment.
- A performance report card for every scored ensemble, delivered regardless of placement.
- Documentation suitable for the institution's own procurement, travel-approval, and audit files.
What the institution is not asked to accept
- No exclusivity. Participation does not restrict the ensemble from any other circuit, festival, or association.
- No multi-year lock-in as a condition of the inaugural event.
- No individual student contracts. The institution is the sole counterparty.
- No assignment of the ensemble's media rights beyond the event footage expressly identified in the agreement.
Adjudication integrity commitments
- Scoring is self-competitive: the Institutional Trajectory pillar measures each program against its own prior arc, not against a peer.
- Creative Resonance measures fidelity to the ensemble's own stylistic intent — style variance is preserved, not penalized.
- Composite weighting is published: Technical Precision 40%, Creative Resonance 30%, Institutional Trajectory 30%.
- Data-driven indexing is used to reduce single-adjudicator subjectivity, with written adjudication notes provided.
Risk Disclosures
The questions directors are right to ask, answered without evasion.
A. Municipal and grant funding is actively pursued to expand scope, production value, and scholarship capacity. The core competitive event is structured to proceed on institutional participation revenue and private partnership. Directors are told plainly which elements are funded and which are contingent.
A. Institutional remittances are tracked against a named invoice and reconciled per institution. In the event of cancellation, the institution's reconciliation record is the basis for resolution, and the institution is notified in writing with the reconciled position.
A. Payments process through Stripe directly into the designated operating account. No third-party festival promoter or intermediary escrow holds program funds.
A. The National Alliance and Coalition for Performing Arts (NACPA) is a newly formed governing body, fiscally sponsored by the Sound Achievement Foundation (SAF), a 501(c)(3). Directors joining in this cycle are founding charter members and are told so directly. The value proposition is founding governance voice, not inherited institutional history.
A. Charitable support flows through the Sound Achievement Foundation, a 501(c)(3). Directors may direct booster or donor interest to SAF for tax-deductible contribution toward scholar participation costs.
Next Steps
The path from review to executed participation.
- 1Review this packet with your department chair, business office, and booster leadership.
- 2Submit written questions to viablearts@viableartsllc.com — a written response is returned, not a verbal assurance.
- 3Request a reconciliation sample and a blank participation agreement for your procurement file.
- 4Schedule a director briefing to walk the adjudication model line by line.
- 5Execute the participation agreement and receive your institutional invoice with the 90-day remittance cycle.