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Donations and Expenses: Here's the deal!
by Maid Marian

Thanks for your interest in donating to Burning Man. 1997 was a difficult year for us. Our financial and attendance goals were eaten up by our battle and with Washoe County. Our ticket sales did not cover our costs. Some bills are still trickling in, but can be estimated as follows:

$29,000 in outstanding checks that have been written, which are currently being covered by donations. All of these costs are related services immediately before and during the event. Our box office receipts were impounded and, as now admitted by the County, we were overcharged. (These bills include such services as water trucks, portable toilets and road grading.)

$20,000-30,000 to the landlord (our agreement with her stipulated that she be paid each day during the event based upon a per-person per-day accounting, but the Washoe County impoundment of fees rendered this impossible)

$19,000 in loans made to Burning Man in March to publish the Spring Newsletter, and another infusion in July to produce the Survival Guide and tickets.

$16,000 in services, food and gas to the Empire Store for support of people and machinery during July and August.

$12,000 in outstanding charges (many on credit cards) for truck rentals on site, phone bills at Empire office and for 7 staff members for August, computer rentals (since it was cheaper than purchase-3), and other administrative charges that are too numerous to mention.

$32,000 (total) in salaries for 8 people.

Ideally, when planning the event, we were to have had cash left over this year for three primary areas:

Communication: There is a strong need for a Winter Newsletter. In the past ticket sales began in the Spring with the Newsletter, Building Burning Man. This year demands a Winter publication. Each mailing to 8-10,000 individuals costs money.

Admin: We are all still making phone calls, tracking down media, settling issues with Washoe, faxing agreements back and forth. There is still xeroxing to be done in order to keep this alive.

Personnel: The Director works 365 days a year on Burning Man and has made it his life's work; in addition, we have come to a point where it is no longer possible for some staff members to work 40-50 hours a week at one job to come home and/or attend meetings that require another 40 hours of work. We need several part-time individuals to manage the process.

Office: We need a central office. Burning Man currently functions out of about 10 homes, but centralizing some of the filing systems and databases would improve our production process. We have NO consistent home or meeting place.

Travel: In addition to having already attended 2 county meetings, staff members have begun to explore opportunities in other counties for the next event.

All of the above, however, involve a stable cash flow, which would have been possible had our expectations for our relationship with the County been what we hoped.

Should incoming donations exceed the outstanding debt we will begin to cover costs for the present, as they are now mounting. The week after Burning Man two staff members had to attend a meeting in Reno. How are members of the staff to pay for this?

I encourage you to share what you can with us. Donations can be made to our mail box: Burning Man, P.O. Box 420572, San Francisco, CA 94142-0572.

Donations of $100 will receive a ticket for next year, and a commemorative "goodie". Part of the cost is a donation, part goes towards the ticket. Those able to afford $500 will find themselves in possession of 5 tickets that can be used at anytime in the future --all at once or at different times. AND, receive the book, Burning Man.

Those that are interested in donating at a higher rate will receive benefits from the $500 range. If you are interested in tax-deductible status please contact the Climate Theater, 415-626-6422, whom we have a relationship with, ask for Marcia or Joegh.

We must continue creating Burning Man as it is an opportunity for creativity, community and self-expression like this world has never seen.

In a few weeks we will release an accounting of our 1997 expenses here on the web site.

Cheers, thank you, and I'll see you on the playa.
Maid Marian
Mistress of Communication
Burning Man 1997
marian@burningman.com