The Jackrabbit Speaks newsletter — affectionately known as the JRS — has been burning brains since 1997, when it was penned by the original Jackrabbit, now Burning Man Project’s CEO Marian Goodell. Earlier today Marian sent an important message, written in the style of her early JRS editions. We’ve shared it here in its entirety. Enjoy!
Hi,
If you’re getting this email it’s because you’ve probably had a ticket to Burning Man in the last 20 years.
Either Burning Man is still a huge part of your life, you F **#$% ing hate Burning Man, or maybe you’re ambivalent. Wherever you land, it’s probably been just as impactful for you as it has been for many of us.
What started for me in 1995 at the edge of a dry lakebed — where a tall man wearing a bedsheet and holding a plastic flamingo told me to “drive 12 miles to a black mountain and then left until you see five pointy things” — has evolved from a bunch of weirdos with guns into a global institution reimagining and reinventing what the world could be like if we did things a little bit differently.
Burning Man now is a worldwide cultural phenomenon that, since 1986, has been built and experienced by nearly a million people, both in Black Rock City and at more than 80 annual official events around the world. You may be one of those people. Whether or not you come to Black Rock City regularly, you are part of the community and we value the ways you have contributed to make Burning Man happen. Thank you.
It’s a little-known fact that revenue from tickets does not support the cultural movement that Burning Man has become. We do not want to raise ticket prices. In the name of Radical Inclusion, we actually prefer to lower them. But, the fact of the matter is that the cost to produce Black Rock City in 2023 was $749 per participant while the main sale ticket price was $575. You can read more about this inflection point and the reduced ticket sales in 2024 and how this has forced a much larger fundraising goal to keep operations going. Or explore the summary financial information going back 10 years to see how the higher-priced tickets have been subsidizing the event for some time, and how the drop in those sales threatens Burning Man.
The plan for 2025 and beyond is to flip the script. It’s time to think about the most Burning Man way to close this gap.
No, we won’t go towards corporate sponsorship, additional RV fees or merchandise sales. Instead, we will turn to the community and invite participation and support to help fill the gap. Yes, we have reduced the number of regular year-round employees on staff, and we’re diving into the budget to trim what is already a lean and tight Black Rock City infrastructure and nonprofit management. But that alone isn’t enough.
Now is the time to ensure that Burning Man can persist into the future — not just as an annual event in the desert, but as a cultural institution that will be here decades from now, empowering future generations to reimagine the world they live in.
I would certainly prefer that our focus be solely on pushing the edge, rather than having to raise money all the time. But as we continue to provide containers for the future to be prototyped, we operate in the context of the default world, and that requires ongoing charitable support year after year to keep this thing going.
You already know we’re not a normal nonprofit — we never wanted to be “normal.” But we are a nonprofit and to keep doing what we do, we need your help.
F-*&$ commercial sponsorship! \<>/
Contribute today so we can:
- Prototype new ways of living, working and being together
- Support art and artists through grants
- Get Black Rock City off fossil fuels
- Nurture Burning Man culture around the world
- Capture the DNA of what we are doing to hand off to the next generation
- Get funky and bring more cacophony of chaos
We are moments away from announcing the Black Rock City 2025 theme — one that’s rich with creative possibilities! Simultaneously, community-led Temple and art teams hopeful for an art grant are hard at work on their proposals for the 2025 event. We urgently need your support to finish 2024 and prepare for 2025 and beyond.
If your friendships, community, family, or personal life have benefited or could benefit from the magic, creativity, and inspiration of Burning Man, I urge you to please support the movement with a gift today.
How much would you pay to keep corporate sponsorship out of Burning Man?
Listen, I am happy to fundraise — it’s an important part of who we are and what we need to do. But, let’s not get so tangled up in that part of the process that we lose sight of what my colleagues and I are driven to do with you. We’re facilitating the building of a massive city on a dry lakebed. Our relationships and friendships with 1,000 temporary seasonal employees help further drive and facilitate 10,000 volunteers directly related to the city infrastructure, who in turn are in service to the 75,000 participant creators of one hell of a magical Brigadoon appearing and disappearing in the middle of the desert. And then THAT brings collaboration, communication, empowerment, resilience, self-reflection and joy back to the world.
I don’t want to raise ticket prices. I wish we could offer Black Rock City as a gift for free. I want more art. I want ephemeral pop-up cities around the world thriving with life and possibility. We are not in service to consumption. We are in service to social interaction. Let’s realize the cultural impact that the experiences we have at Burning Man events can have in the cities and towns we all live our day-to-day lives in. This is the long game toward a cultural shift, and I believe strongly that Burning Man has a role to play.
As our dear friend and OG Burner Larry Harvey once said:
“We think Burning Man has great application to the world, but a larger iteration can only occur as people incorporate the essential ethos of it. The Ten Principles are meant to describe that ethos, that way of life; and then, by their own inspiration and by collaboration with others in the everyday world, people will find applications that are as various as the many gifts they bring to it. It has to be culturally transmitted that way.”
He also spoke about money not “being inherently good,” nor “irretrievably bad,” and that money can be made “to serve non-monetary values in a way that’s self-sustaining” to the culture.
“If there is a moral here, it is that money isn’t moral. It is not inherently good, it is not irretrievably bad; it is like water as it tumbles in its pell-mell progress through our world. But money can be canalized by culture; it can be made to serve non-monetary values in a way that’s self-sustaining.”
It is with these words in my heart that I ask you to join me as I am turning my annual donation into a recurring monthly donation.
Whether or not you regularly attend Burning Man, I hope you’ll join all of us in supporting Burning Man in Black Rock City and in the cultural work that we do out in the world.
Stick with us as we unfold the story together. \<>/
Thank you,
Marian
P.S. Why aren’t we all covering the logos on our trucks like we used to? Let’s make that a thing again. )*(
Cover image of The Man, 1995 (Photo by Rick Egan)
I’m confused. You don’t want corporate sponsorships, but Burning Man already serves monetary interests in a way that is contrary to equity.
Rather than hitting everyone up with a fundraising email, could you not just charge an extra $10k each to the hundreds of people arriving by charter flights to Black Rock City? I’m sure most tech bros will be more than happy to pay such a paltry sum (relative to their income).
Report comment
Word
Report comment
FFS, did you really just ask: “How much would you pay to keep corporate sponsorship out of Burning Man?” Really? First off, that’s the wrong question. Secondly, $0.00 USD, and the hell with you for asking.
Report comment
Your cost/ticket price comparison is a very misleading simplification. Besides tickets, participants also pay $millions each year for vehicle passes, bus and plane fees, OSS fees, fuel fees, and others. On the costs side, you spent $32million+ on BRC during covid when BRC didn’t exist? Perhaps there are valid explanations, but without more details, these numbers are unconvincing to say the least.
Report comment
25+ year burner, dozens of regionals, have volunteered in every possible way, built honoraria grants, art cars, theme camps, etc etc. I have thousands of burner friends around the world from all walks of life. Do you how many of them have re-posted these recent requests for donations? Zero. Leadership has lost the ear, the confidence, and the respect of the community you supposedly are leading. The “world movement” you supposedly have been blowing the budget on is embarrassed by you. Something has to change.
Report comment
Gerry, what you are saying makes me very sad. As a 5 year burner, what do you think is in that? How can burning man engage with that heart and soul again?
Report comment
As a Reno resident I would just soon that Burning Man dried up and blew away forever. These burner drop bags of trash in every parking lot in town as they are traveling to and from this filthy even. The highways are littered with burning man trash and broken down and abandoned vehicles. Now let’s talkabout environmental issues when burner open their black tanks and drive away spewing raw sewage on the highways. Burning man will hopefully go away..forever because nevada doesn’t want them anymore!
Report comment
wow, having raised funds for the event after the 1997 shortfall, you know I get why this is important, BUT- why don’t you give us donors more play at the policy and design decisions being made? us elder burners are missing the TAZ and radical inclusion of days gone by. and now we see there is a significant under attendance by people of color and basically zero attempt at managing the ecological spewage being left each time there is a burn or a week long 24 hour parade of emission control free art cars… IF you open a democratic process for those kinds of concerns to be addressed, let the monthly donations begin.
Report comment
Members of the community are deeply involved in shaping the culture and design of Burning Man. All you need to do is get involved. During the COVID-19 pandemic in particular we did open a democratic process in Burning Man HIVE that invited the community to design key aspects of Black Rock City. These conversations continue. Participant-led groups such as Renewables for Artists Team (RAT) https://www.renewablesforartiststeam.org/ and Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps (BLAST) https://www.greenthemecampcommunity.org/blast (which got its start at a Fly Ranch campout) are teaching Burners in Black Rock City and in the global community to reduce their environmental impact. What’s more, in 2024 187 (26%) Mutant Vehicles were electric, with 77 charged by renewable energy. If you look at demographic data from the Black Rock City Census (https://blackrockcitycensus.org/sociodemo), since 2013 the event has attracted a growing number of people of color. Throughout the year, many opportunities open to discuss projects that massively impact Black Rock City — such as the upcoming Renewable Energy Burner Symposium on December 7. Details coming in the next Jackrabbit Speaks newsletter (subscribe here: https://burningman.org/news/jrs/).
Report comment
It’s time for new leadership. I was one who thought the renegade burn in 2021 was one of the best. It was all about the people who created instant community on the playa. Yes, I missed the big art and the porta potties, but not much else. It was a return to earlier days and the true spirit of Burning Man.
Under current leadership it’s been about – I don’t know exactly what – investing in Fly Ranch (sell it), salaries for board members (most non profits don’t pay board members), separate commissaries for the anointed (let them eat dust like the rest of us). I could go on, but I’ll echo some of the comments above, this is not what Burning Man was about originally nor should it be its future.
So, drop the pretension and get back to basics or all you’ll have attending the burn are well heeled corporate types that can afford to buy in to this bullshit. I donated during the COVID years. I’m no inclined to donate any more.
Report comment
Can you say more about salaries for board members? I’m not finding that info anywhere and I am curious.
Big thanks for any details on this you can point me to.
Report comment
Here’s a breakdown: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/452638273
Report comment
Soooo, the thing was a cash cow for years and now it’s struggling? Just sell some decent merch already. It doesn’t have to be prison labor crap, but something that is easily personalized or serves as a foundation for bigger things, maybe some modular constructions that people could assemble in the dust. Do some videos on the different platforms and generate revenue through their own clever financial instruments. Jeese, y’all are supposed to be enlightened. Read the damn principles again.
Report comment
Marian, thank you for your hard work and leadership. I’m not surprised by the three negative and bitter comments on your fundraising request, because snark is such a part of the participation in the community (apparently). But to criticize the reality of the situation you’re in without any empathy at all doesn’t seem right. In a world full of for-profit endeavors that have to make money to exist, and non-profit endeavors that have to ask for money from the people who made their profits elsewhere, the idea that Burning Man might want to at least try to reach out to those who have attended – many who love the event dearly – rather than just keep raising ticket prices, makes perfect sense. When a 25-year Burner says you’ve lost the confidence of the community, it makes me sad… but not for you so much as them. It’s so easy to be a critic and so hard to actually get things done… and the thousands of friends and fabulous experiences they talk about are of course enabled by countless hours of organization and planning and hard work that create the structure in which the anarchy and the creativity can exist. Anyway, participating in Burning Man over ten years has made me a better person. Highly imperfect, and always having to learn again what I’ve forgotten about being good, but better because that beautiful place gave me an opportunity to practice being my best self. Thanks to you for all you’ve done, and a modest donation is on the way from, yours truly, Wampus aka Learning Curve.
“Somewhere there are places where we have really been, dear spaces of our deeds and faces, scenes we remember as unchanging because there we changed.” – W.H. Auden
Report comment
Thank YOU Wampus for your support, and for understanding that what we do year-round is far from easy. But it is always oh, so worth it.
Report comment
Can I get an amen from the congregation? Because hell yes, this.
Report comment
What if the development of a communal community that is based on our principles that focuses entirely on self reliance, environmental sustainability exploration, that would be a year round burning man experience. The ability to live the 10 principles year round, have the art and discovery of self be not limited to the singular event. Have this development be funded by crowdfunding and donations. Building a portion of the facilities to be almost airbnbish offering “camps”, classes, retreats with special speakers or teachers. Allowing burning man to get again be the example in self reliance without having to beg for donations from within the community but instead having the funds from all of this community be used directly or indirectly to off set funds IF and WHEN absolutely necessary. This community does not have to be non profit, but giving a tangible possibly globally significant experience or space. All in the name of being the change we wish to see. This would give the opportunity to be a burner year round. Full time. I could just imagine the leaps and bounds that would be made across the societal board if this became a reality.
Report comment
1 Sell fly ranch
2 Stop traveling around the world talking about how amazing it all is
3 Just produce the event, quit all other projects
If you can’t sort that out, get new leadership
.
..
…
Remember when, during a zoom thing trying to get TCOs to convince their campers to donate money, you answered my question about selling fly ranch and other properties with “fly ranch is the future of burning man” ?
I do
The thing is that I don’t trust you with my money. The event sold out for years. YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD ENOUGH SET ASIDE ENOUGH FOR THE ENTIRELY FORESEEABLE POSSIBILITY YOU WOULD NEED TO TAKE A YEAR OFF.
You have done and said nothing in the interim to make me believe that you have learned from this. Also, threatening us with corporate sponsorship or other anti 10 principles crap is a bad look.
Report comment
Not sure how the funds are being handled, but can you ask Google for more money? Since “Google, the tech giant and world’s most popular search engine, has acquired the majority share of Burning Man festival. 51.2%” (initial reports from the website).
I thought there was some sort of corporate sponsorship, however, it seems that is not the case.
Maybe another solution is investing in government bonds like what some scholarships do I.e money donated gets invested into a long term government bond, and the interest off the investment pays for the scholarships. It takes a year to generate interest and after that year 5% of the interest goes to the scholarship. For each donation, their is an administration fee to keep the office going.
I undersrand it is an non profit and have different rules and protocals, but maybe it will spark some ideas or solutions to funding.
Report comment
It makes us laugh that this April Fool’s joke, posted years ago by a news website, is still circulating and that people believe it. No, Google does not own any percentage of Burning Man Project, and never has.
Report comment
1- get me on the board, paid or not. What I could do with the money, tho!
2- take over a hospitality exchange lodging network, instant two-way pipeline, subscription to That aspect more feasible.
3- develop a genuinely free ticket allotment for verifiable ‘do-gooders’ who volunteer out in the default world a minimum threshold per year, again, verifiable. Can’t win that lottery more than x times in y years.
Report comment
Fund subsequent events from previous years proceeds. Everything beyond that is used to fund the other “projects”. Your failure to lead will be the end of Burning Man. If you think attendance was low this year just wait until you abandon the remaing fragile principals. If you ever accept corporate sponsorships and commodify the event you will lose you last few loyal Burners. No one will attend Coachella on the Playa. You are single handedly destroying the magic that was Burning Man. As a CEO you have failed and need to be replaced. It’s not too late for competent leadership to rescue the event. All that stands in the way is your greed and pride.
Report comment
20 year burner. 40 year small business owner. Management means keeping things operating smoothly on a regular basis. Leadership is navigating the operation through storms, dramatic change, and unexpected realities. The org’s expense budget needs to shrink until it’s less than the cost to produce the event. It also needs to distinguish between essential expenses required for the event to happen, and the niceties that years of abundance have allowed to bloat on to the budget. My companies were constantly under threat of being dragged under by unexpected changes of one kind or another. It is essential that a large amount of the budget becomes optional…only available if things are abundant, and ready to be pulled when the trend is downward revenues from sales. The renegade burn showed us all that the orgs millions of dollars of efforts were not actually essential. Suck it up buttercup, the market is only giving you x in ticket sales, so your budget needs to be 30-50% less than the actual revenue, or the org will eventually die, unless generous donors rescue it again. Another way to look at it is your budget has to be 30-50% less than estimated total ticket sales, plus donations actually received.
Report comment
Roger that, Dr. Dave. I don’t know Jack about running a business, but I do know that you generally need to have at least as much coming in as you do going out, or the thing won’t work. Where does all the money go? Artist grants? I love artists, but maybe we have to cut back a little. Payoff to feds? Look for private land. Commercial services? More volunteers – I’ll come out and cook for a month; pay me nothing. Time to create a different “business model” (if that’s the right expression).
Report comment
This is getting more and more ridiculous, now with the scare-tactic email showing the photoshopped Burger King sign. You aren’t respecting the intelligence and commitment of the people you are asking from. The “summary financial information” does not explain why the costs of the event spiked by 50% from 2019 to 2022. Why? What drove that spike? At this moment, no one is explaining if it was driven by permit costs, fuel costs, and/or good old fashioned hubris. If the event cost is out of control, I don’t want to hear about a global mission, get the Nevada/Cal house in order first. My confidence in the management of this event is rapidly declining with each condescending ask for money. Give us some unvarnished information we can work with.
Report comment
Wow, you’d rather sell out on everything that BM stands for than admit failure and stop doing it?
There is no burning man with sponsorships. If more money is being wasted than what burners can or want to give to it, it’s the end of BM. It’s that easy. Throw a fucking festival and call it something else, but don’t offend actual burners with a thread that makes no sense.
Report comment
I guess I don’t understand why this thing has to be so expensive. There are a gazillion volunteers (like me) working for either nothing or modest perks (like commissary meals) building, driving, and serving in various other ways. I know we provide grants to artists, and that’s important, but there has to be a better way to make this thing sustainable. We might just need a simpler model.
There’s also the massive annual payoff to the feds; that’s a real issue. In some ways I think we’ve become hostages. Maybe it’s time to move to private land.
Report comment
Not sure when u all decided that u need to stick ur fingers & micromanage the “growth”…. There is no “world infiltration/domination” principle. If you want to run a cultural institution, then create another org. For all the deco modification talk, u’re essentially commodifying and using “the brand” for board/ mission purposes. How much would the tix really be if u removed the cost of ur over-reach?
Report comment