You may have heard about our fundraising efforts and that we need ongoing charitable support to keep making Burning Man happen, in the Black Rock Desert and all over the world.
These FAQs provide info about Burning Man Project’s mission, programs, and funding. Stick with us as together we work to secure Burning Man as a cultural institution that will be here decades from now, empowering future generations to reimagine the world they live in.
NONPROFIT
Why is it important for Burning Man Project to facilitate programs beyond Black Rock City?
For the nonprofit to fulfill its mission “to facilitate and extend the culture that has issued from the Burning Man event into the larger world,” it means making Burning Man culture accessible through diversified, impactful programming.
People naturally come to us with ideas for how they can create participatory events and experiences, support community resilience, or carry out disaster relief work. We give them tools and knowledge to create projects and events that are decommodified, participatory and inspired by our culture.
Burning Man is not, nor has it ever been, “just a festival.” Black Rock City serves as the heart and foundation of our global community and will always remain our priority. But, to focus solely on producing the event would be doing a disservice to all the amazing people and projects that are actively bringing the Burning Man ethos to the world.
What role do Northern Nevada properties, including Fly Ranch, and programs like the Regionals and Burners Without Borders (BWB) play in advancing Burning Man’s mission?
Burning Man’s Northern Nevada properties provide the platform for prototyping the community and regenerative practices of the future.
Campouts at Fly Ranch, for example, have produced and fueled participant efforts around sustainability, including: Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps (BLAST), Renewables for Artists Team (RAT), and the Green Theme Camp Community. All of these groups bring their forward-thinking solutions to life in Black Rock City and iterate towards solutions for the world. Additionally, the nature walks at Fly Ranch are open to the public.
Other properties are used to store Black Rock City infrastructure, which saves on trucking from Reno and allows us to maintain extensive assets used to deploy BRC. Our year round presence in Gerlach supports the event and culture.
For nearly 20 years, local Burners Without Borders (BWB) groups have utilized the skills and can-do attitude embodied by so many in Black Rock City to respond with kindness, connection and humanitarian and community support — from Hurricane Katrina (the beginning of BWB) to Hurricane Helene and everything in between.
And, as we wrote about recently in Sparking Kindness & Connection, From the Windy City to Rural Romania, Black Rock City participants were inspired to create RoBurn, an official Burning Man Regional Event in Romania. Romanian members of our community use their Regional to reach out to isolated elders. Through the Regional Network, we provide tools and share best practices that enable anyone, anywhere (including the RoBurn founders), to manifest Burning Man’s 10 Principles for the benefit of their local community.
The connection, creativity and innovation resulting from these programs and properties facilitates and extends Burning Man culture in the wider world.
FINANCES
Why is this year’s fundraising goal $20 million?
Since becoming a nonprofit, we have raised funds to support operations. At the start of 2024, our philanthropic fundraising goal for the year was $10M. The $5.7M revenue shortfall resulting from 2024 Black Rock City higher-priced tickets not selling as planned, combined with a $3M dip in main sale tickets and vehicle passes means our initial year-end charitable donation target essentially doubled to nearly $20M.
The main sale ticket price is not priced to cover event costs (more on that below) and higher-priced ticket tiers have subsidized the event as a form of philanthropy for years. This is why recurring philanthropic support is needed to sustain our mission – now and into the future. See our Summary Financial Information for the details.
For us to continue enabling togetherness, mental well-being, creativity, innovation, and storytelling that sparks change, we must rise to this challenge. Philanthropy will help us maintain Black Rock City as the vibrant heart of Burning Man, and protect the culture with which the event is intertwined.
What do donations fund?
Donations fuel everything which is core to Burning Man!
- ARTS: Through Honoraria grants, donations fund artists who build incredible participatory art as well as ~1,375 gifted tickets for artists. (That’s $790,000 of regular priced tickets)
- CULTURE: Donations keep Black Rock City tickets reasonably priced for all ticket purchasers (ticket prices are not based on actual event costs–read more below).
- DECOMMODIFICATION: Donations maintain a decommodified event – free of corporate sponsorship or merchandise sales – which helps create the space for authentic connection.
- TICKET AID: Donations subsidize Ticket Aid tickets, which enable low-income participants to attend Black Rock City.
- CONVENINGS: Donations support incredibly powerful educational and culturally rich co-created prototyping experiences like Burners Without Borders campouts on Fly and this year’s European Leadership Summit.
- The bottom line: Donations fuel Burning Man Project operations across the board, and we can’t do what we do without your ongoing support.
Why don’t ticket sales cover the cost to produce Black Rock City?
While at face value it might sound crazy, we have purposefully maintained lower ticket prices–lower than the cost to produce Black Rock City. In 2023, for example, the cost to produce Black Rock City was an estimated $749 per participant while the main sale ticket price was $575. This intentional price-setting aims to keep Black Rock City accessible.
We aren’t like traditional festivals. Whereas traditional festivals subsidize their ticket costs through corporate sponsorship, VIP benefits, and other commercial mechanisms, (which can account for between 25-30% of revenue), we rely on philanthropy to cover the difference.
Black Rock City is free from brand influence and transactions which enables more authentic engagement, contributing to and shaping the experience of the ephemeral city.
Through 2023 we have fortunately been able to maintain lower ticket prices because of the generosity of our community, including through sales of higher-priced tickets (a concept we first talked about back in 2016).
Now and into the future, the community’s generosity and broad philanthropic support is needed to keep ticket prices reasonable and Black Rock City culturally diverse. This is the model by which nonprofit theaters, museums, opera and ballet companies survive. Same goes for universities who count on supportive alumni. In all cases, the cost of admission, tuition, or a ticket to the event doesn’t cover all of what the cultural experience is offering. These cultural institutions, like us, rely on community support from people who believe in their mission.
How is the estimated $749 per participant cost to Black Rock City 2023 calculated?
Feel free to check out our Summary Financial Information for cost per participant dating back the past 10 years. Specific to 2023, the cost per participant was an estimated $749. This includes the cost of Black Rock City and the Arts program, as well as 80% of the time in Management and Administration, divided by the population as indicated on the Burning Man timeline website and submitted and agreed upon with the Bureau of Land Management. Management and Administration is primarily composed of Information Technology, Accounting, and People Operations, where the efforts are approximately 80% of the time focused on supporting Black Rock City.
Would an increase in ticket prices help?
Raising ticket prices would increase ticket revenue, however, Burning Man is different and always has been. Increasing ticket prices would call our Principle of Radical Inclusion into question. We have cultural diversity, with participants representing all 50 of the United States. In 2024, we had 89 countries represented. Philanthropy, which is key to subsidizing ticket prices, helps us avoid a situation where the cost of a ticket prevents a community member or new Burner from coming to Black Rock City.
Could Regional Events drive revenue?
No, Regional Events are not a money-maker. Burning Man Project offers guidance to Regional Events, but we don’t fund them or earn revenue from them (hat tip to Regional Events that have made donations to Burning Man Project!). These gatherings are locally organized and are financially separate from Burning Man Project. Providing counsel and liaising with Regionals is an incredibly effective way to advance our mission and support the growth of Burning Man culture.
What about the office space? Could greater savings be achieved, particularly in San Francisco?
Maintaining our office space, the footprint of which we reduced by half in San Francisco during the pandemic, is vitally important. Building connections in person is core to Burning Man culture, and to our ability to work efficiently, collaborate deeply and innovate for the future. In working to reduce costs expected in 2025 (and beyond), we were pleased to work with our landlords in Reno and San Francisco to find savings in rent.
Specific to San Francisco, Burning Man was born here, and it is home to the largest number of Burning Man creators and participants. The majority of our year-round staff and volunteers also live in the Bay Area. It is a venue for fundraising, a gathering space for up to 120 people, and a space to host donors, for staff and board meetings.
Are Burning Man Project board members compensated?
Unlike for-profit boards, we have no Burning Man Project board member compensated in their capacity as a board member. However, we do have board members employed in staff roles, including five of the six Burning Man Cultural Founders who have built the event since before 1997 and designed the mission for the Burning Man Project since 2008. Will Roger Peterson is employed as Director of Nevada Relations; Crimson Rose (listed in the 990s as Nanci Peterson) is Art Transitional Officer (she is also holds the official title of Secretary of the Board, which means she is responsible for official filings and approval of meeting minutes); Michael Mikel is Historian & Archivist; Harley K. Dubois is Chief Culture Officer and Marian Goodell is Chief Executive Officer. These five founders are also Board Directors and join the other 13 Directors serving on the board. The 990 lists other key employees or highly compensated individuals with the title of “Director of…..or ….. Director”, like Charlie Dolman who is Director of Event Operations. These are not “Board Directors.”
What is Burning Man Project doing to reduce costs?
In examining and restructuring our operations, we’ve reduced our expected 2025 (and beyond) costs by several millions of dollars. Our efforts have already included reductions in vendor and payroll costs, including reductions in the number of regular year-round employees on staff, and office rent reductions.
We continue to trim an already lean and tight Black Rock City infrastructure and nonprofit management. However, we can’t budget-cut our way to securing the long term future of Burning Man. It’s taken nearly 40 years to build the Burning Man culture and Black Rock City event to where it is now. Bringing joy, collaboration, art, and innovation through our culture co-created with amazing people all over the world is the priority and will remain so as we balance it with good business practices.
For Burning Man to continue on 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 – community support through philanthropy is imperative.
What is Burning Man Project’s long-term financial strategy?
Long-term financial planning is essential to sustain our mission to bring more Burning Man to the world, including through Black Rock City. Our long-term plan aims to reduce reliance on ticket sales by emphasizing diversified revenue sources and expansion of philanthropy and grants. Further, building a significant reserve and, in the long-term also an endowment, are things that will enable stability and continuity in the face of economic shifts. The reserve and deeper philanthropy will enable us to support a culturally diverse Black Rock City and keep the event decommodified.
Are major donors granted special decision-making power?
No—donors are not granted special decision-making power. You can read more about it here, our statement of values on gifting.
Why should I donate when I already volunteer and contribute significantly to my Burning Man camp or project?
First, thank you for every moment you’ve dedicated to making Burning Man what it is today. We appreciate how much you give and can’t overstate our gratitude. <3
Gifting is part of the culture and comes in many forms. We can’t all do everything. We all lean into what we co-create in different ways.
Donations power everything we do to get more Burning Man in the world, and there are many reasons to make a gift today. Like an alumni organization, we see anyone that’s ever attended Burning Man as part of the culture. We want to give everyone a chance to help support us whether they attend Black Rock City currently or not.
If you can’t donate, you can help by spreading the word about why Burning Man matters. It may inspire others to give. This outreach, along with your continued participation – as a theme camp lead, an artist, a mutant vehicle visionary, a performer, a costumer, a musician, a chef, a sous chef, a Black Rock City volunteer, a mechanic, and electrician, a programmer, a staff member, a regional contact, a filmmaker, a photographer, a writer, a storyteller, or however you like to be involved – helps ensure the spirit of the playa continues to thrive and impact the world for the better.
We so ardently believe the world can benefit from the magic, creativity, and inspiration of Burning Man. And that’s why we’re letting our entire community know – why we’re letting you know – that we need philanthropic support to continue our mission.
MORE INFORMATION
Earlier communications on the blog:
- What’s Happening in the World with Burning Man (8/18)
- Our Current Financial Situation (10/3)
- The Inflection Point Requiring This Broad Call for Support (10/18)
Recent email storytelling:
- Marian Goodell’s The Future of Burning Man (10/31)
- Stuart Mangrum’s Burning Man 2025, by Heineken (11/9)
Cover image of “Identity Awareness” by Shane Pitzerin, 2015 (Photo by Mark Nixon)
“In examining and restructuring our operations, we’ve reduced our expected 2025 (and beyond) costs by several millions of dollars. Our efforts have already included reductions in vendor and payroll costs, including reductions in the number of regular year-round employees on staff, and office rent reductions.”
Show your work. This is far too vague to be asking for more money.
“We continue to trim an already lean and tight Black Rock City infrastructure and nonprofit management. However, we can’t budget-cut our way to securing the long term future of Burning Man. It’s taken nearly 40 years to build the Burning Man culture and Black Rock City event to where it is now.”
Where it is now is significantly over-budget. Right now it is difficult to visualize that a donation will not enable hubris, mismanagement, and overexpansion. This does not illustrate why it can’t be scaled back to where it was *then* when costs were lower, yet people were still having and creating meaningful experiences.
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Beautiful! And the quilting is amazing…
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Please cut the fat and concentrateon the burn. Everything else is just egocentric fluff.
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“Donations support incredibly powerful educational and culturally rich co-created prototyping experiences like Burners Without Borders campouts on Fly and this year’s European Leadership Summit.”
We didn’t ask for this and we don’t want to fund your vanity projects. Until you start making some hard decisions and scaling back the non-BRC efforts, I have no interest in donating beyond the ticket cost.
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100%
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Yes!!! 100%
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A few thoughts:
Nobody pays $575 to attend burning man. We also pay vehicle passes, overpriced bus and plane fees, OSS fees, fuel fees, etc. It also ignores the large number of people who receive staff and gift tickets. I really wish you would stop spouting this.
According to your linked table you spent $18+ million during covid on “BRC” (excluding admin/mgt!?!). How is that possible? You can’t possible be spending that much on salaries and rent, could you? Something doesn’t add up.
Your commitment to radical inclusion hasn’t stopped you from raising ticket prices every other year.
Could Crimson be asked to post the board minutes on the website? They are supposed to be publicly available according to the bylaws. I’ve never seen anything from the board. Ever. You give Loveburn shit for its governance structure, but the Bman board lacks any transparency and is basically a black hole.
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Circular reasoning is used by BMOrg to support their need for fundraising.
1) BMOrg: Our mission is “to facilitate and extend the culture that has issued from the Burning Man event into the larger world”.
2) BMOrg: Therefore, we must fundraise because there is an ongoing structural funding deficit.
3) BMOrg: If we don’t raise $ we won’t be able to fulfill our mission (of which, the BRC event is now secondary).
Per BMOrg’s Stuart Mangrum’s email on 11/9/24, “the current money challenges are predictable growing pains rooted in our transition from an event production company with a nonprofit side-hustle to an arts and culture nonprofit that also performs the annual magic trick that is Black Rock City”.
4) Who wrote the mission? The BMOrg
5) Who can change that mission? The BMOrg
Over the last 30 days, community members who love Burning Man have posted hundreds of comments on the BM website, Reddit, FB & other forums with the overwhelming majority imploring the BMOrg to scale back significantly and focus with laser precision on only the BRC event & its supporting art. Ditch the global aspirations. Get your financial house in order.
BMOrg’s response is more fundraising efforts based on the circular reasoning above!
BMOrg and its current mission are at odds with the community they claim to serve. Stop the circular reasoning. Change the mission. Create separate entities dedicated & independently funded.
The “current money challenges” are NOT predictable growing pains, but rather the predictable outcome from over-expansion in pursuit of a mission they themselves wrote and then use as the circular reasoning basis of why they must pursue more fundraising!
So, who’s right? Let’s find out in a fair manner…
The BMOrg can test what the community values and is willing to support financially:
Step 1: Create one organization dedicated to produce the BRC event & its art with funding from ticket proceeds.
Step 2: Create a separate organization for everything else BMOrg wants to do funded through philanthropic donations. No funding from ticket proceeds.
Step 3: Allocate all shared expenses fairly, publicly & transparently between the BRC event entity and the second organization.
Step 4: Allow those who donate to specify where their money goes: To BRC event production or to the “arts and culture nonprofit”.
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Thank you Avid Burner for your thoughtful response.
– Charity Water has two different verticals – one bucket where 100% of the donation goes to programs, the 2nd bucket is for donor who want to contribute to all other expenses. The BMOrg could do the same.
– You’re spot on about how the The BMOrg makes all the decisions. This is standard operating procedure for many other nonprofits. However, in our community, Burning Man culture is very much part of our lives in our own default world culture. There lies the difference. We eat, live, and speak burning man. This is why, in this case, listening to your #1 donors matters!
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Extremely well-written reply! Thanks!
I’ll add that the model for this already existed: For at least a few years after the non-profit was created, the LLC still existed. Well, it can exist again! Simply spin off all event-related activities into that LLC, which not being a non-profit, doesn’t have to do all that “cultural outreach”. The non-profit can keep the cultural work, collect donations for it, etc… and be run exactly how Marian wants it! :-)
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Please publish the amount and $$$ value to the ORG, Nevada, BLM and so on of sold but not utilized Tickets and Vehicle Passes. Thanks.
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Something doesn’t add up here. We all know how little financial assistance BWB, regionals, leadership conferences, and other art projects receive. How does that add up to millions a year? Nobody is going to donate more money until you engage in some serious financial transparency.
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Hello,
I’m asking my question again as it went unanswered under a different article. Could you tell why BRC’s production costs increased by 66% from 2019 to 2023, rising from $26.3 million to $43.8 million?
It’d be interesting to get a breakdown of which specific areas saw increases and the reasons behind them. Inflation only can’t explain the raise.
Thank you.
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Great question!
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Great question – please share breakdown of production costs !
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So, wait? You never heard of the inflation that wrecked America and the world? You never bothered to read the 990, because I did, and it was clear to me where a lot of costs were going to come in and where they did. I mean, and I’m not even an expert in this. I just actually have read a few non-profit budgets without having an agenda about how I would like to think about them first. You don’t think the org was somehow immune to the effects of having 2 years off of a regular burn, do you, or didn’t come back into a world where things for the event were missing or broken after 2 years, suddenly one thing might cost 10% or 20% more but some things doubled or more in cost? Ask any economics expert, the reason this didn’t look or feel or respond like a regular inflationary cycle or create a normal recession is because it wasn’t: somethings were artificially inflated and some things were because of one reason, and then later on other things rose because of another reason. That means it wasn’t natural economic factors but anything unnatural like that can have mutation effects, and a mutated inflation means ugly growths in places where you don’t expect them. I mean, it might seem from a dozen or two scattered comments by people who seem they paid no attention the last few years that the squeaky wheels represent the majority of the Burner community, but some of us don’t magically want something to be true before we read numerical financial documents
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Almost every reply here is asking for financial transparency and for you to focus on RUNNING THE EVENT. I appreciate that you like flying around the world ‘spreading good vibes’ as a job, but if you don’t focus on the event, you’ll have no income, no good vibes and no job. Sort your shit out before it all falls apart.
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DO NOT pretend what seemed to be a dozen disgruntled people, mostly with their own agendas, speak for the majority of the burner world. Even if you just isolated to the people on this page. A general rule of thumb, back when I was in journalism, was that for every one letter of complaint to the editor, there were 10 or 100 or a thousand people who didn’t have a complaint, they were just too busy running their lives to even talk about it and just assumed everything would be OK. It is an old saying that “haters got to hate” And there’s a certain percentage of people who only feel alive when they complain. A lot of these are the same people I see complaining endlessly in other groups, making it seem like placing the same cut and paste speech in 20 different places makes it seem like there’s 20 different people complaining. The Org is doing a difficult thing in some very difficult circumstances that I usually see other groups failing, and they’ve been taking donations since the early ’90s, when tickets were funded by donation. I knew someone who had lifetime tickets because of the hay bale speech for donations in the late ’90s. Every year they publish a list of donors in their report, have for more than a decade, but you people are acting like this is some new phenomenon. The reason why principles like community and gifting are listed is not because they were commandments, but because they were the way many Burners behave. Complaining is a part of Burner behavior but so also is supporting people who help create a thing you love
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Many of us suspect that if you ONLY focussed on Black Rock City and stopped ALL the “non-BRC activities” you’d be fine. I don’t think you have proved otherwise. Those 3 guys on Baker Beach weren’t trying to change the world, why are you?
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Larry said he was trying to change the world in interviews as early as 1991.
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Yay! I’m truly delighted to see a much greater level of detail behind the fundraising ask – good stuff!!
If the BMorg is going to insist on focusing on other initiatives outside of the event, I recommend implementing the CharityWater model. Let people donate funds to the fund they want to support, and ask your big donors to cover expenses related to the other initiatives.
Will salary cuts be included in this cost reduction strategy? This has also been brought up many times by the donors, but has not been addressed yet.
Can you please answer this question? How long have each of your board members been on the board? Is it time to bring in new people with fresh ideas?
Many thanks.
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Wait. You don’t know about the announced salary and staff cuts, you don’t know how long the board members have been on the board, even though this is publicly available information and some of us have known about it for decades (weren’t you one of those ones complaining that the Org’s lost its way since Larry Harvey died? You do know that’s when they actually expanded the Board and first added some new faces? Or do you just make accusations and insinuations and count on the fact that no one might check? You list as a good example of Charitywater, which doesn’t list its staff or board members on its “advertising agency”website , seemingly does only one thing, so it’s easy to designate where that money should go (you can do this with any donation. Anybody who knows enough about a donation discussion to talk about it intelligently should already know this), and all of it goes to basically global outreach, and which has a LOWER Charity Navigator rating than the Burning Man Project
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Start charging for RV passes for Class A & Luxury RVs and be done with it…
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So all other forms of RVs wouldn’t need to get charged except just Class A and Luxury RVs? Class C is exempt? What about those strange things that look like RVs but aren’t? Like huge bus conversions? Exempt? A 20 year old Class A jalopy pays a fee, but a brand new Bus conversion doesn’t? Hmm…you should rethink that!
It would then be up to the people at the Gate to determine if the right vehicle pass was purchased for the vehicle trying to enter the city. That’s highly subjective, and I could see all gate people interpreting the specs differently. Some letting one type of RV in, and another not allowing the same type of RB in.
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We’re gonna need a bigger D lot.
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Mission: “to facilitate and extend the culture that has issued from the Burning Man event into the larger world,”. Well that’s the fundamental problem right there. Your mission statement is WRONG. It should be something like “To create a successful Burning Man event each year that brings joy and deeper understanding of the 10 principals to our community and it’s participants”
Hey BMORG: you can’t change the world if you don’t have a successful event. I’m not buying FOMO, building more art cars, funding theme camps, or donating any more until you get your priorities straight.
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How disappointing! After over a month of begging regular burners for money and getting mostly pushback in return, the org is… Begging for money! OK, there is now some talk of having cut the budget but no specifics are provided, making it meaningless. And rather than saying, “OK we hear you! We’re cutting back NV properties and international outreach, moving out of our SF office” it argues why these expenditures are necessary, as if that’s going to change anyone’s mind at this point.
There is no transparency, no humility, no admission that the overwhelming sentiment among burners (cut back now!) is reasonable. The words that come to mind are “arrogance” and “entitlement”.
Please! Marian and everyone else at the org: Don’t DO THIS! Change your course now before you go out of business! Admit you overspent, ,cut to the bone, refocus on the EVENT, and you will win us long and short-time burners back! :-)
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What planet have you been living on? The Org has taken donations since the early days, for tickets, they took it after disaster when they got kicked off of the Playa by the BLM after 96, they took it when you donated some mysterious, unspecified amount of stock when they were only the LLC, they’ve been taking donations since they transferred to a non-profit. Nonprofits typically get about a third of their income from donations, since support can vary wildly, and I know tons of people who throw events that have events that bring in lots of revenue and then the next one leaves them in the red. There’s a lot of ups and downs when you throw big events and events like Coachella that don’t do global outreach still fell short, so that’s not seemingly the farewell flaw that sends an organization into financial trouble.
My guess is they want everyone to donate so it’s not just a bunch of the richest people who stepped up to save them, but a result of Communal Effort (just because a principal doesn’t suit your narrative doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist) and anyone who itemizes gets a tax break for it, which you’re going to need since the IRS recently changed the deduction limits.
And I don’t know what planet you’ve been living on where you can easily sell desert scrub land to the buyers who are lined up around the block for it, but it’s not anywhere near that land out in Gerlach, so I’d be shocked if the Org could sell that land easily for anything near what they paid for it, especially not quickly. I was keeping an eye on real estate during the pandemic and there’s still lots of plots out there that have yet to sell or took years to sell.
I’m disappointed, too, but mostly in people who become the kind of scolds that don’t seem to know what they’re talking about, but jump into the verbal fray, anyway.
And, let’s be clear. Do NOT speak for anyone but yourself. You know your opinions but you definitely don’t know the opinions of some of the rest of us, and seeing 10 or 50 or whatever amount of people put a like on some FB post you make that’s full of buzzwords but little critical thinking or intellectual honesty doesn’t make you a speaker for the rest of us; it just means that the hundreds of thousands of burners out there who didn’t do that, well, maybe they/we either didn’t see it or don’t agree.
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As has been stated, you let the mission get too big and now you have to drastically cut back and refocus. You’ve made a tiny bit of progress by acknowledging some of the many complaints and concerns from community members over the past few weeks, but you haven’t started to do the hard things. First, you need to apologize for putting us in this position. This isn’t a natural disaster. This is financial mismanagement. This is your fault. You need to acknowledge that and stop explaining how you’ve already done all the hard things. Then you need to start selling assets.
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For the love of god, quit trying to save the world. Focus on hosting the best possible event you can. Done. You’re wasting huge sums of money on salaries for people that have no business being on the payroll.
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I was planning on donating, but am concerned about the misguided fat trimming. Low hanging fruit like duplicate employed positions and rent overhead may have been addressed, as they should, but the elephant in the room is the ongoing focus on global outreach. If I read this correctly, the future model for funding is deemphasizing ticket revenue with plans to increase revenue from donations. (“Our long-term plan aims to reduce reliance on ticket sales by emphasizing diversified revenue sources and expansion of philanthropy and grants.)
I would donate to support BRC on-playa operations, but not to a global outreach program that will ultimately kill the host. This is akin to the moment we exceed the 1.5 degree C temperature change set by the Paris Agreement.
At some point there is no return.
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Wow, the arrogance and tone-deafness here is staggering. At the end of the day, do you think BRC needs more bureaucracy, more BS acronyms of super special {insert latest buzzword} teams to check additional panderboxes, and more fucking $$$? Really??? Many, many burners, perhaps most of us even, want BMorg to do less, not more. BMorg is not the event and it is not the culture, we are, and these will exist whether the org lives or dies. This is a situation where leadership obviously read too many of their own press clippings and let their egos get out of hand while pushing an unsustainable delusion. And all the while asking for more, more, more.
To many it feels like BRC has already peaked, and that wave of momentum the org was riding has long since crested and has rolled back considerably. Now your high-water mark is clearly showing…
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“ Campouts at Fly Ranch, for example, have produced and fueled participant efforts around sustainability, including: Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps (BLAST), Renewables for Artists Team (RAT), and the Green Theme Camp Community. All of these groups bring their forward-thinking solutions to life in Black Rock City and iterate towards solutions for the world”.
Can you specifically site what these “forward thinking solutions” are/were and how they are being implemented in BRC?
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Of course – there are many examples to share!
Start with the Renewables for Artists (RAT) website, where they share the story of helping dozens of BRC artists switch their projects from fuel generators to sources of renewable power: https://www.renewablesforartiststeam.org/
Then read the Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps (BLAST) 2023 after-action report, which details which Black Rock City camps BLAST visited, rated for sustainability practices, and mentored. This report also shares the 2023 origin story of the Green Corridor in BRC, which consisted of sustainability-focused camps that met with BLAST in 2022: https://bit.ly/3ZhEr1I. BLAST and the Green Corridor gained even more momentum in BRC 2024; metrics and reporting are on their way.
The Green Theme Camp Community provides sustainability leadership in the Burning Man community, bringing sustainability-minded people together, and offering resources and education community-wide. Learn more here: https://www.greenthemecampcommunity.org/home
Also take a peek at the 2023 metrics at the top of this Journal post that demonstrate the impact of RAT and BLAST on supporting BRC participants in implementing sustainable practices: https://journal.burningman.org/2023/12/black-rock-city/leaving-no-trace/sustainability-goals/
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Sounds like you are asking all burners to make the hard choice of giving even more of their money to you, while refusing to make the hard choice yourself of admitting you steered the organization in the wrong direction and seriously scaling back. Any business going through rough times has to do the same. Sell fly ranch, cut the global outreach nonsense (the 100s of thousands of burners around the world already do that for you), quit flying yourselves to summits/retreats/summer camps/whatever you want to call them. Any organizational expense that isn’t 100% necessary to support the event has to go. Your job, first and foremost, is to manage the critical infrastructure and permitting for the event that WE throw.
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