Retreat

and

Conference

Budgeting

by Alan Hamilton

Budgets and Fees

Price the event to ensure that even if not as many people as you hoped
register and come to the event, the cost of the event will be covered.

There are two ways to figure costs and fees, which should yield
similar results.  It is a good idea to figure them both ways, and check
the answers against one another.  If the numbers are too far apart,
something is wrong in the way one or both are being figured.

The Overall Costs Method is to figure the total price of all
weekend's costs, and divide by the number of attendees expected.

The Per-Person Cost Method is to figure the sum of the price per
person of each of the weekend's costs.

In each case, estimate costs a bit high and the number of people a bit
low.  This yields a fee which will almost certainly cover expenses and
probably make a modest profit, which can be used to finance other
activities of the organization, including providing seed money for
other events.

An example of figuring with each method is shown on the following
pages.

Example

To demonstrate figuring costs and the fees required to cover them,
we will use a small retreat as an example.  For a larger retreat or
conference, the principles are the same; there are just more items to
include in the budget.

Let us assume that we are members of a writers group, and are planning
a small writers retreat.  This is the first time we are organizing a
retreat, but we would like to have one regularly in the future,
perhaps quarterly or yearly.  We want to make a little extra money to
set aside for next year's retreat planning committee, so that they
don't have to front money (such as site rental deposits) out of their
own pockets.

One of us has made some phone calls and has found a site which will
accommodate up to 25 people.  The site requires that we pay for a
minimum of 20 people, whether 20 people come or not.

Let us list things that we think we will need to buy for the retreat.
These might be:

Site Rental
Food
Profit

We could have decided to provide writing supplies as well, but in this
case we decide to have a simple budget and low costs.  Attendees will
have to bring their own paper, pens, pencils, etc.  Workshop leaders
will have to bring newsprint, markers, etc. for their own workshops.

In each case, we come up with a fee of $50-60 and a total
budget for the weekend of about $760 for the average number of
attendees (20.)  Since these figures agree pretty closely, we probably
haven't made any large arithmetic errors.

OVERALL COSTS METHOD

The Overall Costs Method is to figure the total price of all
weekend's costs, divided by the number of attendees expected.  Figure
low, average, and high estimates for figures which vary based on the
number of attendees.  Then divide the average cost by the low number
of attendees to figure the fee to charge.

center, box;
l 1|1 ne 1|1 ne 1|1 ne.
Budget Item	Low(15)	Avg(20)	High(25)
_
T{

Site Rental
  $8 per person
T}	160	160	200
_
T{

Food
  $30 per person
T}	450	600	750
_
T{

Profit
  $5 per person
T}	75	100	125
_
Total	685	860	875

Divide the costs for 20 people by the minimum number of people, and we
get a fee for the weekend of:
      $860 / 15 people = $57.34 per person

Thus, if 20 people pre-register with a 50% deposit:
      20 * $29 = $580

and only 15 show up to pay the other 50%:
      15 * $29 = $435

we take in a total of:
      $580 + $435 = $1015

If we paid for 20 spaces:
      20 * $8 = $160

and bought food for 20:
      20 * $30 = $600

then our total expenses are:
      $160 + $600 = $760

This means that even if we buy food for people who don't show up and
don't pay all that they said they would, we still don't lose money.
We make a modest profit.

PER-PERSON COST METHOD

The Per-Person Cost Method is to figure the fee as the sum of
the price per person of each of the weekend's costs.  Multiply that by
the number of attendees expected, to find the weekend's total budget.

If we figure
      ( $6 * 20 spaces ) / 15 people = $10.67 

for the space rental portion of the fee, then 15 people paying $11.00
      $11.00 * 15 people = $165.00

will cover the rental of the site for the weekend.
   Per-person food costs might be figured as:

center, box;
l | n.
Friday supper	7
Saturday breakfast	3
Saturday lunch	5
Saturday supper	7
Sunday breakfast	3
Sunday lunch	5
_	_
Food cost/person	$30

The fee per person would be:

center, box;
l | n.
Rental	11
Food	30
Profit	9
_	_
Total	$50

If 20 people pre-register for the retreat with a 50% deposit:
20 * $25 = $400

and only 15 show up to pay the other 50%:
      15 * $25 = $375

we take in a total of:
$400 + $375 = $775

If we paid $160 for 20 spaces
and bought food for 20:
20 * $30 = $600

total expenses are:
$160 + $600 = $760

Again, even if we buy food for people who don't show up and
don't pay all that they said they would, we still don't lose money.
We make a modest profit.

DISASTERS CAN STILL HAPPEN

Of course, disasters of various sorts do happen (weather too bad for
travel, etc.), but setting the budget and fees for an event in this
way minimizes the chances of losing money.  Planning "defensively,"
builds a safety net to cover such problems in the future.  If the
event does not lose money, it contributes to this safety net and help
bail out other organizers, should disaster strike their event.

WHY TRY TO MAKE A PROFIT?

Is all money "filty lucre"?  Is making a profit an inherently bad
thing?  No.  A modest profit, used well, benefits your organization's
work in the long term.

Making a profit is how ECBN came into existence.  A conference made a
profit, and the organizers of the conference formed an organization to
conserve the funds and use them to seed more conferences and other
events.  If you return the profit to your organization, this will
finance further growth of its work in all its myriad forms.  Plan to
make a profit, and plan to use that profit to make a difference
throughout the future.

Alan Hamilton \ is the 1992 President of the East Coast Bisexual
Network, co-founder of the Unitarian Universalist Bisexual Network,
former editor of the newsletter of the Boston Bisexual Men's Network,
an engineer and manager of computer software, a writer, and a bisexual
activist.

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