So, the long awaited DT07 budget report is here.
It has been difficult to a lot time for this complex and daunting project while also working on other aspects of dreamtime without being paid at all - especially after having to forgo proper compensation for my work leading up to the 07 event. This organization currently has many more demands than can be met by Jen and I alone.
For those that genuinely want to know what the budget situation is in more detial in order to help, please contact Jen or I directly if you are willing to take on some leadership in an aspect of the festival in which you have experience or would like to apply to participate in a DT council that will be working to address the financial picture in greater depth.
In terms of a council and staff support we need:
- Individuals with experience and proven past success in event production, marketing, volunteer management or fundraising.
- A willingness to fully commit to their responsibilities to ensure the succesful completion of the production. To be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done successfully.
- Ability to be a financially invested in order to be involved in the decision making process. (if you arent there, but want to be, manifest what you seek and get back to us!)
Please dont contact us to apply to be part of the council until you can meet all three of these requirements.
What we are posting here is far above and beyond the legal requirements for disclosure. We have also considered what other established events like Burningman release - they put out significantly less budget info and detail than we are releasing as a comparison.
Let me be clear that this is NOT a call for armchair debate over the budget or a crowding of cooks in the kitchen, but our earnest efforts at balancing transparency with the need for responsibility. Quoting costs from other events that are not equivalent to Dreamtime based on third hand information is not particularly useful. If you genuinely think that you can help us source some of our budget items for cheaper AND less or equivalent work, please contact us - we want to hear from you. If you are willing to help sponsor a particular aspect of the event - a headliner, food for staff\volunteers, $3750 DPW hayride tractor casualty, sound, a structure, etc. please step forward - we need your help. If you feel that you have some ideas for increasing revenue without more work (or you are willing to take on the work involved, let us know. And again, if you have notable experience applicable to event production and budgeting and are interested in getting more involved, contact us to apply to be part of the council. Be prepared to take on more responsibility.
This is also in a sense a test of the waters. Because we are going above and beyond our legal requirements, we are taking a leap of faith and trusting the community to act responsibly and CONSTRUCTIVELY with this information. If you have questions, ask them! But please be respectful, set aside any assumptions or judgements and ask with an open mind. Event production requires far more resources than I ever previously imagined, and this event in particular, with workshops, multiple stages, no permanent infrastructure, very little commercial presence or commercial income is a unique a challenging financial situation.
I will state again, all that Jen and I do is in service to this vision and organization, often at our personal expense. The budget that you see is nearly balanced only because Jen and I had to forgo proper compensation (we had budgeted for standard compensation for full time non-profit directors, but revenues fell far short) and saw the equivalent of a small fraction of minimum wage after 9 months of full time and overtime dedication. We then continued working unpaid part time from the event until now.
I will write more about this in the narrative, but I think it is important to point out the budget in relation to staffing. In the budget you will see that the staffing portion of the budget in its entirety is roughly the normal annual salary for ONE full time non-profit employee - while the Dreamtime organization demands overtime from TWO full time directors and MANY other important staff positions.
Though we lacked funds after the 06 event to begin the 07 event, Jen and I (Eli) agreed to take on the financial burden personally in order to move forward with the event, announce dates before January 1st 07 and attempt to secure headliners. In the end this meant that we each put up tens of thousands of dollars in savings and credit card debt in order to cover the up front costs of the event.
In contrast, some of those complaining the loudest about the budget report were fully compensated for all of their work as per their contracts, and disappeared directly after the event when their contract ran out, despite their many demands for power in the organization and their promises that they though they were not able or willing to become financially invested in the event that they would take on responsibility for the event - that they would stick around and support the organization financially and with their time and energy without fail, rain or shine. I have not seen any follow through or real owning of responsibility since the contract ended and payment stopped, but the complaining and demands for decision making power without taking on any real responsibility now continue. It is time for this divisiveness and these plays for power without taking responsibility to stop now.
In terms of budgeting and decision making, this is strictly reserved for members of the council.
I have been working on a narrative to accompany this budget report, but have decided to post the report now without delay, along with the portion of the narrative that is ready, and will attempt to follow up with narrative updates when I have time.
And, without further introduction, you can find the latest (hopefully final) draft of the DT07 budget report here:
www.dreamthefuture.org/07report/07.jpg
It has been difficult to a lot time for this complex and daunting project while also working on other aspects of dreamtime without being paid at all - especially after having to forgo proper compensation for my work leading up to the 07 event. This organization currently has many more demands than can be met by Jen and I alone.
For those that genuinely want to know what the budget situation is in more detial in order to help, please contact Jen or I directly if you are willing to take on some leadership in an aspect of the festival in which you have experience or would like to apply to participate in a DT council that will be working to address the financial picture in greater depth.
In terms of a council and staff support we need:
- Individuals with experience and proven past success in event production, marketing, volunteer management or fundraising.
- A willingness to fully commit to their responsibilities to ensure the succesful completion of the production. To be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done successfully.
- Ability to be a financially invested in order to be involved in the decision making process. (if you arent there, but want to be, manifest what you seek and get back to us!)
Please dont contact us to apply to be part of the council until you can meet all three of these requirements.
What we are posting here is far above and beyond the legal requirements for disclosure. We have also considered what other established events like Burningman release - they put out significantly less budget info and detail than we are releasing as a comparison.
Let me be clear that this is NOT a call for armchair debate over the budget or a crowding of cooks in the kitchen, but our earnest efforts at balancing transparency with the need for responsibility. Quoting costs from other events that are not equivalent to Dreamtime based on third hand information is not particularly useful. If you genuinely think that you can help us source some of our budget items for cheaper AND less or equivalent work, please contact us - we want to hear from you. If you are willing to help sponsor a particular aspect of the event - a headliner, food for staff\volunteers, $3750 DPW hayride tractor casualty, sound, a structure, etc. please step forward - we need your help. If you feel that you have some ideas for increasing revenue without more work (or you are willing to take on the work involved, let us know. And again, if you have notable experience applicable to event production and budgeting and are interested in getting more involved, contact us to apply to be part of the council. Be prepared to take on more responsibility.
This is also in a sense a test of the waters. Because we are going above and beyond our legal requirements, we are taking a leap of faith and trusting the community to act responsibly and CONSTRUCTIVELY with this information. If you have questions, ask them! But please be respectful, set aside any assumptions or judgements and ask with an open mind. Event production requires far more resources than I ever previously imagined, and this event in particular, with workshops, multiple stages, no permanent infrastructure, very little commercial presence or commercial income is a unique a challenging financial situation.
I will state again, all that Jen and I do is in service to this vision and organization, often at our personal expense. The budget that you see is nearly balanced only because Jen and I had to forgo proper compensation (we had budgeted for standard compensation for full time non-profit directors, but revenues fell far short) and saw the equivalent of a small fraction of minimum wage after 9 months of full time and overtime dedication. We then continued working unpaid part time from the event until now.
I will write more about this in the narrative, but I think it is important to point out the budget in relation to staffing. In the budget you will see that the staffing portion of the budget in its entirety is roughly the normal annual salary for ONE full time non-profit employee - while the Dreamtime organization demands overtime from TWO full time directors and MANY other important staff positions.
Though we lacked funds after the 06 event to begin the 07 event, Jen and I (Eli) agreed to take on the financial burden personally in order to move forward with the event, announce dates before January 1st 07 and attempt to secure headliners. In the end this meant that we each put up tens of thousands of dollars in savings and credit card debt in order to cover the up front costs of the event.
In contrast, some of those complaining the loudest about the budget report were fully compensated for all of their work as per their contracts, and disappeared directly after the event when their contract ran out, despite their many demands for power in the organization and their promises that they though they were not able or willing to become financially invested in the event that they would take on responsibility for the event - that they would stick around and support the organization financially and with their time and energy without fail, rain or shine. I have not seen any follow through or real owning of responsibility since the contract ended and payment stopped, but the complaining and demands for decision making power without taking on any real responsibility now continue. It is time for this divisiveness and these plays for power without taking responsibility to stop now.
In terms of budgeting and decision making, this is strictly reserved for members of the council.
I have been working on a narrative to accompany this budget report, but have decided to post the report now without delay, along with the portion of the narrative that is ready, and will attempt to follow up with narrative updates when I have time.
And, without further introduction, you can find the latest (hopefully final) draft of the DT07 budget report here:
www.dreamthefuture.org/07report/07.jpg
posted by:
|
-
Re: DT07 budgeting
Wed, March 26, 2008 - 3:58 PMNarrative:
I would like to offer a complete narrative to accompany the budget report, but am unable to do so with current time restraints. In the meantime, I will post updates to this as time permits.
____________________________
In 2007 Dreamtime saw both amazing organizational growth, and with it incredible new challenges.
The planning process for DT07 began in earnest as full time work for the directors in november of 2006. Though we lacked funds after the 06 event to begin the 07 event, Jen and I (Eli) agreed to take on the financial burden personally in order to move forward with the event, announce dates before january 1st 07 and attempt to secure headliners. In the end this meant that we each put up tens of thousands of dollars in savings and credit card debt in order to cover the up front costs of the event. This was certainly a demonstration of our commitment to the project because, though we had what appeared to be a solid business plan, event planning is notoriously tricky on the financial side and the 06 event had not met financial expectations.
We were from the beginning especially excited to share the ecovillage vision with the community, and had decided to make this an important part of the 07 event.
Jen and I worked full time and some significant overtime in the early months of 07 addressing major revisions to the DT website with Lisa of webcocktail, and large efforts toward booking headliners, spring fundraiser events, the graphic design for the flyers and posters.
We also layed all of the ground work to create the first Dreamtime green expo and a marketing team to support it along with program advertising. The green expo at the DT07 event was a great success, with wonderful feedback from the vendors, a positive though small financial benefit to the organization, happy participants with access to buy food (one of the most common feedback comments from 06 was the desire to have food available for purchase at the event), and succesfully integrating commerce into the event in a manner that was aligned with the DT values and isolated so as to not compromise the gift economy and authentic human interaction that it supports, and not undermine the fundraising efforts of the mate bar. Experience taught us this year that although the boundaries for vending are clearly articulated and generally respected, clear systems need to be put into place in order for rangers and staff to efficiently deal with people that intentially break the vending rules and undermine the mate bar fundraising efforts, financial stability of the event and gift economy at Dreamtime. We hope to include a larger number of vendors this year, again in a designated area. Our location proved to make soliciting value aligned vendors and advertisers more challenging, and this may change with future events.
A great deal of energy was dedicated to soliciting headliners for DT07. Lack of funding and the non-commercial nature of the event along with other factors led to results that were less than what we desired. The headliners that appeared a the event were entirely made possible by the support of a major donor. With the current situation, we have reoriented for DT08 to focus more on the strong and valuable workshop component of Dreamtime instead of dedicating time and resources to try to bring larger headliners. If you feel that you have a strong connection or are willing and able to sponsor a headliner for DT08, please contact us immediately. The event was still able to bring together an amazing array of quality performance which will again be our aim in 08.
The performance coordination is a large amount of work spanning 5 months and requires a lot of communication and organization. DT07 saw the addition of the Mate Bar stage and upgraded sound for the main stage. The Mate Bar stage was almost entirely volunteer and donation based, and a wonderful addition to the event. We hope to repeat this success in 08. The main stage also received a new cover, and new shade system for the dance floor.
Staffing greatly increased in 07 to meet growing needs. Hiring began in march, and HR needs continued through the event, which was entirely new to the organization. 07 also saw the advent of a much larger internship program which ran on site from May 1 through Aug 1. Two internship coordinators were hired to run the internship program. Some of the site crew staff helped set up for the internship program for the last two weeks of april. Staff also included mate bar coordinator, office administrators, chefs, and later a performance coordinator and assistant to the director. All in all, the organization was able to support a staff and internship group of 15 or more May - Aug including living quarters, food and community activites and processing. The first two weeks of the internship program focused on personal development, communication skills, personal health, leadership and teambuilding which are critical for an effective organization to function.
To be continued...
