We received this heavily redacted document from a trusted source today
Official tickets sold: 76,580
Official ticket revenue: $41,825,941
BLM fee: $1,254,778
Paid Participants: 69,596
Peak Population: 79,638
Staff/Workers/Volunteers: 10,042
We are waiting for the official IRS Form 990 for 2017, which will reveal more financial details.
Happy Boxing Day, and happy holidays, burnersxxx.
There are conflicts between the 2017 Form 990 and the information from the BLM, within this post, of 76,580 tickets were sold for $41,825,941, upon which, $1,254,778 was paid to the BLM in due of the three per cent commercial use fee of the playa. The 2017 Form 990 states, upon Part VIII, line 2a, the Burning Man Annual Event Total Revenue was $42,213,307. $42,213,307 – $41,825,941 = $387,366. Where is the $2,160,000 in due of the 27,000 $80 vehicle passes? And, by appearances, the revenue to Burning Man in due of the near to 100 Outside Services vendors might be missing.
Might the BMOrg not be reporting revenue upon the 2017 Form 990? To answer that query, where might be the $3,764,334 in due of the nine per cent Nevada Entertainment Tax? The 2017 Form 990 states, upon Part IX, line 24a, the Permits, Fees, & Taxes were $4,349,723. The $4,349,723 includes of the higher than $1,254,778 in due of the three per cent fee upon the tickets in due of commercial use of the playa, in addendum of the near to $3,000,000 fee for reimbursing the BLM for their costs for the Burning Man Event. By simple maths, the $3,764,334 in due of the nine per cent Nevada Entertainment Tax upon the tickets is not reported upon the 2017 Form 990. How might this not be reported? It is not reported in due of TicketFly directly sends this cash to Nevada, it is not sent to the Burning Man Project subsidiary whom runs the Burning Man event. Viewing prior forms 990, this has been occurring for years.
Within the same manner, might the $2,160,000 paid to TicketFly for the 27,000 vehicle passes of $80 be sent directly to somewhere other than the Burning Man BRC LLC subsidiary corporation whom runs the Burning Man event?
JennyJennifer Kane, thepriorBurning Man PR reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, penned two horribly reported articles prior to Christmas, Burning Man Fails 2018 Cleanup and Burning Man is making millions. Where’s all the money going? We broke down their budget, she should not have penned the articles without doing proper reporting upon these matters. Within the rubbish gaslighting PR article, Where’s all the money going, she copies the Burning Man statement of ‘Aside from ticket sales, the only other income at the event was from ice and coffee sales.‘ The $387,366, the $42,213,307 – $41,825,941, is near to the same as prior years as the profit from ice and coffee sales. The vehicle passes are not included within this statement, and the levies upon the near to one hundred Outside Services vendors whom service the Plug and Play camps, in the manner of RV rentals, air transportation, catering, and other services, are not included within this statement.The BLM eplanning web site, of which, it has the 2017 Burning Man permit from the BLM of which it states of what is taxed the three percent commercial use fee for the playa, but it is down in due of the U. S. government shut down. This might state to us of whether the vehicle passes are included within the three percent commercial use fee. My belief is the BLM updated this statement for 2018.
My belief is queries are needed towards the BLM, when they return from the shut down, in regards of the 76,580 tickets were sold for $41,825,941 within 2017. They need to be queried is this true, yes, or no. Might the answer to this query be no, what is the explanation of the answer, what does the $41,825,941 include other than tickets?
If you want to make inquiry of BLM via the Freedom of Information Act:
blm_nv_foia@blm.gov
No breakdown numbers for Pre-Sale ($990 & $1,200) except 5,000 tickets in total.
If vehicles passes were “sold-out” it looks like the total was included.
6,580 + 5,000 = 11,580 at prices that could include both $1,200 and $990
Low estimate for sold out 2017 was $34 Million, actual ticket revenue $41,825,941 or $41.8 million tracks with the data available.
2018 data should be available end of January. BLM has twenty working days within to respond.
For 2019 BRC is using the same numbers except they are now APPROXIMATE.
Much obliged for your comment. Thus, your belief is the chart, within the redacted black, includes more than the revenue in due of solely the 76,580 tickets sold shown below the black.
When the BLM eplanning web site is not down, the 2017 Burning Man permit states what is taxed the three per cent playa use fee, of whether the vehicle passes are taxed in this manner. I was corrected in the coffee, and ice, sales are taxed by the three per cent playa use fee. The 2017 Form 990 states $1,605,516 was gross sales of inventory, and $985,634 was cost of goods sold, of which, $596,177 was paid to Crystal Ice Company for ice, and an amount that is not known is paid for the coffee, propane, and fuel sales, for a profit of $619,882. Might this be so, of the $41,825,941 of revenue taxed by the three per cent playa use tax, minusing $2,160,00 in due of vehicle passes, and minusing the $1,605,516 in due of sales of inventory, it states of $38,060,425 was in due of ticket sales. From algebra,
a*$990 + b*$425 + c*$190 + d*$1,200, might a be 5,000, and c be 4,000,
and a + b + c + d = 76,580, 4,681 of the $1,220 tickets were sold, and 62,899 of the $425 tickets were sold, and the other $387,366 of Burning Man event revenue might be in due of the levies upon the near to one hundred Outside Services vendors to the plug and play camps. Might the $2,160,000 of vehicle pass revenue not be included within the $41,825,941, 7,470 of the $1,200 tickets were sold, and 60,110 of the $25 tickets were sold, for a total of near to 12,470 of the $990, or $1,200 tickets were sold. It is most difficult to understand this when the BMOrg desires to hide much information from the volunteers, artists, and Burner community.
per BLM detailed gross revenue report
76,580 for $41,825,941
Of which:
DaVinci $1,200 500 $600,000
Pre-Sale $990 or $1,200 5,000
Low Income $190 4,000 $760,000
Std $425 60,500 $25,712,500
vehicle $80 27,000 $2,160,000
overage ? 4,259
Overage + Pre-Sale 9,259 $14,737,500
70,000 $27,072,500
74,259 $41,810,000
Assumptions:
All ticket and passes were sold out
Vehicle passes were included, which looks to be the case if:
No tickets were sold for more than $1,200 which would have been needed to exclude the vehicle passes.
There is another page withheld by BLM that might have vendor or sales data. The posted redacted page deals only with Ticket revenue as it indicates. So I don’t think the Ice/Coffee sales are included in the redacted page supplied by BLM.
BMorg is as transparent as Coconut Oil.
The next largest chunk of money, about $4 million, was spent on the permits and fees required to essentially rent out the Black Rock Desert playa.
This cost has been publicly contested by Burning Man in recent years, and the organization has yet to hear back on an appeal filed with the Department of Interior in 2016.
IBLA 2016-115
https://www.eenews.net/assets/2016/07/11/document_pm_02.pdf
And, what might be the rationale of the BMOrg desiring to oversell the 70,000 paid participant BRC limit, and selling numerous $990, and $1,200, VIP tickets, within the manner stated below, gaining numerous millions of dollars of cash? Might it be in due, of the manner Larry stated, in the big meeting in San Francisco on 1 April 2011, in regards of the plan to convert Burning Man to a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation?
‘In May, he said the LLC will file papers to create the nonprofit, which will initially be run by the current board members and at least seven more directors selected by that board. In about three years, depending on how the new nonprofit forms up, the LLC will turn over management of Burning Man, while holding onto control of the logos and trademarks for another three years after that, Harvey said. And that’s when the six board members will officially cash out.’
In due of their prior statements, the second part of their massive cashout, of the Burning Man Project buying the valuable Burning Man ™ trademarks, from their for profit Decommodification LLC, occurs NOW. My belief is this payment has been voted upon by the BMP Board, and is upon the Burning Man Project Board minutes, of which, any reporter, or person, is of the ability to walk into the Project headquarters, within usual business hours, purposed to view, and copy, the minutes, in the manner stated within the Burning Man Project bylaws. Or, might something unexpected occurred in regards of this? Guest posts are most welcome on Burners.me.
I love it. Over 10% of the population works for the government. Changing the world!
Kudos to the source of this information. In despite of the details of the numbers of the tickets sold at each price are hidden, of which, the BLM should have stated, it is easy peasy to do the maths. In due of your awesome Tickets 2017post burnersxxx, The BMOrg stated
Pre-Sale 5,000 $990
Low Income 4,000 $190
VIP 500, or 5,500, depending upon a comma, $1,200
DGS 26,000 $425
Extra DGS 2,500 no price stated
Main Sale 30,000 $425
OMG 2,000 $425
–
Total tickets sold of 70,000, or 75,000.
In actuality the tickets sold was 76,580. Might 1,200 of the 2,500 extra DGS was $425, and 1,300 of the extra DGS was $1,200, and the extra 1,580 tickets was $1,200, the maths explain the tickets sold. The BLM chart is solely of tickets, it is not of vehicle passes, and the handling levies are not taxed by the BLM contract, thusly
Pre-Sale 5,000 $990 = $4,950,000
Low Income 4,000 $190 = $760,000
VIP 5,500 $1,200 = $6,600,000
DGS 26,000 $425 = $11,050,000
Extra DGS 1,200 $425 = $510,000
Extra DGS 1,300 $1,200 = $1,560,000
Main Sale 30,000 $425 = $12,750,000
OMG Sale 2,000 $425 = $850,000
Extra tickets 1,580 $1,200 = 2,780,000
–
Total tickets 76,580 $41,810,000
Thusly, the playa population cap was oversold by 6,580 tickets, and near to 13,380 tickets were sold for $990, or $1,200. The 13,380 of the $990, or $1,200 tickets gained the BMOrg $15,890, near to 37 per cent of the tickets revenue. The BMOrg, and their social media team, priorly attempted to gaslight Burners to be of the belief of solely 70,000 tickets were sold, of which, soley 5,500 were $990, or $1,200 tickets.
A correction, the 13,380 of the $990, or $1,200 tickets gained the BMOrg $15,890,000, near to 37 per cent of the tickets revenue. This explains the rationale of the BMOrg desiring the Plug and Play camps, in addendum of the levies, paid to the BMOrg, of their near to one hundred vendors. Might Burners desire to go to the playa, paying $990, or $1,200 promises them a ticket.
Might the BMOrg desire to dispute this, they are most welcome to state their numbers.
A comment was penned in regards of the free kids tickets. The kids tickets were not included within the 76,580 tickets in due of the 2017 BRC Permit stipulations stated,
37. BRC shall provide BLM with an itemized gross revenue report for all tickets sales and event entry sales. The report will include the number of tickets sold in each category and the price per ticket for the following categories as listed in the BRC “2017 Ticket Structure”:
PRE-SALE
DIRECTED GROUP SALES
MAIN SALE
OMG SALE
LOW INCOME PROGRAM
OTHER SALES
The 2018 BRC Permit stipulations stated of the kids tickets will be included within the itemized gross revenue report.
And……