As part of the requirements of being an official Burning Man Decompression, we have to post the details of our budget and expenses for Cold Compress. A more comprehensive afterburn report will be coming soon, but for now, here’s the report on what we made and what we spent:

<decomp 10-11 final accts v4 – final>

For those people who don’t want to read the line item expenses, here’s the summary: before art grants, we were $1033.97 in the black. We allocated $2000 for art grants this year, which allowed for some incredible art to be made for Cold Compress! So at the end of the evening, after everything in and out, the event cost the community $966.03.

Had there not been last-minute surprises that were out of our control (security and insurance costs more than doubling from what was initially quoted, due in part to an unrelated party at the venue three weeks previous), we would have made a small profit after the art grants.

The Cold Compress team feels that this was a very successful event: the community threw an incredible event, made awesome art, and are building a relationship with a new venue who would love to work with us again. Should the planners decide to go with the same venue next year, and have the event not in the dead of winter, it’s very likely that we’ll be able to spend even more money on art grants and still make a modest profit.

If there are any questions on the financials, including on why certain costs were what they were, please feel free to ask for details. The afterburn report will have much more detail; please keep an eye out for it soon!