Income mix

The split between an event’s sources of income. At community scale there are usually only two that matter, sponsorship and ticket sales, and the ratio you choose decides what kind of event you can be. A sponsorship heavy mix lets you price tickets low enough that money stops being a filter on who walks in, and it protects you from a soft ticket week, because your fixed costs are already covered. A ticket heavy mix makes every empty seat a hole in the budget. The volunteer conference consensus is to push sponsorship as high as it will go and keep the door cheap, deliberately. In-kind support belongs in the mix too, recorded at what it saves you rather than left off the sheet because no cash moved.

Source: DevOpsDays Organizing Guide. Its income categories name sponsorship as “potentially up to 75%” of income, and its budgeting section states the stronger version: “This is why we say 80%+ of your event budget should come from sponsorship funds! If you set yourself up this way, you know you can put on a good event for the community regardless of how many people actually come.” Its tickets and pricing section connects the ratio to accessibility, recommending sponsors cover “80% or more of your expected expenses” so ticket prices can drop to a nominal amount. The TEDx Organizer Guide adds the in-kind half, instructing organizers to record cash and in-kind donations in the same budget. The 75 to 80 percent figures are that guide’s own stated targets, not an independently measured industry benchmark.

First used in: 1.4 · The money: three-tier budgeting.