It Costs WHAT?!

by Catherine Scholar. Published on February 11, 2018, as a Facebook note.

The board is sometimes asked why our events and workshops are “so expensive.” How can we possibly justify charging $50 for a workshop, or $10 for a picnic in a public park? Why does it cost more to go to an event at a restaurant than to go to the same place on your own?

I’d like to take you behind the scenes to show you how we price events and workshops.

We always aim to price events and workshops to break even. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization, the GBACG cannot intentionally make a profit at the end of the year.  That means we price each event or workshop by taking our actual costs and dividing it by the number of people that we guess will attend. It’s an inexact science: sometimes we sell more tickets than we expect and make a little more than our expenses, and sometimes we sell fewer and make less. We hope it works out so that we break even at the end of the year.

Let’s look at the art of putting together a recent workshop as an example. Someone asked me why we charge such an “exorbitant” ticket prices, and requested us to please lower them. We priced the workshop at $47 for members by estimating that 10 people will attend. Here are our costs:

• Room rental $100
• Instructor fee $200
• Supply kits $150
• Eventbrite fees $20
• Total $470

Could we lower the cost of the workshop?

The room cost is impressively low for the SF Bay Area. It is incredibly difficult to find an affordable workshop space that fits a dozen or more people plus sewing machines, is easily accessible, and is open when we need it. The board is constantly looking for new workshop venues, and this is a good one.

The instructor fee is $200 for the day, or $33.33 per hour for the six-hour workshop. This is hardly out of line for a skilled instructor; in fact, it’s pretty low. A number of well-known instructors charge far more; some charge as much as $100 per student.

The supply kits and the Eventbrite fees for handling ticketing and payments are our actual costs for 10 people, which we pass on directly. For this event in particular, we ate some of the Eventbrite fees to keep cost down.

We could have everyone source their own supplies, but it costs less for us to purchase the items in bulk and pass them on to you at cost, than for each student to purchase their own supplies. By including supplies, we also ensure that everyone has the right ones for the class and won’t be struggling with the wrong materials.

As you can see, the major expenses are the room, instructor, and supplies. We are getting a pretty good deal on each of them, so there is really no room to lower the cost of the workshop. In fact, if we sell fewer than ten tickets we will lose money.

Another example is the Halloween Tea from 2017. Someone asked why the event costs more than if they go to the tea room on their own. The member ticket cost is $53 while the tearoom’s web site clearly states that the “Grand Sparkling Victorian Tea” with champagne costs $28.

First, the price they quoted does not include tax and tip. Once you added Fremont’s 9.25% sales tax and a 20% tip, that $28 went up to the $36.70 per person that the tearoom charged us, tax and tip inclusively. Because we’re bringing around 30 people, they are also letting us have exclusive use of the tearoom at no extra charge. There were no “muggles” in civilian dress staring at us. You can’t get that perk as a small party. Eventbrite also charges us a fee of $3.64 per person to handle ticketing and payments.

What about the extra $12.66 per ticket?

The Halloween Tea was more than just the food. We had special decorations, games, prizes, and entertainment, and we’re reserved the tea room for an hour beyond closing so we didn’t have to rush through the party. Here are the additional expenses for this event:

• Decorations, games, and prizes $150
• Entertainment $150
• Extra hour of tea room $100
• Total additional expenses: $400

The extra $12.66 per ticket is what took the party from “let’s sit around and eat” to a memorable holiday occasion.

What about the picnic? How can we charge $10 for people to gather in a public park? Can’t they go there for free? Of course they can do that on their own, but a picnic is more than a gathering place. If we have games we need supplies and prizes, and if we have crafts we need materials. Again, the few dollars involved are what allow us to give you a fun experience.

Picnics often cost more if we have to reserve a picnic area, which can cost $100-$250 for the day. This extra cost ensures that we get the prime spot in the shade, and not (at worst) arriving at picnic time to find all of the spots taken.

Your board works hard to create memorable activities and learning opportunities on what often feels like a shoestring and a billion hours of volunteer labor. We believe that everyone has a right to know what they’re buying with an event or workshop ticket, and you should ask if you’re unsure. GBACG has been putting on events and workshops for nearly thirty years, and we always strive to give our members the best value for money while enabling our organization to break even at the end of each year so we can keep doing it for many years to come.