It's always about money:
In April 2011, Larry Harvey announced that the LLC was beginning a three-year process to transfer ownership and control of the event over to a new non-profit organization called the "Burning Man Project." The move towards becoming a non-profit organization was the result of "bitter infighting" between members of the board. At one point it looked like all of the board members were going to hire lawyers. Corporate appraisers were brought in to determine how much the company was worth, which Larry Harvey found "abhorrent" and against all of the values that Burning Man stood for.
[37] An earlier agreement stated that each member of the LLC would only receive "sole compensation for many years of service, a golden parachute of $20,000." But the members now consented to an arrangement whereby each member of the LLC would receive an undisclosed sum prior to the transfer of their ownership rights to the Burning Man Project. Marian Goodell, board member and head of communication, addressed concerns about the lack of transparency with this statement: "When you’re in the middle of a storm, if you’re going to explain all of how you got there, and how you’re going to get out, it often sets more panic among the survivors than if you just sail the boat out of the darkness."
[38] It was announced in March 2014 via the official Burning Man Blog that the non-profit transition was complete.
[39] Under the new non-profit structure Black Rock City LLC, the longtime for-profit responsible for the event, would be a subsidiary of the non-profit Burning Man Project. Although unmentioned in the initial announcement, the Terms and Conditions for ticket buyers were changed to reflect an alteration in the structure of the business. Under the new terms it was made known that a new LLC was created, Decommodification LLC, which in the new non-profit business structure, owns all of the intellectual property associated with the Burning Man brand, including ownership over logos and trademarks, and will be responsible for enforcement thereof.
[40] The non-profit Burning Man Project licenses usage of all intellectual property associated with Burning Man from Decommodification LLC. After questions were raised by the community about this new LLC within the comment section on the original non-profit announcement Larry Harvey confirmed that he and the other founders were the sole owners of this new LLC.
Also:
Revealed: The 'non-profit' Burning Man festival makes $32.4M revenue a year and the CEO earns over $200,000 - but $30M is plowed back into creating the next festival - The festival's tax documents were made public for the first time after the organization recently became a non-profit
- They showed the 2014 festival made $32.4 million in revenue, but that $30 million was put back into the creation and running of the event
- Most of the revenue was generated through ticket sales
- An extra $200,000 was made through the sales of ice and coffee - the only things available for purchase at the event
- Burning Man CEO was paid a salary of $242,500 in 2014 and president Larry Harvey was paid $197,500
Tickets are $390 each, plus fees, however, due to the growing popularity of the festival and the inevitability it will sell-out, there are pre-sale tickets for $800, plus fees.
Vehicle passes are then $50 each.
The only thing available to buy at Burning Man is coffee and ice, which brought in $200,000 in 2014, the documents noted.
By
DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER PUBLISHED: 00:39 EDT, 19 December 2015 | UPDATED: 13:38 EDT, 19 December 2015