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Burning Man 2025 is under threat after organisers claimed that it must raise $14m before plans for this year's edition can be confirmed.
Chief executive Marian Goodell says the organisation is way short of financial targets announced last October. At the time, Goodell said that the organisation’s year-end charitable donation target had doubled to nearly $20m after 2024 tickets failed to sell as planned.
In an update sent to supporters in recent weeks, Goodell said the nonprofit is still $14m short of its target figure. Organisers said ticket details for 2025 are still being ironed out, with philanthropic support helping inform planning for the event.
Goodell wrote: “Today, with reductions as well as dollars raised from supporters, we’re still about $14m short of where we ought to be.
“We started 2024 with a commitment to raise $10m philanthropically. This was up 20% from the $8.2m raised in 2023. Due to the ticket sales shortfall to Black Rock City in 2024, we found ourselves needing to make mission-aligned budget adjustments and raise the remaining deficit to the tune of approximately $10m – this, in addition to the initial $10m goal. And today, with reductions as well as dollars raised from supporters, we’re still about $14m short of where we ought to be.”
Burning Man cutting costs
The 2025 edition of Burning Man, which was first staged in 1986, is scheduled to be held over a week at the end of August. The festival is usually attended by around 80,000 people.
While the Black Rock City festival has been known to sell out within minutes of release, organisers last year opened sales for non-registered buyers for the first time after sluggish sales. The cost to produce the event was around $749 per participant, compared to main sale ticket prices of $575. Organisers have also laid off staff amid a cost-cutting drive.
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