Reasonable Honoraria Funding Request Vs. Total Budget

[spacetime]

I am looking for guidance on how much of funding to request in my art Honoraria request versus the total budget of the piece.

For example, if your budget is $5000, would it be appropriate to ask for up to 80% of that cost to be covered by the grant? If not, what kind of range would be seen as reasonable?

Does it change based on the overall cost of the art, your pedigree at the event or other factors?

This is my first time submitting an honoraria and my first attempt to lead an art project for a burn.

I presume any additional funds come from out of pocket, crowd or community funding or some kind of other patron.

[Ratty]

Hi. Consider that the project will cost more than you anticipate. The grant is meant to be 'seed' money to get you started. If you have means, or think you can scrounge up some money on your own then ask for half. That's just my uninformed opinion.

[spacetime]

Okay. I substantially scaled down my previous design, and am building in a fair amount of buffer. I'm tempted to ask for more than half though, as the overall cost is not that high and I think still a solid impact.

[Popeye]

When I see:

I substantially scaled down my previous design, and am building in a fair amount of buffer.

I read it as " I gold plated my original design, and exagerated/ lied about how much money I really need, in order to get a larger piece of the pie."

Maybe, you could create a more realistic, honest plan and budget and have a better chance of getting funded?

[Token]

Best place for information is the BORG.

https://burningman.org/culture/burning- ... honoraria/

Our annual budget for art on playa is $1.3 million. We typically fund approximately 60 to 70 honoraria art projects. Grants over $20,000 are rare. Due to the number of proposals we receive we are not able to negotiate potential changes for each application.

So with some simple maths, if the BORG blows through $1.3M on 60 - 70 grants with > $20K being rare ...

Go back to the grand version and ask for $18K.

See, maths is your friend.

[Ratty]

Spacetime, if you have excess you can just give it back.

[spacetime]

I posted this in a Facebook group and connected with someone in my community who has two successful grants under their belt.

They looked at my detailed budget and were able to give feedback on my application too.

I got a lot of other useful feedback on this topic:

Ratty was right although the general feedback from others who have done this is 40-45% is reasonable, 50% is maximum.

There was one account where someone asked for 50% and only 35% was offered by the arts folks.

Some did advised a buffer, and if no one is getting more than 50% on the front end, I can understand why people would advise this. However I believe there is some danger in going overboard because I do think experienced makers are reviewing the apps and can tell if the request is off.

I did run those same numbers and got to an 18k mean but from what I’ve learned this is not a realistic budget for a first time applicant. Possibly if you were heavily affiliated with past projects—I could see it but I don’t have that pedigree. My biggest budget never came to half that.

I think an ask that didn’t reasonably match the project described / your proven involvement in projects of the financial scale you’re requesting could be a negative indicator.

But you won’t find that out directly because apparently if your project is passed on there is no feedback on why.

I am really happy I got the LOI in. I had been thinking about an art piece for a few months and working on the LOI answers for several weeks.

What I had in mind changed the more I thought of it, and as I weighed how hard it would be to execute on given my five years at the burn so far.

I will find out 12/13 if I get to do a full application.

Regardless of the outcome I’m really happy about the process I went through to get there. I’d recommend anyone try this as just going through this part is an interesting new way to interact with the event in the off season.

[burner von braun]

Glad you're having a go at it spacetime! I recall a particularly fine and thorough write up that you posted here on eplaya regarding the logistics/experience of traveling on the Burner Express bus several years ago. It was a good read. Likewise, I hope we get to read more about the 'ins and outs' of your art project as things progress. Good luck!

[Ratty]

So great to be reaching out like this. Spacetime, How many people will be involved? (Or are you doing it all?) How early will you need to arrive for setup? Will your project be out in the open playa or in the burbs? Tomorrow's the Artumnal. It's going to be glorious. I can't wait.

[Token]

Nailed that $18k !!!

Thank you, I’m here till Thursday.

Try the veal!

[spacetime]

So great to be reaching out like this. Spacetime, How many people will be involved? (Or are you doing it all?) How early will you need to arrive for setup? Will your project be out in the open playa or in the burbs? Tomorrow's the Artumnal. It's going to be glorious. I can't wait.

I have three people on it now, but I could see it growing to four to five. I don't know if they would all go out or not.

I'm not sure how early to set up yet.

I want this thing out on open playa. Because it does have elements of sound and think that might be better away from the city.

[spacetime]

Glad you're having a go at it spacetime! I recall a particularly fine and thorough write up that you posted here on eplaya regarding the logistics/experience of traveling on the Burner Express bus several years ago. It was a good read. Likewise, I hope we get to read more about the 'ins and outs' of your art project as things progress. Good luck!

Missed this. Thank you. That was my first year. Sure I hope to have something worth writing about.

[BBadger]

A friend hosted a small workshop on proposal writing for BM and his advice, according to his research, was that 30% was a good percentage of the total budget to be covered by the grant. Also, that durable goods (e.g. tools, generators, etc.) are frowned upon as budget items.