Is it real?
Yes. Never revoked by the IRS. Latest filing on record: FY2024. IRS ruling in Apr 2012.
IRS Pub. 78 · IRS Auto-Revocation List · IRS Business Master File
Where the money goes
80 cents of each dollar spent went to programs.
Form 990 Part IX, line 25, columns B–D. Every line is in By the numbers.
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Who runs it and what they're paid
32 people listed on the 990; $3.5M paid to officers and key staff.
Marian Goodell’s $378K as Director/Chief Executive Officer is at the 66th percentile of top reported officer pay among 572 $10–100M community development nonprofits. Peer set: organizations in the same NTEE major field of work and revenue-size band, compared on each org’s own highest-paid officer/key-employee, from Form 990 Part VII / 990-PF Part VIII. Descriptive placement, not a verdict on whether the pay is appropriate.
Compensation history total reportable pay by year · 8 named individuals · Part VII
| Name | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marian Goodell | $378,237 | $346,747 | $327,006 | $282,812 |
| Steven Blumenfeld | $309,051 | $306,540 | $294,029 | $177,793 |
| Heather White | $246,599 | $224,017 | $217,818 | $187,855 |
| Adam Belsky | $239,280 | $212,995 | — | — |
| Harley K Dubois | $226,129 | $223,396 | $231,638 | $204,995 |
| Doug Robertson | $210,314 | $198,431 | $192,166 | $170,911 |
| Daniel Kaufman | $204,126 | $200,535 | $190,231 | — |
| Charlie Dolman | $202,593 | $195,262 | $188,030 | $146,061 |
Total reportable compensation (Form 990 Part VII column D / Schedule J column E) by filing year, matched by name within this organization. The Schedule J base / bonus / deferred breakdown is not parsed into this dataset.
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Questions the 990 asks
The form asks each of these directly. These are the filed answers.
- Family or business ties among officersPt VI · Ln 2Yes
- Top official's pay set by an independent reviewPt VI · Ln 15aYes
Programs and updates
Promotes a global cultural movement by fostering community, art, education, and civic engagement based on the ten principles of Burning Man.
Questions for Burning Man Project
Your first name shows with your question. Burning Man Project answers here, for everyone.
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Black rock cityblack rock city ("BRC") is a temporary metropolis dedicated to art, community, and culture created by its 70,000+ participants and guided by the ten principles of burning man (see above).
Burning man artsthe burning man arts program includes the art of black rock city, civic arts, and global art GRANTS.BLACK rock city honoraria: the 2022 award of $1,087,901 in grant funds along with other resources and capacity planning to artists in the creation and future installation of works of art in black rock city, nevada.
Civic engagementbmp's civic engagement program includes the burning man regional network (the "regional network") and burners without borders. The regional network is a global network of individuals, events, and organizations inspired by the values reflected in the ten principles.
Funders
Who pays for it.
From grant filings on record. Receipts are incomplete: individual donors are never listed.
Grants
By the numbers
The FY2022 990, line by line.
Download 990
| Line | Start FY22 | End FY22 |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savingsLn 1–2 | $15.5M | $16.5M |
| Land, buildings, equipmentLn 10c | $10.0M | $13.4M |
| Total assetsLn 16 | $30.7M | $37.0M |
| LiabilitiesLn 26 | $8.5M | $10.3M |
| Net assetsLn 32 | $22.2M | $26.7M |
| Line | Total | Programs | Management | Fundraising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants to domestic organizationsLn 1 | $404K | $404K | ||
| Grants to domestic individualsLn 2 | $673K | $673K | ||
| Grants and assistance to foreign recipientsLn 3 | $175K | $175K | ||
| Pay of current officers, directors and key staffLn 5 | $2.7M | $1.3M | $1.1M | $214K |
| Other salaries and wagesLn 7 | $20.2M | $16.0M | $3.6M | $649K |
| Pension plan contributionsLn 8 | $543K | $263K | $265K | $15K |
| Other employee benefitsLn 9 | $1.3M | $648K | $636K | $31K |
| Payroll taxesLn 10 | $1.9M | $1.4M | $387K | $70K |
| Legal feesLn 11b | $244K | $244K | ||
| Accounting feesLn 11c | $172K | $172K | ||
| Lobbying feesLn 11d | $369K | $369K | ||
| Other fees for servicesLn 11g | $5.5M | $4.8M | $542K | $166K |
| Advertising and promotionLn 12 | $15K | $402 | $15K | |
| Office expensesLn 13 | $1.2M | $1.1M | $32K | $87K |
| OccupancyLn 16 | $1.7M | $1.4M | $298K | $7K |
| TravelLn 17 | $1.1M | $782K | $198K | $86K |
| Conferences, conventions and meetingsLn 19 | $66K | $65K | $956 | |
| InterestLn 20 | $12 | $12 | ||
| Depreciation, depletion and amortizationLn 22 | $1.0M | $590K | $425K | |
| InsuranceLn 23 | $1.1M | $925K | $142K | $36K |
| Other expenses (24a–d)Ln 24 | $16.6M | $15.8M | $799K | $37K |
| All other expensesLn 24e | $1.6M | $395K | $1.2M | |
| Total functional expensesLn 25 | $58.5M | $47.1M | $10.1M | $1.4M |
Filing history
| Year | Money in | Money out | In minus out | Net assets | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 Latest | $56.0M | $66.7M | −$10.6M | $19.0M | 990 PDF |
| FY2023 | $66.6M | $63.6M | $3.0M | $29.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2022 Viewing | $62.6M | $58.5M | $4.0M | $26.7M | 990 PDF |
| FY2021 | $27.7M | $25.1M | $2.6M | $22.2M | 990 PDF |
| FY2020 | $15.6M | $22.7M | −$7.0M | $19.6M | 990 PDF |
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Schedules filed Part IV
See the full FY2022 990 (6 parts)
Part I · Summary $62,560,831 revenue, 12 lines filed
Part VI · Governance 14 of 20 board members independent, 1 to look at
Part VIII · Statement of revenue $62,560,831 across 10 lines filed
Part IX · Statement of functional expenses $58,521,590 across 22 lines filed
Part X · Balance sheet $37,005,574 assets, 18 lines filed
Part XI · Reconciliation of net assets $26,704,572 net assets at year end
Form 990 e-file (XML) FY2022 from the IRS · Classification, formation year and address from the IRS Business Master File
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