Welcome to the Budgeting Section of My5kPlanner.
This section is dedicated to helping you keep to the budget you are working with for your event. It is possible to be efficient while also putting on the best event possible. If you have already reached out to Sponsors in your area to help cover costs then here are some more ways you can cover expenses for your event!
The average cost for each item category will shown with:
$ – Low
$$ – Mid-Range
$$$ – Expensive
Event Staffing
Paid Staff – $$
Working with a paid staff is usually a cost that you want to factor into your event budget because of the tasks that this staff can complete. Usually you’ll be hiring staff to help you with specialized skills that you do not have. This could be creating graphics, working with timing, or pretty much any job that you would out-source. This takes a lot of pressure off of you to handle everything as well and it is certainly worth the investment. A way that you can reduce this cost is by working with friends or co-workers that are willing to work for a smaller fee.
Volunteers – $
Volunteers are one of your best and most cost effective resource. Volunteers will be working pretty much for the experience, a t-shirt and some free food. As said in the Volunteer section it is important to give them a good experience and make them feel appreciated. So, while it doesn’t hurt your budget you need to make sure you dedicate some time to working with these volunteers.
Goods and Services
Barricade Rental – $$$
Barricades can cost you a lot depending on how many you need and if you will be setting them up on your own. When making a rental you are better off having the company set them up, deliver them, etc.
While they expensive they can really help manage crowds for larger races. If you’re considering an alternative you could work with using “caution tape” or some kind of sectioning rope. The problem with this is that it is easy for spectators to climb under or over which defeats the purpose of having these barriers.
Food and Drink – $$
Depending on if you are working with a Sponsor to donate food and drink items will affect the cost for this part of your event. If you do not have a sponsor to work with you need to consider how many participants and volunteers you will have at that event. You then need to make sure that you have more supplies than what you are expecting just in case more people come! This worst thing you could do is be short on supplies. So, as a rule of thumb when it comes to drink and food you should always have more than less! You should look to buying in bulk after you determine how much you need. Going to a store like Costco or BJ’s is a good option. If you know what supplies you are providing communicate with the participants ahead of time so they can prepare by bringing their own if necessary.
Portable Toilets – $$$
Similar to barricades during large events you would consider renting portable toilets if you were expecting a large crowd. The area that you are in may not have the right amount of toilets, so you will need to provide them for your participants. The approach you would take would be to find a good space to put the portable toilets then work with a rental company for placement and pick-up after your event is over.
T-Shirts – $ to $$
T-Shirts can be a mid-range expense item to being low-cost or completely free depending on what approach you take to obtaining them. If you want to purchase them yourself and choose what goes on them, then you’ll be looking to incur the costs on your own, but this gives you the freedom to do what you want with your shirts.
The other alternative is to work with a Sponsor(s). You can sell advertisement space on your shirt to help fund the costs. You can offer sponsors certain space sizes on the shirt for different prices. This will help out your event by helping fund your shirts while also providing exposure for the sponsor. Most 5k races will use this strategy to help get their shirts paid for while also collecting money to cover other costs as well.
Trash Cans and Waste Management – $ to $$
Depending on how big your race is and what plan you have in mind on dealing with garbage can affect the amount you need to spend on waste management.
The cost of dealing with the trash during your event can be very small. You may just need to purchase some extra trash bags and have volunteers help collect excess garbage.
If you expect a lot of waste at your event you may want to outsource the trash clean up. You could look towards your local community trash collectors or possibly an available janitorial/facility service in the area.
Race Organization
Race Numbers/Bibs – $
Purchasing Race Numbers or Bibs can be easy just by looking to online race product websites. You can usually buy customizable race bibs for less than $1.50 a number. If you’re looking for plain race numbers you can get them for less than 50 cents a number. You can find these websites on the Race Numbers/Bibs page.
If you are looking to work with a race timer for the event you may want to ask what methods or equipment the timer uses. This will better determine what bibs you may want to purchase. Also, many race timers will get the race bibs for you, so that is a task that you may not even have to worry about if you are outsourcing a timer.
Race Registration – $
Race registration can be simple and easy to do depending on what method you are working with. If you choose to use an online resource like Active.com then you’ll be able to have access to many participants for a small fee. The fee required to use a site like this costs $3.95 per participant. This is worthwhile because of amount of effort that is saved from outsourcing registration. It also helps keep things a little more organized as well as allowing users to sign up at all times of the day.
Timing Equipment and Service Rentals – $$
Working with Timers for races can be a great thing. Some race timers can be expensive, but with their help you get access to their expensive timing material as well as their race management expertise. This cost is necessary because it is usually not as efficient to buy your own timing material while learning how to use it if this is only your first event. It is hard to cut costs here, but calling around to find timers used at other races in your area can be a good place to start.
Putting It All Together!
After considering all of your costs then you can finally decide how to price your event. It is important to determine a cost for participants that will be affordable to your audience which also needs to meet your revenue goals. You can check out a sample budget put together here: Sample Budgeting Sheet
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