Create a budget
We find that successful celebrations create and maintain a budget. This document is to assist you in setting up your location’s budget and matching the budget against sponsor dollars and in-kind donations.
The first step in budgeting is to determine the size of your World IA Day celebration. Some locations have well-established IA communities while other locations are just starting out. In either case, we believe successful events can be of any size and should be based on the needs and climate of your community.
Once you determine the size of your event, the next step is to determine
which costs/items are essential (necessary for the event to happen) and
which costs/items are non-essential (highly desired but not fundamental to your celebration).
You can begin to prioritize what costs should be taken care of first. A good rule of thumb for determining if a cost is essential is asking “Can I still have an event if this cost is not covered?” If the answer is “yes”, then the item is not essential.
As a general guide, we believe event venue, documenting the celebration (audio/video recordings and/or photography), and printing supplies are all important to your event. Non-essential items include lunch, a closing party, gifts for attendees or presenters.
In previous year’s costs per location, the most expensive item has been the venue (except in the cases where the venue was free/donated).
Renting a space for a day that can accommodate 100+ people can be very expensive. If you can manage to find a venue space and get an in-kind donation for it from the owner of the space, it can greatly reduce the amount of funding you need to raise.
We often find that universities, schools, and libraries are good places to look for such in-kind donations of venue space. Big companies also will help in exchange for promotional benefits.
Below is a breakdown average for essential costs based on estimates from previous World IA Day celebrations:
Description | Average Costs (USD) |
Venue | $855 |
A/V | $756 |
Supplies/Printing | $390 |
The average total overall to run a World IA Day celebration was around $3,000 in 2016, but ranged from $600 - $9,000 depending on venue size, number of attendees, and types of expenses. In 2019, this average was a bit lower, about USD $2,200, ranging from $250 (for an event with 55 people) to $12,000 (for an event with 250 people).
We have also had organizers over the years secure in-kind sponsorship to fund their entire celebration!
Especially for new locations or local organizers who have limited event-planning experience, figuring out an appropriate budget can sometimes be tricky. Please see our budget template as a place to start.
We are always happy to help work through this with you. If you need support in deciding what’s essential vs. nonessential, where to best allocate your sponsorship money, or any other questions regarding your budget, please do not hesitate to reach out to the global board at [email protected].
