A brief summary of TerraBreak.org's Financials
It's our understanding there are/were some concerns regarding TerraBreak.org profiting from the competition via the sale of things like patches, and possibly there is some curiosity about the Google ads displayed on the site. Let me first state that the goal of TerraBreak.org is not to make a profit. Tim and I started TerraBreak.org to provide a resource to the community -- to give back to DBF, which we saw as a valuable learning experience in our college days. We go into more detail on what TerraBreak.org is about on our About Page, so I won't discuss it any more here. The goal of this particular article is to fully disclose our financials, and give a bit more insight into why we've tried what we have.
As discussed above, profit is not our goal. Our goal is to enrich the competition, and everything we do is driven by that desire, not "making a profit". We spent a great deal of time creating Photo Compilations for all the 2004-2005 teams because we thought they would be neat mementos that team members would appreciate. We came up with 2005-2006 patches because we felt teams might like a souvenier from the competition. We have (hopefully) unobtrusive Google ads on the site to defray hosting costs.
So what kind of numbers are we talking about? Below are a couple tables summarizing the money we've brought in, and the money we've spent.
| Description | Income | Expense |
|---|---|---|
| 2004-2005 Photo Compilations | $60 | |
| 2005-2006 Patches | $50 | |
| Google ads | $70 | |
| Web Hosting | $60 | |
| Domain Name | $10 | |
| Travel to Wichita | $1530 | |
| Wichita lodging | $640 | |
| Wichita car rental | $170 | |
| TerraBreak.org t-shirts | $120 | |
| Patches | $160 | |
| 2004-2005 Photo Book | $50 | |
| Total: | $180 | $2740 |
Historically, we make about $70 a year on the Google ads, which is just about enough to cover our web hosting and domain name registration costs. We've made about $60 from the sale of photo compilations, which is about $10 more than it cost to make the 8x10 photo book containing sample prints for all the teams. We've sold about $50 worth of patches, which cost us $160. That just leaves us with the expenses of attending competition itself, which the TerraBreak.org staff covers on its own dime. The stay in Wichita last year cost TerraBreak.org approximately $820 (hotel + rental car). Regarding travel, we had staff coming in from both sides of the country, both flying and driving. Five of us flew, with plane tickets costing $240, $240, $240, $351, and $357. One of us drove round trip from Denver, about 1000 miles. Just factoring gas costs, that's ~$100. So that adds up to another $1530.
So, the TerraBreak.org 2005-2006 Financial Summary is as follows. Revenue: $180. Costs: $2740. With our "fiscal year" running May - April, TerraBreak.org is approximately $2560 in the red for 2006. Bear in mind that we are publising this information so as to be open and forthcoming with all who participate in DBF. We are not seeking donations or pity -- only understanding and respect.
--Lone Shepherd
