QED is not about making money, it's about putting on an event for the community of rational thinking people to enjoy, and if we make some money for worthy charities along the way, so much the better. So we were pleased to have been able to give a reasonable donation to the National Autistic Society and Sense About Science with the proceeds from QED 2011.
Here's an infographic explaining where all the money came from and went to in last year's event. On the treemap you can see that we managed to get by with very little paid-for promotion last year, and what we did spend was paid for by the advertising for other groups we sold as table space or program adverts. This is thanks to you, our tweet-happy attendees, who made sure that everyone in the community knew all about us. Keep up the good work.
The Google transaction fees are a pretty big chunk, but to be honest they make collecting money for tickets so easy that it seems like good value. Sales of books and t-shirts etc covered this cost almost totally.
None of the staff, volunteers or speakers received any fee, although we did pay for accommodation for the Merseyside-based organizers, as some really early mornings were involved. This is the "staff costs" section.
Crunching the numbers reveals that from last year's ticket price, nearly 15% went to the charities.
For next year, with austerity measures biting, the eurozone in turmoil, student fees going up, and energy prices increasing, we took the decision to bring the ticket price down, and we hope this eases the burden. We're hoping that we will have increased attendance, and that we should still have an appreciable donation to give to the charities again. So tell all your friends you plan to go, and suggest they come along too. Critical thinking has never been better value!