I’m considering donating. Can you give us a little more information on breakdown of the costs? What are typical large expenses that the 1.6 million upkeep of Lighthaven consists of? Is this a usual cost for a similar sized event space, or is something about the location or the specialness of the place that makes it more expensive?
How much money does running LW cost? The post says it’s >1M, which somewhat surprised me, but I have no idea what’s the usual cost of running such a site is. Is the cost mostly server hosting or salaries for content moderation or salaries for software development or something I haven’t thought of?
Very reasonable question! Here is a breakdown of our projected budget:
Type
Cost
Core Staff Salaries, Payroll, etc. (6 people)
$1.4M
Lighthaven (Upkeep)
Operations & Sales
$240k
Repairs & Maintenance Staff
$200k
Porterage & Cleaning Staff
$320k
Property Tax
$300k
Utilities & Internet
$180k
Additional Rental Property
$180k
Supplies (Food + Maintenance)
$180k
Lighthaven Upkeep Total
$1.6M
Lighthaven Mortgage
$1M
LW Hosting + Software Subscriptions
$120k
Dedicated Software + Accounting Staff
$330k
Total Costs
$4.45M
Expected Income
($2.55M)
Annual Shortfall
$1.9M
And then, as explained in the post, in the coming year, we will have an additional mortgage payment of $1M due in March.
The core staff consists of generalists who work on a very wide range of different projects. My best guess is about 65% of the generalist labor in the coming year will go into LW, but that might drastically change depending on what projects we take on.
Is this a usual cost for a similar sized event space, or is something about the location or the specialness of the place that makes it more expensive?
The costs of event venues and hotels differs enormously across the Bay Area. I think we currently operate at substantially higher expense per square feet than a low-margin hotel like the Rose Garden Inn, but at substantially lower cost than a dedicated conference center like the SSS-Ranch or the Oakland Marriott. I expect we can probably drive maintenance and upkeep costs down, but I think it also makes sense from a pure economic perspective to keep investing into venue upgrades.
I’m considering donating. Can you give us a little more information on breakdown of the costs? What are typical large expenses that the 1.6 million upkeep of Lighthaven consists of? Is this a usual cost for a similar sized event space, or is something about the location or the specialness of the place that makes it more expensive?
How much money does running LW cost? The post says it’s >1M, which somewhat surprised me, but I have no idea what’s the usual cost of running such a site is. Is the cost mostly server hosting or salaries for content moderation or salaries for software development or something I haven’t thought of?
Very reasonable question! Here is a breakdown of our projected budget:
And then, as explained in the post, in the coming year, we will have an additional mortgage payment of $1M due in March.
The core staff consists of generalists who work on a very wide range of different projects. My best guess is about 65% of the generalist labor in the coming year will go into LW, but that might drastically change depending on what projects we take on.
The costs of event venues and hotels differs enormously across the Bay Area. I think we currently operate at substantially higher expense per square feet than a low-margin hotel like the Rose Garden Inn, but at substantially lower cost than a dedicated conference center like the SSS-Ranch or the Oakland Marriott. I expect we can probably drive maintenance and upkeep costs down, but I think it also makes sense from a pure economic perspective to keep investing into venue upgrades.