Wow, I had forgotten about this thread. And here I am planning for our 2011 haunt (our 6th year) - and it's still a non-profit fundraiser. After crunching numbers, I realized there's no way to turn the current haunt into a for-profit haunt so I've been satisfied to use this opportunity to learn more about managing a haunt as well as making my own props.
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This is one of those good points/bad points situations. I run a haunted trail outside of the city limits - no regulations really apply to me. However, our staff numbers are between 90-100 workers for each night we are open. That's the main reason our particular haunt could never succeed as a business - just can't pay everyone and still cover our overhead costs.We are thinking about donating a percentage of our profits next year rather than going all out non-profit... It may not mean we are able to make back all our expenses, but I do think it will help with permits and the city.... Have you considered that already? We are just like you, we plan years in advance for each halloween...
Our numbers from the first year were about 2000 (over 10 nights) and now are about 2500 (over 5 nights). (I''ve learned to only open on Saturdays in October - we/no one can compete with high school football in MS, lol). We have an arrangement with the local sheriff's dept. they provide my uniformed security and we make a donation to their Fallen Officer's Fund. We had a local drama club as well as a JC soccer team work at the Trail for donations to their groups. We also do a canned food drive that goes to a local food pantry.
After our overhead and obligations, we should have from $10-12k in the bank. There's several events and groups that we'll make donations to throughout the year in addition to adopting several families for Christmas.
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