How Do We Budget For An Event And Set Our Ticket Prices?

Budgeting wisely and setting fair ticket prices helps keep things running smoothly, ensures everyone can afford to join in on the fun, and lets you keep hosting awesome events that bring people together without breaking the bank!

For one-off trips and events, we have a handy document that you can use to work out a budget for your event and it even suggests a recommended ticket price: our Event Budget Planner! 

When planning your event, it’s important to think about how much you will be spending per person: not just on the venue and/or catering, but also on all your other purchases from equipment to printing, as this all needs to be considered when setting a ticket price too. A lot of these areas are already captured in our planning form, but for specific events, you may need to think outside of those boxes!

Remember there are also other forms of money you could consider to supplement some of the ticket, such as: 

• Check how much money you already have in your student group account from membership fees and/or any previous events you’ve run if you plan on subsidising some of the cost of your event with money from your group pot. Remember to leave some money in your account to pay for any losses and not put your group into a negative balance!
• You may also be eligible to apply for a grant from the SU. You can find out more about this here.
• You might be able to secure sponsorship for the event. You can read our rules and guidance on sponsorship in our dedicated article.
• Donations are also another avenue to consider. Information on how we process donations can be found here [article coming soon].  

Setting a high ticket price suggests a high-class event; you need to keep in mind what you can actually achieve as your event should offer good value for money. Ask yourself, do you have the resources to be able to control and maintain the quality of the event you are planning?

You also need to factor in the cost of Value Added Tax (VAT) - 20% of all ticket sales revenue will need to be paid to HMRC. For example, if you charge £10 for a ticket to your ball, £8 will go into your student group account, and £2 will be paid to HMRC. A charity or active (sporting) events may not be subject to VAT in certain aspects - You can find out more about that in our VAT article.

For any issues relating to accessing the links above, please get in touch here.