Fun Run Profit Calculator

What the fun run profit calculator answers

One event, one set of costs, one turnout, three models, so any difference comes from the model alone.

• Registration fee only. No donations.
• Free entry + donations. Some participants collect donations, counted at the share you expect to actually be paid.
• Fee + donations (hybrid). Its own fee and donation settings.

Sponsorships are added to all three. Every starting figure is an illustration, not a typical result; replace each with your own. For the bigger picture of running an event to raise money, start at the fun run fundraiser hub.

How to use it, step by step

1. Describe the event. Enter participants, the share entering free, cost per participant and fixed costs, taken from your fun run budget or the fun run budget spreadsheet.
2. Enter the money coming in. Set the registration fee, total sponsorships, the share of participants who collect donations, the average promised to each one who does, and the share of promised money you expect to actually collect.
3. Open "Hybrid model settings". Give the hybrid its own fee, collecting share and average. A cleared field borrows the main value.
4. Open "Fees and outside providers". Enter your card processing rate, the share of money that arrives online, and any share an outside company keeps.
5. Read the results. The top row names the highest-net model (or "Tie:" with each tied model), its net, the fee-only break-even turnout and the lowest fee that covers costs. The table shows every line for all three models.
6. Share it with "Copy summary" or "Print".

What each input means and how to choose it

Input	What it means	How to choose it
Participants	Everyone who takes part, paying or not	Last year's turnout; run a low and a high case.
Share who enter free	Percent who pay no fee: students in a school-day run, scholarships, volunteers	Used by the fee-only and hybrid models; free entry ignores it.
Cost per participant	What each extra person costs: shirt, bib, snack, medal, lap card	Charged on every participant, including free entrants.
Fixed costs	Costs that do not change with turnout: permits, insurance, sound, rentals, printing, prizes	Include sponsor perk costs here if you enter sponsorships as revenue.
Registration fee	The fee in the fee-only model	Compare options with the registration fee guide.
Sponsorships (total)	Cash from sponsors, added to all three models	Expected net from the sponsorship package builder. No card fee or provider share applies.
Share who collect donations	Percent of all participants who bring in any donations	Last year's share; otherwise test several values.
Raised per participant who collects	Average promised among collectors only, not across everyone, with per-lap and per-mile pledges at their expected totals	Divide last year's promised donations by the number who collected.
Share of promised money actually collected	Percent of promised donations and pledges that are paid (starts at 90%, an example, not a benchmark)	Last year's collected ÷ promised. Applies to donations only, not to fees or sponsorships.
Hybrid fee, share, average	The hybrid model's own fee and donation settings	Set them if you expect a fee to change how many collect or how much. Starting values are placeholders.
Card processing rate	Percent charged on money collected online (0 to 30)	Your payment provider's published rate.
Share of money collected online	Part of fees and donations paid by card; cash and checks carry no card fee	Check how last year's money arrived.
Outside provider's share	Percent of fees and donations kept by a company that runs the event (0 to 90)	Leave at 0 if you run it yourself.

Why the fun run collection rate matters

A promise is not a payment. Flat gifts made online arrive when the donor clicks, but per-lap and per-mile pledges cannot be paid until the run is over and the total is known, so each one needs a follow-up note with the amount and how to pay, and some never come in. Counting every promise as cash overstates net, most of all for the models that lean hardest on donations.

To set the rate, divide last year's money collected by the amount promised. The Debrief tab of the budget spreadsheet records per-lap and per-mile pledges promised and collected and works out the rate for you; fill it in each year so next year's plan starts from your own number. No history yet? Run the calculator at 100% and at a lower rate, and plan around the lower result. The guide to collecting fun run donations covers the reminders and deadlines that raise the rate.

The formulas behind the fun run numbers

• Paying participants = participants × (1 − share who enter free), rounded to a whole person.
• Event costs = fixed costs + cost per participant × participants, the same in all three models.
• Registration = paying participants × fee (the hybrid uses its own fee).
• Donations promised = participants × share who collect × raised per collector (the hybrid uses its own share and average).
• Donations collected = donations promised × collection rate. Not collected is the difference. Registration fees are paid up front, so the rate never touches them.
• Gross = registration + donations collected + sponsorships.
• Card processing = (registration + donations collected) × share collected online × processing rate. Sponsorships are treated as fee-free.
• Outside provider = (registration + donations collected) × provider share, not taken from sponsorships.
• Net = gross − processing − provider − costs. Net per participant divides net by all participants. Kept of gross = net ÷ gross.
• Break-even turnout (fee only) = (fixed costs − sponsorships) ÷ margin per person, rounded up. Margin per person = (1 − free share) × fee × keep − cost per participant, and keep = 1 − online share × processing rate − provider share. With no break-even, the tool says why: "No fee set" (fee of $0), "Fees take it all" (processing plus provider share eat the whole fee) or "Fee too low" (each entrant costs more than they bring in). It shows 0 if sponsorships cover fixed costs.
• Lowest fee that covers costs = (event costs − sponsorships) ÷ (paying participants × keep), rounded up to the next cent, at the turnout you entered.
• Highest net is the model with the largest net; a tie to the cent shows "Tie:" with each one.

Worked example: a 300-person fun run

Illustrative: the tool's starting values. That is 300 participants, all paying; $8 per participant and $1,500 fixed, so $3,900 in costs; a $20 fee; $1,000 in sponsorships; half of participants promised $60 each; a hybrid with a $10 fee, 40% collecting and $50 each; 90% of promised donations actually collected; 3% processing on the 80% collected online; no outside provider.

Line	Fee only	Free entry + donations	Fee + donations
Registration fees	$6,000	$0	$3,000
Donations promised	$0	$9,000	$6,000
Not collected	$0	−$900	−$600
Donations collected	$0	$8,100	$5,400
Sponsorships	$1,000	$1,000	$1,000
Gross	$7,000	$9,100	$9,400
Card processing	−$144	−$194	−$202
Event costs	−$3,900	−$3,900	−$3,900
Net proceeds	$2,956	$5,006	$5,298
Net per participant	$9.85	$16.69	$17.66
Kept of gross	42%	55%	56%

The hybrid comes out ahead, and the collection rate is the reason. At 100% collected, free entry and the hybrid tie at $5,884. The uncollected 10% costs free entry $900 less $21.60 in card fees it no longer pays, or $878.40, and costs the hybrid only $585.60, because a third of the hybrid's income is registration fees paid up front. The donation inputs still matter most: halve either one and the order changes.

The fee-only model breaks even at 44 participants: each person adds $20 × 0.976 − $8 = $11.52 (keep = 1 − 0.8 × 3%), and $500 of fixed costs not covered by sponsors ÷ $11.52 = 43.4, rounded up. The lowest fee that covers costs at 300 participants is $2,900 ÷ (300 × 0.976) = $9.904, rounded up to $9.91.

Set the outside provider's share to 10% and the nets fall to $2,356, $4,196 and $4,458; break-even rises to 53 people and the lowest workable fee to $11.04. Weigh whether a company is worth its share with the company or do-it-yourself guide.

What a fun run calculator cannot tell you

• How many families will collect, or how much. Those are your estimates; the tool cannot forecast behavior. For a reality check, the fun run results database documents what real events reported, with sources.
• How turnout responds to price. All three models share one participant count, though a free event may draw more. Run each turnout you expect.
• Per-lap pledges. The donation input is an average promised per collector. To set a per-lap rate and cap, use the pledge helper on the fun run pledges guide. For a walk-a-thon rather than a run, the walk-a-thon fundraising calculator covers that event.
• Taxes and receipts. If a fee buys a shirt, food or entry, the IRS treats a payment to a fundraising event as deductible only to the extent it exceeds the fair market value of what the payer receives (IRS Revenue Ruling 67-246, which lists athletic events).
• Which promises will go unpaid. The collection rate is one number for the whole event; it cannot tell you which families will pay late or not at all, so the follow-up plan still matters.

Privacy: your numbers stay in your browser

The calculator runs entirely on this page. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, and there is no account. Inputs are saved in this browser's local storage; "Reset to example" restores the starting values and clears the saved copy. "Print" uses your browser's print dialog, where "Save as PDF" makes a file for your committee.