Burning Man’s 2016 Acquisition of Fly Ranch for $6.5 Million: A Controversial Step to Global Expansion

Anyone who has explored Fly Ranch can appreciate why the Burning Man Project is hesitant to relinquish this beautiful area of northern Nevada.

Hot water gushes from Fly Geyser, a striking mound adorned with red and green mineral deposits, flowing toward the property’s northern edge. It gathers in shallow rock formations below, creating a cascading effect with strands of white algae swaying like mermaid hair.

The property also encompasses a small section of the Hualapai Playa located three miles to the south, alongside an adjacent parcel enveloped by the valley’s flat landscape. The diverse flora and fauna of Fly Ranch vary significantly from one end to another.

This five-square-mile expanse is a short 20-minute drive down Highway 34 from the 12 Mile Playa Access entrance to the Black Rock Desert, the same route leading participants to the annual Burning Man arts festival. On paper, Fly Ranch serves as a creative hub for artists within the burner community and a venue for the nonprofit’s various sustainability initiatives.

Currently, as the Burning Man Project grapples with a potential existential crisis, many long-time burners believe the organization should concentrate on its core purpose. The nonprofit has had to lay off employees and double its year-end fundraising target. Retaining projects aimed at expanding burner culture during this critical time sends conflicting signals to potential donors.

Last month, Burning Man Project CEO Marian Goodell issued a clarion call titled “An Inflection Point,” urging the burner community to assist in rebuilding its financial reserves after the nine-day event’s tickets failed to sell out for the first time since 2011. She emphasized that the nonprofit’s initiatives “are part of the vision to share more of this culture globally,” enriching communities worldwide.

However, many of the nearly 200 comments on her blog post indicate that few burners share Goodell’s vision. “The community wants the event to happen, period,” one commenter stated. “This mission to spread Burning Man culture globally feels unnecessary and like an ego-driven ideal.”

“Non-event-related obligations should be spun off into a new legal entity; everything else needs to be cut,” another commenter suggested. “Stop trying to make [Black Rock City] something it is not.”

Fly Ranch is not the only property owned by the Burning Man Project. East along Jackson Lane lies land formerly known as Black Rock Station and Work Ranch, managed by the Burning Man Department of Public Works, a dedicated team that prepares the site months before the event and stays afterward for cleanup.

Dozens of shipping containers are lined up there for organizers to rent to participants, allowing them to store supplies for their theme camps year-round. Further east, the organization made additional land acquisitions later.

Additionally, Burning Man has invested over $1 million in properties in nearby Gerlach and spent $400,000 on a 360-acre plot between the town and the southern end of the Black Rock Desert. This year, approximately 62,000 people attended Burning Man. In 2015—when attendance was several thousand higher—the nonprofit reported less than $200,000 in land assets. As per its latest publicly available 990 filing for 2022, assets amounted to $7.8 million.

The Burning Man Project did not respond to EDM Identity’s request for clarification regarding its significant increase in land acquisitions.

History of Burning Man’s Land Acquisitions

Burning Man commenced in 1986 at San Francisco’s Baker Beach before moving to the Black Rock Desert in 1990 due to legal issues. The event is renowned for its participatory nature, with attendees often experiencing transformative moments.

Harvey and his team had their sights set on acquiring Fly Ranch since 1997, the only year they faced permit difficulties, necessitating a makeshift gathering at the site. However, Fly Ranch was not their first land purchase. The “Nevada Property Mgmt” section of the 2002 AfterBurn Report identifies three historic properties in Gerlach as the first acquisitions, starting in 2000.

At that time, the Burning Man organizers operated under Black Rock City, LLC, named after the temporary city constructed by burners annually in the desert. Harvey noted in the “Financial Intro” section of the same report that they had “briefly considered forming a nonprofit.” The subsequent year, they acquired Black Rock Station, located east along Jackson Lane from Fly Ranch.

Ironically, the rationale behind Burning Man’s initial land ownership was to create a financial buffer against losses. “We have always aimed to create a ‘nest egg’ from profits to serve as a buffer and emergency fund,” Harvey explained. “In purchasing land in 2001, we gained assets.”

That was just the beginning. Between 2001 and 2005, attendance jumped from around 26,000 to 36,000, prompting organizers to make additional purchases. Harvey’s “Financial Intro” in the 2005 AfterBurn Report notes that Burning Man spent over $247,000 on real estate in 2004. Washoe County deed records indicate that two properties in Gerlach were collectively valued at $205,000, accounting for most of that expenditure.

In 2009, Harvey, Goodell, and their colleagues intensified their efforts to acquire Fly Ranch. In a blog post during that year’s event, Harvey excitedly recounted a trip to “where Burning Man would like to go,” arranging a visit to Fly Ranch with its then-owners to attract potential backers.

Burning Man tickets unexpectedly sold out for the first time in 2011, bringing almost 54,000 participants to Black Rock City. A month before halting sales, Harvey, Goodell, and fellow partners Harley Dubois, Will Rogers, and Michael Mikel revisited their old plans and incorporated the Burning Man Project as a nonprofit organization. The following year, the IRS granted it 501(c)(3) status.

A significant advantage of 501(c)(3) status is the tax exemption on income from mission-related activities. In 2013, the Burning Man Project acquired Black Rock City, LLC, valued at nearly $7.4 million. $198,000 in land assets appeared in its 990 form the subsequent year.

In 2016, Burning Man finally purchased Fly Ranch for a reported $6.5 million, funded by a group of 11 donors, including Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, then-Cirque du Soleil CEO Guy Laliberte, and tech investor Jonathan Teo, according to Reno Gazette Journal.

However, Burning Man’s land acquisitions did not stop with the purchase of Fly Ranch.

Before the end of 2016, the Burning Man Project acquired two parcels east of Black Rock Station and Work Ranch for a total of $260,000 through Black Rock City, LLC. Then, three weeks after Harvey’s passing in April 2018, the organization purchased a $400,000 plot of land where the southern end of the Black Rock Desert meets Gerlach, naming the site Burning Man 360 for its 360 acres. During the pandemic, the organization offered weekend packets inviting community members to engage in activities for a flat fee of $90.

In 2021, Burning Man acquired another parcel in Gerlach, followed by four more in 2023. Collectively, these five plots are valued at over $400,000, based on one of the deeds and estimates derived from the real property transfer tax on another.

Challenges Ahead

Just four months after the latest purchase, the 2023 Burning Man event garnered global attention when an unprecedented rainstorm compelled attendees to stay put.

It is standard for nonprofits to maintain a financial reserve, and the organization started 2023 with $26.7 million. However, due to increased expenses, Burning Man ended the year with approximately $9 million in savings, as noted in Goodell’s October blog post.

In the same article, Goodell explained how the failure to sell out tickets and vehicle passes for Burning Man 2024, a first since 2011, led to a revenue shortfall that forced the nonprofit to double its year-end fundraising goal to $20 million. She revealed that the organization was short $8.7 million compared to expectations, nearly depleting its emergency reserves.

Some comments on Goodell’s October post criticized Burning Man’s various land assets. “If they can’t manage a 40+ million dollar annual revenue stream from ticket sales, that is their issue, not ours,” one comment stated. “They are overspending on side projects like Fly, 360, and acquiring land in Gerlach, which is nobody’s concern but theirs.”

A user account from the Burning Man Project responded, asserting that “most of the land we own is utilized year-round to support the event,” providing space for “storing, building, and repairing infrastructure for the event.”

However, this argument is challenged by the fact that Fly Ranch’s expansive 3,800 acres constitute the majority of the organization’s landholdings. Visitors who participate in nature walks can see that much of it is overgrown with brush, requiring significant clearing before it can be effectively utilized. The Burning Man Project did not respond to EDM Identity’s request for clarification on this claim.

Earlier this month, Burning Man also released a FAQ addressing common responses to their year-end fundraising campaign. It noted that Fly Ranch hosts activities related to sustainability initiatives such as the Renewables for Artists Team, Green Theme Camp Community, and Burner Leadership Achieving Sustainable Theme Camps. A 2021 article on the Beyond Burning Man Medium publication also highlighted projects associated with alternative energy solutions at Fly Ranch.

This raises the question: Why can’t these initiatives take place on some of Burning Man’s other properties?

A glance at Google Earth shows that as of August 2023, only a small fraction of the Black Rock Station and Work Ranch properties have been developed for their intended uses. An even smaller portion of the two parcels east of them show visible structures or vehicles. Moreover, the Black Rock Desert is just a 20-minute drive away, and the Bureau of Land Management permits free camping there year-round.

Fly Ranch is just one of many initiatives from the Burning Man Project that a growing number of burners feel they never asked for. This sentiment has lingered for years. The nonprofit’s 2013 990 form indicates that its board revised its mission that year, stating it aimed “to facilitate and extend the culture that has emerged from the Burning Man Event into the larger world.”

This broad mission statement lacks specificity. Its wording allows the organization to justify nearly any action as aligned with its purpose. While the Burning Man Project maintains its 501(c)(3) status, the mission creep associated with its attempt to position itself as “a global nonprofit” risks alienating its devoted community.

The organization continues to promote a similar (if slightly altered) mission in recent filings and has incorporated some version of it into every piece of literature related to their year-end fundraising efforts. Goodell’s bio on the Burning Man website states she “is currently leading the organization’s efforts to facilitate and extend the Burning Man ethos globally.”

It is easy to see how such messaging might irritate the most engaged participants. Many have long questioned why they pay more for a Burning Man ticket than for most larger festivals, despite being responsible for building and transporting much of the attraction themselves.

The original mission defined in the Burning Man Project’s 2011 incorporation articles “is to uphold and manifest those values described in the Ten Principles of Burning Man … through art and culture, education, civic engagement, and human services.” The document does not mention the global proliferation of burner culture. The organization could easily remove that aspect from its mission in annual filings, following the examples of other historically adaptable nonprofits like March Of Dimes, The American Red Cross, or African Wildlife Foundation.

The Burning Man Project can operate as a charitable organization simply by hosting its namesake event, similar to organizations like New York’s Forefront Festival and Colorado’s Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival. It does not rely on an expanded mission to remain compliant any more than it needs nearly $8 million in rural Nevada land to function.

Ultimately, Burning Man must take more than just revising its mission and selling off property to find a sustainable path forward. The year-end fundraising goal is merely a temporary fix. Selling Fly Ranch could provide a significant boost toward meeting this target, but the organization must also fulfill its commitment to reducing unnecessary ongoing expenses as it adapts to the post-pandemic live events landscape.

However, divesting the land would also represent a symbolic concession. It would signal to the burner community that their concerns are acknowledged, indicating that Burning Man prefers to part with unnecessary assets rather than risk further alienation of vital supporters.

While emotional attachments to the natural beauty Larry Harvey worked hard to secure may influence decisions, Harvey himself noted in the 2002 AfterBurn Report that Burning Man originally began acquiring land as a safeguard against challenges like the current situation. Fly Ranch, in particular, is a luxury that the organization can no longer afford. Retaining it will not win over potential donors.

Ultimately, Burning Man is indeed at a critical turning point, facing a decision between excelling in its current endeavors or attempting to do too much. The way forward should be clear to any burner. Time will reveal whether the organization’s board takes note of this message.