The CDP survey collects earned operating revenue from three general categories that are differentiated by the activity that generates that revenue.
- Program Revenue: Revenue generated from activities directly related to your mission, but not generated by individuals attending your programming. Examples include non-fundraising event revenue, consulting fees, guided or group tour revenue, fiscal sponsorship administration fees, etc.
- Attendee-generated Revenue: Revenue generated from additional spending by individuals attending programs at your facility, such as gift shop sales, concession sales, advertising revenue, etc.
- Non-program Revenue: Revenue generated from activities that do not contribute directly to your mission or exempt purpose. Examples include parking fees, loan interest revenue, application fees, etc.
So why is the data broken out in this way?
- Attendee generated Revenue is a concept that provides a more complete picture of earnings from program attendees. If you think about it, if you have people buying tickets and also spending on concessions while at your programs, all of that revenue is coming from the same pool of people. There are instances where it can be helpful to analyze it all together.
- Program Revenue, on the other hand, illustrates how much of your earned revenue is from mission-related activities. This concept is frequently used in our reports to funders.
- We have designed the new earned revenue section so that we can still report and analyze the data with both of these concepts in mind.
