Our event planning series continues today with one of the most important decisions you’ll make – what to charge for your event.

We’re specifically talking about big events in this series.

Big events typically have big budgets.

In most cases, you’re probably going to charge your women something to attend, even if your budget covers most of the cost.

If you’re considering whether or not to charge for your women’s ministry event, I have a blog post you’ll want to check out here.

How to Calculate the Cost Per Person

Let’s  talk about how to calculate the cost per person for your women’s ministry event.

Don’t let the lists bog you down. The expenses I’m about to list will be captured on the Event Budget Form I talked about in this post.

When we’re trying to decide what we need to charge (notice, I didn’t say what we want to charge), there are two categories of expenses to calculate.

1. Fixed Expenses – will not change.
2. Variable expenses – will change based upon the number in attendance.

Keep in mind, not every event will incur every expense I’m about to list.

Fixed Expenses may include:

• Audio-visual and tech rentals
• Decorations
• Door Prizes
• Event Signage
• Publicity
• Room rental fee
• Scholarship fund
• Security
• Speaker Fee
• Speaker Gift and/or Welcome Bag (optional)
• Speaker’s Meals
• Speaker’s Travel Expenses
• Tech Crew –sound, lights, etc.

Variable Expenses may include:

• Activities – crafts projects, ropes course
• Childcare, if offered
• Favors and/or Welcome Bags
• Food- Including Meals and Snacks
• Lodging Expenses for Attendees *
• Name tags
• Paper products
• Processing fees for online registrations
• Program materials
• Rentals – tables, chairs, linens
• Taxes and serving fees
• T-shirts or other swag

*Side note: I included the lodging expenses for event attendees in the variable expenses because often teams will offer more than one lodging option so women can choose a fee that fits best within their budgets and personal preference.

Think of it as a math equation.

Fixed Expenses minus event budget divided by the number of expected attendees plus variable expenses calculated per person = Cost per person

I know this can be a bit overwhelming, so I’ve put this all together in a free set of worksheets you can download.

Click the link below to download the free PDF file.

Event Pricing Guide

Let’s say your fixed expenses are $2500. Your women’s ministry budget will cover $500. $2500-$500 = $2000

Your team feels comfortable that at least 50 women will attend. 2000/50=40

You’ll need to charge $40 per person PLUS the variable expenses per person.

We have always tried to keep the cost of participation at a minimum for our women, but we also understand that people are accustomed to paying for experiences outside of church. Don’t be afraid to charge a fee.

If your team determines the price per person is still too high, hope is not lost! There are ways to bring the cost down.

Most of the women’s ministry teams I have served on have used funds from our budget to minimum the cost of the event for attendees.

Here are the items that have usually been covered by our women’s ministry budget:

1. Speaker fees and expenses
2. Decorations
3. Favors or goodie bags
4. Special publicity – postcards, custom flyers, etc.
5. Tech rental
6. Scholarship needs

Here are the expenses our attendees typically cover:

1. Room costs
2. Food expenses for the weekend (if there are meals not included, such as during free time, we let them know that will be an additional expense)
3. Free time activity costs, should they choose to shop, take a tour, etc.
4. T-shirts or swag

Our church budget has usually, but not always covers:

1. Copies of our program when printed in the church office
2. Name tags

In case you’re curious, in my area the typical cost for a two-night women’s retreat with lodging and some meals included runs about $200 – $300 for a double-occupancy room.

Scholarships

What do we do if women need help covering the cost and how do we keep the cost to a minimum?

Scholarships can provide a way for women who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend to participate.

How do you decide who to scholarship and how much to cover?

Scholarships will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis, usually with input from a church pastor and possibly your church’s finance person. They may know intimate details about their financial situation and can provide some guidance.

How do you give out scholarships?

You may want to include a note in your publicity that a limited number of scholarships are available. You may know of specific women who will need help covering the cost of an event.

How much of the fee should scholarships cover?

I’ve been burned in the past by offering full scholarships. At the last minute, women have backed out, and we had to pay for the spot, anyway. Even if a woman can pay very little, I strongly encourage you to ask them to do so. It increases their level of commitment. If someone wants to pay for someone else to attend, that’s great! Donations toward scholarships are always welcome.

Let’s pivot and talk about minimizing expenses. We want to keep the prices of our events as low as possible so as many women as possible can attend.

I know some of you don’t have a women’s ministry budget to help offset the costs.

Here are 10 ideas for keeping costs to a minimum:

1. Look for budget-friendly lodging options.
2. Minimize the number of included meals.
3. Prepare your own food if possible. We’ll talk more about food in a future post.
4. Skip the t-shirts and swag.
5. Bring your own tech equipment.
6. Provide your own worship team.
7. Use your own women to speak and/or lead the sessions. You should still pay them an honorarium.
8. Keep the decorations to a minimum.
9. Enlist your best budget-minded shoppers to help find stuff for door prizes and goodie bags.
10. Skip door prizes altogether and give every woman a small favor instead.

I have a post with more cost-cutting tips here.

Today’s Toolbox Tasks:

1. Download the event pricing guide here.
2. Use the information Event Budget Worksheet in this post to help calculate what you need to charge for your event.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, and I’ll be honest, the first time it is. But each time after it gets easier.

You may also want to check out:
Should you charge for your women’s ministry events?
Is your event budget realistic?
How to Plan, Track, and Tweak Your Women’s Ministry Event Budget
The Ultimate Women’s Ministry Event Timeline: When to Book, Plan, and Prepare
Building an Effective Event Planning Team
Building Prayer into Every Step of Your Women’s Ministry Event
Seven Benefits of Hosting Big Events in Your Women’s Ministry
Planning Purposeful Events for Your Ministry
Rethinking Fellowship: How to Host Meaningful Women’s Ministry Events
Everything You Need to Know About Planning a Retreat
Women’s Ministry Essentials: How to Build and Sustain a Thriving Christian Community