Ticket "sales" versus suggested donation

[Sheryl Stich]

Has anyone had experience with measuring difference in box office revenues between selling tickets at a set price versus a suggested donation. I'm referring to lower ticket sales, such as in the $10-20 range. I heard several years ago that revenues can actually be higher by asking for a suggested donation.

Thanks, Sheryl at SPT

[Ken Holmes]

GreenStage has been doing free shows (with donations accepted) for many years - hard not to for outdoor theater after all. But we also do annual shows indoors.

In the late 90's we did some of our indoor shows with a ticket price of around $10. When we switched to donation only on the indoor shows, our price per person dropped to about 5 or 6 bucks, but attendance just about doubled. For us it was roughly the same income, but reaching more people.

There were also some tricky tax issues with suggested donation (rather than free with donations accepted). I don't know if they have changed.... Last I heard, the Seattle admissions tax applies not just to ticket sales, but to suggested donations as well. If you suggest a donation of $5, you pay the admissions tax based on that amount. If you go free and take voluntary donations, there is no admissions tax because there is no suggested price.

hope all that helps.