It would seem you haven’t done a lot of event planning. If I am wrong, I am sure Burning Man would love for you to come up with an alternate budget. Managing that many people in a space that large for so many days requires world class planning, insurance, expenses, and logistics.
Burning Man is volunteer driven event. Virtually everyone managing anything there signed up to do that free of charge. The entire idea is about army of free workers coming out to essentially self-manage.
There are only few things organizers are actually involved in: getting permits from BLM, arranging porta potties, artists grants, website, center stage, coffee serving and volunteer signups.
