Approximately 98% of schools lose money on community use of their facilities. Learn how you can identify and reduce the hidden costs of campus events, while lessening the burden on your maintenance and operations team.

1. The Efficient Event
Find Savings with Excellent Event Management
Jamie Givigliano
Senior Account Manager, CA
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#SavingsSummit

2. Who is using your facilities?

3. Event Scheduling is Complicated!

4. Who’s involved in the scheduling process?
• Community Users
• Custodial Staff
• Maintenance Staff
• Technology Staff
• Food Services
• Athletics
• Multiple Site Contacts
• District Office
• Accounting

5. Event Management Challenges
Recovering district costs incurred by users
Risk Management
Politics
Working with outside organizations
Coordinating w/ multiple departments
Politics
Distributing event management responsibilities
Politics, Politics, Politics

6. Cost Recovery Study
Analysis of 1,000+ school districts, colleges
and private schools, including interviews
Focused on how educational professionals
are coping with
Demand for community use of school facilities
Financial burdens on budgets and operating staffs
due to the growing use of school facilities by the
community
Sentiment that school facilities should be used
more frequently because taxpayers and other
stakeholders have invested billions in these assets
RECOVERING COSTS FOR THE
COMMUNITY USE OF OUR SCHOOLS:
A White Paper Examining the Successful
Implementation of Cost Recovery
Programs in our Schools.

7. Cost Study: Number of Events
• The sampling
revealed that the
average district
holds 1.24 events
per student per
year
• Districts less than
5,000 students
average .93 events
per student

9. Cost Study: Recovering Funds

10. What are Your Administrative
Costs?

11. – 10 minutes for Event Administration – receiving requests, answering
questions, checking calendars for availability, getting approvals
– 10 minutes for Event Coordination – coordinating with staff to support
event (custodial, energy, grounds, food service, Tech/AV, etc.), getting
approvals
– 10 minutes for Invoicing – create and manage invoices / contracts
– 5 minutes for BAS Overrides – coordinate energy management and
facility schedules
– 5 minutes for Miscellaneous
40 minutes per event or .66 hours per event
# students x average # events = total annual events 4000 x 1.24 = 4,960
events
# events x hours per event = total hours spent 4,960 x .66 = 3,273 hours
# hours x hourly labor rate = total cost of event hours
3,273 x $25.00 = $81,825 cost

12. Saving Time = Saving Money
– Automate event scheduling requests and
approval routing
– A single, real‐time calendar online, showing
approved events and facility availability
– Automatically generate invoices to recover costs
– Coordinate all departments and resources
needed to support events

13. Best Practices: A Good, Better,
and Best Approach

14. Steps to Success
1. Distribute Event Management
2. Automate the Process
3. Start Small and Gain Buy‐in
4. Recognize that Leadership is Key
5. Build Support w/ Principals and Asst.
6. Recover Your Costs
7. Develop Tiered Fee Structures
8. Improve Invoice Management
9. Establish a Presence at the Event
10. Form a Team
Source: Recovering Costs for the Community Use of Our Schools
© Copyright 2008 SchoolDude.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

15. Distribute Event Management
• Find a balance between what can be centralized and what can be
distributed
• School personnel control and decide:
– What areas and times are available for usage
– What groups can use the facility
– Schedule conflicts
• A central office controls and decides:
– Rates
– Billing and collections
– Risk management policies

16. Automate Processes
• Paper, spreadsheets, calendars and email are not efficient in 90+% of
educational facilities
• Too many parties and processes are involved for communication, task
assignments and cost recovery
• You need to avoid duplication of efforts as well as events and seal gaps
in the processes

17. Start Small and Gain Buy‐in
• Begin with only certain types of rooms and/or certain schools
• Gain support and buy‐in from school administrators and assistants
• Let those positively affected by the changes help sell the idea to the rest
of the district
• If negativity arises, address the issue to determine if there is an issue or
a simple resistance to change

18. Recognize that leadership is KEY
• All must agree to support a policy for:
– Process changes
– Fee structures
– Invoicing philosophy – it is cost recovery, not profit
– Goal setting
• You should typically involve:
– School Board
– Superintendent
– Facilities Department
– Athletic Directors
– Principals
– Business
– Technology Department
– Food Services

19. Build Support with Site Contacts
• Principals, Assistants, Athletic Directors
• Present and discuss with individual sites at first to have a better chance to
“sell” your ideas to remaining campuses
• Give earnest consideration and heartfelt acknowledgement to complaints
• Deal with objections before they become roadblocks

20. Recover Your Costs!
1. Administrative Costs
Should you be charging an application fee?
2. Custodial Services
Are your custodians working overtime supporting events?
3. Utility Usage
Energy Costs, Water Usage, Even Paper Products
4. Wear and tear on the facility
Use of school property after hours by outside groups
accelerates the depreciation of assets.

21. Develop Tiered Fee Structures
Establish a simple fee
structure:
– What type of group?
(Non‐profit vs. For‐
profit?)
– What type of area?
(Gym vs. softball
field?)
– What type of facility?
(Elementary school vs.
arts center?)

22. Improve Invoice Management
BE CONSISTENT!
1. Provide a quote to set proper expectations
2. Follow up with an invoice that is consistent with the
quote
3. Be pleasantly persistent with past‐due notices

23. Establish a Presence at the Event
• Custodial labor can be a huge amount of cost for overtime and
weekends
• Having a custodian on‐site during events
‐ Reduces damage to property and equipment
‐ Protects the district
‐ Ensures a smooth event
‐ Provides a nice “customer service” touch

24. Event Scheduling Listserv
Free, nationwide email listserv created by Facility Masters
(www.facilitymastersonline.com)
Promotes best practices for managing educational facility use
Provides a network for educational facility and event scheduling
professionals
Ask questions, get answers, exchange documents and share best practices
with peers
To join, send a blank email to:
join‐fmeventscheduling@talk.netatlantic.com

25. Questions?
Jamie Givigliano
Senior Account Manager, CA
909‐599‐3921
jamie@schooldude.com