Events & Community

Open-House Budget Calculator

Calculator · about 4 minutes · free

Enter your expected expenses and revenue sources and this calculator totals your direct costs, adds a contingency buffer, and shows your net department cost and cost per attendee.

See an example reportSee what this produces before you start — no form, using a fictional department.
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
%
$
$
$
$
$

How this was made. This report is generated from a structured public-safety framework and the information you provided. Treat it as informed guidance, not a final answer, and confirm the specifics against your department’s own facts and judgment before you act.

Use it or lose it: we use what you enter only to build this report in your browser session and do not store it. Your entries, photos and the report are not saved, so download or email it before you leave — once you do, nothing remains in our system.

Related reading

Guides

All guides →
Beyond the
bay doors
Beyond the Bay Doors: A Fire Department Open House Playbook
A practical guide to planning, promoting and delivering a fire department open house your community will remember.
Community & Events · 19 min read

Insights

All insights →
The Santa Run Playbook
The Santa Run Playbook
The Santa Run is one of the highest-trust, highest-visibility nights a department gets all year. Here is how to plan one worth the community's time, and the year Marshall stole the whole show.
7 min read
Three Helicopters, a Fire-Safety Clown and a Line Down the Street
Three Helicopters, a Fire-Safety Clown and a Line Down the Street
How firehouse open houses taught me some of my earliest lessons about community, creativity and marketing.
5 min read
Teach Ten Minutes, Save a Life: Running a Hands-Only CPR Community Day
Teach Ten Minutes, Save a Life: Running a Hands-Only CPR Community Day
The most valuable ten minutes a department can spend with a stranger might be teaching them how to push hard and fast on a chest.
7 min read
More in this seriesEvents & CommunityExplore the series