Its a Wrap: Vashon Island Studio Tour--Profit?

Cloud Study, Tramp Harbor (6"x9") -- Sold!

How does one figure profit? I plan to give all my profit to the International Rescue Committee, but 
how much is profit?

It's not as simple as looking at how much I spent getting ready for the show. I spent a lot of money on things that didn't sell this time but will over time, and on equipment I will use later. In fact, I believe I invested more than I brought in. Not to mention the hours spent making materials, getting things ready, setting up the space. If I counted my return only in dollars, I would be seriously in the hole!

And yet...there is something very nourishing about telling people the stories behind my paintings. I believe my core mission, to bring people closer to nature and to the Divine Within through my art, is served when I tell the stories of the paintings, and when people buy the art.

I am nourished when people buy my art! It gives me courage to keep on painting, and to keep on showing and telling my stories.

It also serves my core mission when I give money earned from my art to meet some need in this world. So I look for models on how to figure profit.

I remember long ago when Greyhound Bus boasted a %15 profit margin. That was a lot in those days; now corporations are expecting a larger and larger profit margin, but is Greyhound even still around?

Now that the Vashon Island Holiday Studio Tour is over, I need to crunch the numbers and see how much is left over after cost of goods sold and the expenses of renting the space, among other things. I need to look at what I need to spend on materials and on professional development in the near future (long term planning is not really my forte'). Even if all this exceeds the money I brought in, I want to give at least %15 of my gross to the International Rescue Committee.