The approximate budget for GovHack ETHDenver was $200k.
It was co-organised and funded with the Foundation, Hack Humanity and sponsorship.
The first GovHack event was almost all costs to prove the concept, no profitability.
For GovHack ETHcc in Brussels the event size is 50% larger, we are increasing the prize pool from $15 to 20k, adding a dedicated afterparty, adding $10k of scholarships, proper financing for media, marketing, team, all components.
The top-line figure of $309k has contingency built in and is a high-side estimate to ensure that once the proposal passes on Tally there is always more than enough in the pool to cover any contingencies once detailed research is undertaken for Brussels suppliers.
Excess funds are returned to the DAO as agreed in the proposal on Tally.
Voting with Tally passed yesterday, which means the delegates agreed to this proposal and shortly the resources necessary to produce GovHack will soon be available within 3 days to the multisig for Hack Humanity to produce the event.
Personally, ahead of the voting finishing and funding, I have come to Brussels and spent the last 1 week evaluating 53 venues & catering (typically sold as a package by venues), most venues are either too far away, already booked out for ETHcc, or too small, I.e. not fit for what we need in the hackathon 20-30 teams x 5-6 people each on one floor + multiple private breakout rooms.
From my research this week, I found that the estimate for this component is fairly accurate.
Zeroing in on the final venue selection this week.