On October 1, 2024 the Trademark was issued for Volunteeratoldism from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to Scott Platsky. Not only did I CREATE a new WORD I have been awarded the Trademark for that word - WOW!!!

*** July 2025 UPDATE ***
The best part of a BRC adventure year and the planning process is that we get to re-arrange our priorities on the fly whether that is in July here in Phx. AZ or changes that happens after arriving On-Playa.

After evaluating the total number of available slots for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Leave No Trace, Garbage & Ice - It seems more prudent to have (5) Five camper slots filled on the meals and Kitchen Management than it is to have the same number of filled slots for Leave No Trace & Garbage Management.

With that said as I work the Randomly Assigned Shifts and attempting to 'Fix' some of the holes in the methodology from previous iterations of the Volunteeratoldism system; Each camper will be assigned (1) Shift. It does not seem necessary to have 4-5 campers on Leave No Trace & Garbage on a daily basis as it is to have 5 campers on each Meal/Day. Now with that said there are a few of our campers that I will be asking/assigning multiple shifts (Daily Ice Run)  as that is the day-to-day task that requires the most physical labor.

BRC 2025 - The original idea of “Volunteeratoldism”™ and the assignment of (1) One randomly assigned Job was created & inspired when our camp population was ~260+ campers.

Post BRC 2023's Rain & MUD and overall lower attendance at other Global Events (Burning Man related and Others); Burning Man Ticket sales in 2024 were lower by almost 10,000 attendees. With that our own camp population in 2024 was down 80 campers.

Now in 2025 with an increase in Ticket costs; There are many Theme Camps including our own that were unable to fill all allocated Steward Sale slots. With that I am forecasting that the population of PolyParadise will be even lower than it was in 2024. 

In order to maintain order and keep the idea of “Volunteeratoldism”™ alive and enough campers @ each job assignment - it will be necessary to randomly assign (2) Two-Jobs/Camper - these will be assigned on separate days.

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BRC 2022 - Communities thrive by Participation; no wonder it is one of Burning Man’s Ten Principles. Your own share of the entirety of the workload as a camp member may come as a Lead, Volunteer or being Voluntold to any specific task. Having a vested interest in the success of said community creates pride & satisfaction.

Due to factors that are irrelevant to this consciousness of thought several of our long time leads (Kitchen Management, Garbage, LNT, Ice) have either stepped away from Burning Man and or their role as a lead. We are now @ a cross-roads to forge a new direction as we celebrate 25yrs in BRC.

Forward-looking thinking requires bold moves – it requires creating a unique word “Volunteeratoldism”™ and design a new paradigm. This new model will ensure that each day’s tasks are being attended to and everyone shares in the over-all effort it takes to create & maintain a community as large and as diverse as ours all week long. Adding an “ism” to a word indicates that the word represents a specific practice, system, or philosophy. That is exactly what we are creating a new way that the camp as a whole will be managed and operated.

During the registration process you were told that you would be randomly assigned a task; with several campers for each task/day the idea is that this new model will allow all the things each day get done – with many hands makes light work.

The randomly assigned tasks will center around Managing the Kitchen/Meal, Daily Ice Run, Managing and distribution of garbage, Leave No Trace. The schedule & detailed instructions will be printed on large poster board.

If you as an individual camper do your part on your assigned task/shift with other campers on your assigned task/shift, then all things will get done each day! Our success as a camp this year & moving forward is in the hands of all of you.