Everything in this Playbook points toward one benchmark: 25 percent cost recovery. NRPA's 2024 Agency Performance Review puts the national median at 25.2 percent of operating expenditures recovered from non-tax revenue. This post is the implementation guide: a 90-day roadmap that takes your department from wherever it is today to a measured baseline, a set of fixes, and a plan for the programs that need attention. For the benchmark itself, see what NRPA's 2024 data shows.
Week 1: Calculate cost recovery by program. Pull last season's revenue and expense data for each program and divide revenue by expenses. Many departments only ever run this at the department level. The program-level view is where the opportunities live.
Week 2: Run the revenue leakage audit. Review 12 months of outstanding balances, uncollected deposits, and refunds without a matching cancellation, then add up the total. Our guide to revenue leakage in parks departments shows where to look.
Week 3: Run the registration friction audit. Complete a test registration for your most popular program on a mobile phone. Count the taps, count the required fields, and time the process. Identify the top two friction points using the registration friction audit.
Week 4: Benchmark your results. Compare your department's rate to the 25.2 percent median in NRPA's 2024 review, and note where you are strongest and weakest by program type.
Close your top revenue leak. If the audit found uncollected balances, set up automated payment reminders with direct payment links. If it found uncollected deposits, collect them at the point of registration.
Reduce registration friction. Fix the top two friction points from your audit. Common candidates are mandatory account creation before the form and payment separated from the registration flow.
Launch a pricing pilot. Try a tiered price structure on one of your top three programs, using our three-tier pricing model.
Apply for one grant. Pick the most promising opportunity for your category and submit one application. See three funding sources most departments ignore for ideas, and consider making it a quarterly habit.
Identify bottom performers. Set your own threshold for a low-recovery program. For each one, ask whether a price adjustment could close the gap. If not, decide whether it is a deliberately subsidized public benefit, needs restructuring, or should be discontinued, and what that would mean for your community.
Identify top performers. Programs that recover well above your target are candidates for expansion: added sections, larger enrollment caps, or a longer season.
Build a sponsorship pipeline. Make a handful of business asks for your first sponsorship season, following our sponsorship strategy.
Re-run the calculation. Recalculate cost recovery with your Month 2 changes in place and compare it to your Month 1 baseline. Your own before-and-after numbers are the only ones that matter here.
Trying to do everything at once. The challenge is sequential. Do not start Month 2 changes until the Month 1 audit is done, because the audit data drives those decisions. Waiting for a perfect baseline. An approximate baseline beats none. Run with what you have and refine as you go.
NRPA's 2024 Agency Performance Review reports a median of 25.2 percent of operating expenditures recovered from non-tax revenue. That is a benchmark, not a target you must hit, so set yours based on your community and fee assistance policy.
Divide the program's revenue by its expenses. Run it for every program, not only the department total, to see which ones cover their costs.
There is no fixed timeline. A 90-day process gives you a baseline, fixes the gaps you find, and shows you which programs to reprice or restructure. How much your rate moves depends on your starting point and your program mix.
Start by calculating cost recovery for each program from last season's revenue and expense data. Even an approximate baseline shows you where to focus.
Start your 90-day cost recovery challenge with a free audit →