Organizers of similar festivals uniformly agree that the most problematic people attending events come in on dungeon-only tickets, which encourage sightseers. LIL organizers want to ensure that everyone in the dungeon is respected, respectful, and safe. The one exception is the Fetish Ball, which is open to the public. As I suspected, I was having lunch with a hard-core volunteer. No one's getting paid to do this event.
Profits go back into a fund to help pay for event expenses next year.
There are some special payouts, though, and Spencer got very animated talking about these. There's a silent auction benefiting the Leather Archives and Museum, and the NLAI video education project, and a LIL scholarship fund. This organization is serious about community service. Spencer's especially excited about keynote speaker Tony DeBlase, creator of the Leather Pride flag. On-site dungeon parties happen every night, and they've gotten permission to bring in a forklift .