charity events?

If you guys are like me, then you get called A LOT for charity events. I've done them here and there, but I thought I'd do a handful this year. I'm all about helping the community, but it costs too much in supplies and possible jobs turned down to work for free too often. Most of the time they don't really seem to want to consider ways of charging a reasonable rate and donating a % etc. How do you handle these calls? How many do you do each year? Do you find that you get calls for paid gigs from these? Anything else you'd like to add would be great.

For me a few charity events a year is good advertizment. I get to hand out my cards, which always results in a paid gig or two, plus if people see you working, it reminds them of other times they might have seen you, which helps them to remember you next time they are planing some get-to-gather. I look at these times as a teaching moment...I teach the safty of my materials, I teach the young and old alike to try new things. And I teach my self the value of working on new face shapes and working with different design requests. I believe in the value of human goodwill, and you can't get that if people think of you as a person only out there to gain a buck. Sometimes the fundraiser committee sees the value of having me there, as a people draw, that they 'tip' me, and often the 'tip' is almost enough to cover my cost, if not way more then the cost of my materials, so it kinda works out finacially too.

If I volunteer my time and supplies then I put a donation jar out. Last time I did that I got like $90.00 in tips. It at least covered the supplies... It was a 5 hour gig.

I have some stuff that phrases it nicely on my website:

Fundraising Events
I would love to help you with your fundraising efforts! While I am unable to donate my time and materials for free (there are just too many fantastic causes that I want to support), I have worked out two different options for charity events:
~ Pay Per Face (raising money for you): I will appear at your event to do face painting while charging my standard "pay per face" rates to the patrons of the event. At the end of the event HALF of the proceeds benefit your group/charity and the rest covers my costs and materials.
~ Discounted Hourly (free for patrons): I can offer you a discounted hourly rate since it is a fundraiser. This would mean that my payment would come out of your budget, but you could choose to sell tickets for whatever price you choose to regain some of that cost.

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my discounted rate is essentially half of my usual hourly rates, so it works out close to the same kind of split money-wise for me. I have ONE charity that I do each year for free that I have chosen as my personal cause and I'm only doing balloons for that as I can go a lot faster and am not tied down to one spot with it.

That is perfect verbiage Perry! Mind if we all "borrow" that?

-Metina

by all means, borrow away

Wow half is a lot - 30% is my max and then only for charities I want to support. Not that i don't want to help them all but this is what I do to earn a living.

If you asked I bet very few other stalls there will be offerring huge discounts or waiving fees.

My standard is that I have several charities I already support (I do) and as this is my business can offer them a % instead if I want to go to their gig. In several cases I instead donated a raffle prize - a small Snazaroo kit or an hour of my painting time for a party or lesson (with rules set by me so I didn't get sent to the other end of the country etc). That way you help but can control the money you loose/ donate.

Charities here in HK are very interesting as they have better budgets somehow than many 'proper' events I did in the EU, pay well and produce really professional well attended events. Sadly a lot of charity things in the UK were a waste of time as the numbers coming were small.

Cat x

you can by all means change the percentage to suit your needs... this is currently what I offer and have had more success with this phrasing (although there will always be some who want you to "donate your time" for nothing). The most money I've made actually came from the weekend I worked the International Dragon Boats festival.... it was CRAZY and they had all booth fees set at 15% of their profits, so I made more money than ever before for one weekend on that one.

Good ideas everyone, thanks for you input on this. I think this year I'll do a couple free events and then offer some of the suggestions everyone has given. I guess for free events you need to pick and choose what you support at 100%...for me, it's probably animals. I'd do free events for the humane society etc.- animals can't talk or help themselves in any way... I think the other things suggested make a great way for you to give a little, but not sacrifice you business for it.
I like the idea of the raffle. You can still give something valuable, and get the promotion that comes with the event.

I'd like to borrow the verbage too.

These are good ideas. I actually sent an e-mail to volunteer a day of face painting at a local hospital. I want spend a day with the children at the pediatric ward and help them forget about their illnesses and the fact that they are spending so much time in a hospital and not at home with thier families. I would not mind doing that for free. I do like the suggestions made for other charity events. Good to keep in mind. I too may be borrowing that verbage by the way.

I'm with Perry Noia.. I have a couple of Non- profit organizations that I work with, and I charge per face and donate part of my total earnings. I'll be doing an event where they will be raising money for school supplies , so I will be charging a discounted rate and they will be selling tickets. .. will see how it works.

I just did 2 charity events last weekend.
One was for a shelter for homeless women w/ children & I worked for advertisement in their news letter, website, etc & gift certificates for a nice restaurant. It was a win/win for me & for them & I had a blast!
The 2nd one was for our churches back2school bash at our dream center & was completely free. I only do this for this particular group of kids, but I've been doing kids ministry for almost a year w/ them(they beg every week for me to bring my paints
For most not for profits I have 3 choices: discounted rates, PPF where I get 1/2 & they get 1/2 or a donation of face painting for advertising/gift certificates. I almost always require tipping(I didn't do tipping for the shelter) & they have to provide a line manager. I also won't donate balloon twisting or glitter tattoos, it's just too expensive.

I have one charity event every year I do for free but they reimburse me for supplies. I just buy my stuff and turn in the receipts. The supplies last me all year. I feel it is a great trade. Perry, I would like to borrow your wording also.

I'm glad you all take my wording so well... it means the customers probably do too.

I'm gonna take the words right out of your mouth Perry

ive been thinking alot about doing fundraisers/charity events..since pretty much thats the way i got into face painting..however..i dont know how much of my proceeds or what percent should i donate.

...Should i have a "tip jar" as well?

I just did the mardi gras here in town i gave them 20% of what i made..and when i painted people with more than 2 kids i kinda gave them a small break..everyone was happy and lots of people took my flyers

I just agreed to do a very local community event for $50 an hour.
I have agreed in the past to work for two hours for free for Mc Donald House - that helps kids with cancer and termimaly ill children.
Doing community work can help your business if it's local - you may even get a write up in the paper! But with charities I'm very particular who and when I help. Three a year max - and no big festival types of things - only small gatherings.
Quite often they do have the budget to hire you but are trying to stretch it further and get whatever they can for free...
Last year I had two Mc Donalds call me to work their Mc Happy Day's - one wanted me to volunteer my time and supplies ( !?!) and the other was happy to pay my rate and have me collect gold coin donations ( 1or 2 bucks)..... no prizes for guessing who I worked for that day.
It makes you feel really good to find a charity you really belive in and ring them up and offer to help them, and it feels even better when you make all these kids smile and know you have made a bad situation better if only for a little while, so if only just for that reason I would suggest doing at least one charity a year.

Last year I was bombarded with requests for charity gigs....if I had done them all I would be completely broke. However, my winter has been a complete bust!! NO GIGS at ALL!! At least with charity events you get the word out there of your services. I can't wait till Spring gets here, but as for now, by Wednesday we are suppose to have 18-20 inches of snow.

I know this tread died out a month ago, but I have a question on the topic...

First, is there a way for me to donate my time and get some kind of tax write off as a donation for it? I feel like there is some kind of form I could have them fill out so I would at least get tax credit for something if I do the event for free... does anyone know how that works?

Also, I've had 3 calls and emails in the last 3 days for charity events... apparently March is planning month! I like someones suggestion for donating in return for advertising... has anyone gotten bad feedback or response to asking for that? I was just contact by a very large event held at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, so I know the press coverage as well as attendance will be very influential. I feel like it would be worth doing for free just for the marketing aspect... lots of big name corporate sponsors and what-not. I'd LOVE to get in on their advertising!

if it is a legitimate charity, they should be able to give you a tax receipt.

You could suggest the charity find a corporate sponsor that would just pay your regular rate.

Thanks for the advice... I responded to todays request with Perrys two options plus:

A Donation of face painting for Advertising: I will come and paint at your event free of charge in exchange for my company logo and information to be included on the event website and printed fliers advertising the event. I will also have a tip jar at my station to recoup some of my material costs.

I have my pet charities as well, but for the rest, I offer a 25% discount. There have been a couple of events that i really felt would be great for business, and I know they had already used their budget/had no money...whatever reason...I can offer them a one time 'charity of the month' deal. That way I am not desperate, I still get the gig, and I am not set up to do it for free next time. I make sure they know that this is a one time only offer. So far it has worked well for me and I was able to take a couple of gigs that i really wanted to appear at, but they couldn't come up with the $$.