Keep Half from Charity?

Hi:
I was thinking of offering to face paint at our local Relay for Life in April. I was going to do a couple hours and give all proceeds to the Relay. Hubby says I should give them half. I never heard of splitting with a charity, have you? Would I sound really cheap if I only gave them half? What do you all think?

I don't think that is stingy, our relay wouldn't even pay a portion of my rate (very small portion). If you ever see "a portion of proceeds goes to xyz" that can be any percentage. Also, you could say facepainting sponsored by Wagner Events, donating portion to Relay for Life.

I would do half...

When I donated my time to charity I asked for permission to put out a tip jar so I could cover my expenses. Did really well.

YOU still have to cover your materials at the very least. Paint is expensive!! It's your business, and you should treat it as such, and donating your time isn't gonna do anyone any good if you can't afford to keep your business going

Trina

I don't even give half anymore... I wasn't making any money giving half to charity and I was getting booked almost every week. They get 30% now and I only have to do a few instead of all the time... leaves me time for full rate gigs.

Very occasionally I'll do a free charity event if it's something I have ties to/feel strongly about, but usually I give them two options:

I either charge $5 per face and give them $1 out of that (or charge $6 and give them $2 - they can choose)
or
they can pay me a reduced rate (usually $50) per hour and then they charge whatever they like per face, keeping all money that comes in

(in either scenario they'd get any tips also.)

For years I gave all I made...then my daughter purchased a franchise Shaved Ice Truck...the theory of this company is based on doing non-profit and fund raisers with schools. They offer the client 30%...this is money they would never get without you, they have to do nothing to get it...so it is a win win situation.
I was surprised at the reaction when I changed to this policy, actually much more respect and appreciation than when I gave them ALL. Working now to do a page on our website clarifying what we offer to non-profit/fund raisers. It is actually becoming a new source of revenue, who knew! Surprisingly enough it is often on weekdays in my area.

For years I gave all I made...then my daughter purchased a franchise Shaved Ice Truck...the theory of this company is based on doing non-profit and fund raisers with schools. They offer the client 30%...this is money they would never get without you, they have to do nothing to get it...so it is a win win situation.
I was surprised at the reaction when I changed to this policy, actually much more respect and appreciation than when I gave them ALL. Working now to do a page on our website clarifying what we offer to non-profit/fund raisers. It is actually becoming a new source of revenue, who knew! Surprisingly enough it is often on weekdays in my area. We use no signs saying what is going where...if you are there people assume some of the $$ are going to the cause. If you need a sign simply say "Help the Cause"

Thanks so much! I was so worried I would look cheap if I said I would keep ANY portion of it. The lady who asked me to do it, is an acquaintance, and we just never "clicked". I guess our personalities clash, or something. I hope she doesn't get her knickers in a twist if I say I am going to keep a percentage.

Let her get her "knickers in a twist". Her other option is to buy her own supplies and do it herself. God Himself doesn't even command more than a tithe...anything above that is an offering from the heart.

Martha, WHAT a great way to say it...I'm borrowing it, thank you.
Pinky, when discussing it with her suggest you come from the positive side, you are happy to donate 30% of what you earn to the event. Then you are giving not "taking". Don't forget to mention the delightful experience and energy that will result from YOUR efforts.

Thanks so much....people don't realize what goes into what we do. The cost of the supplies, the time and effort of practice, learning, etc. I offered a 50% split. Haven't heard back from her yet. She's someone from church who lost her husband to cancer a year ago. She's very close to the cause (as am I with two sisters with breast cancer), and she might expect 100% to go to the Relay.

I've heard from a lot of Relay events specifically that they don't like to have people getting even material fees ... they want it ALL... but really, if they are going to be that way about it, then offer to hand out water bottles or something as a donation instead of your hard work and supplies professionally.

Just realized the difference in the Relay for Life I did....a local non-profit asked us to be there representing them, they sold candy bars and the 30% we gave to them so it didn't go thru red tape. We've been asked back and to me this is better than paying for a booth at an event.
Finding small non-profits like dance troops and private family style fund raisers have really increased our income in the usual slow months by doing a %. Never thought I'd be doing that, but it is cash coming in. Before this I'd never done ppf, so it has been a learning process. But that is what is wonderful about what we do, a never ending journey of joy and learning.

This is a kind of rude break down that I did a while back for a really mean lady who kept stringing me along about a fundraiser gig, eventually asking me to donate my time and give her all of the profits. When I said no she decided to use volunteers because "the volunteers wanted to do face painting anyway." It is kind of rude (because I was angry when I wrote it to send to her), but the information in the cost break down is something that you might want to give to the relay coordinator if she protests you keeping part of the profits. Obviously, splitting ppf costs is a lot different than them paying you your fee and taking all ppf profits (as I wrote about), but many of the points are still applicable if you want to use them.

I will be honest, I have volunteered for the relay for life for the past few years, acting as the assistant to the local survivor chairperson. I only face painted there one time, and it was a disaster. The lady in charge of the booths made me agree to only do cheek art and charge $1 each, then she accused me of keeping back part of the profit when I only had $50 to give her at the end of the day. I know for a fact that my local relay requires all booths/teams to donate their entire profit. There are a lot of people on the relay planning team trying to get it changed, but the lady who is currently the head of planning won't budge. I am not sure if this is the same way with all relays, but you might want to check.

Gosh, thanks for the eye opener. I haven't heard back from the lady I emailed, but I'm thinking I'll just forget about it. It might be some rule that "Relay for Life" has that all proceeds must be donated. To be honest, I hope I used the wrong email address when I offered to do it. ha ha. (never emailed her before).

Thank you everyone for sharing so much info and your personal experiences.
In the past I have done a lot of work with charities and fundraisers, but I have been thinking really hard about changing how I handle these things.
My usual had been to charge a (really low) supplies fee or give a straight percentage split, usually 30-40%, but I had gone as high as 50%.

Now I am thinking I should charge a higher supplies fee, but also make certain any signage states "Sponsored by" instead of "free Face painting" because I have noticed you are treated differently when people see the words Free.
I always make certain I can set out my tip jar, though people don't generally tip well, even though I seed the jar.

this is a good thread. thanks for starting it. it should help a lot of folks in this department. charities can be such a 'needy' group that it can get overwhelming. I found I got more respect when I kept some back for me then donating it all. It was much nicer as well. I also love the 'sponsored by' and Provided by signs. General folk need to believe face painting is not free.