Shooting for Non-Profit/Volunteer/Community Organistions

[Paul G]

On Mother's Day I took the family to one of the local parks. I had my kit with me and was having some fun taking a few family snaps and some florals, roses etc.

Someone had spotted me as, later, I was approached by one of the people organising the Mother's Day event there.

Long story short - they asked me if I would be interested, come Spring, to do the photography for a 2011 Gardening Calendar they are putting together to raise money for their community gardening work.

I anticipate at least two to three days will be needed at various locations around Toowoomba including our local council parks & gardens, Japanese Gardens, The Boyce Gardens and various Private Garden Entries in the Toowoomba Carnival Of Flowers competition in September.

My question to you is would you charge to do a shoot for a community group such as this or should photo-credit for my images in the calendar be payment/thanks enough? Or maybe negotiate for a 'Photographer's Bio" blurb inside the front/back cover?

[I @ M]

I look at in two ways Paul.

If you are happy that to support the organisation with your time and effort and believe that their motives are sound then do the job for no payment and ask for photo credits. After all many people in the community give their time and "specialist expertise" in differing areas to help out charitable groups with no expectation of any reward so why shouldn't a photographer who supports the cause be any different.

On the other hand,
To release their calendar they must have obviously figured costing of printing into the project (unless they have a very very generous printer supporting them ) so why shouldn't they factor the cost of photography into the production, after all, the images form the largest part of the visual appeal of the product they are trying to sell to raise funds.

Either way the decision is yours but I would be drawing up some form of contract with them to say that your images will only ever be used for xxxxx number of calendars and are not to be used anywhere else.

[kiwi]

A good way of looking at this is how much if you were asked to donate in cold hard $ would you

Take that amount away from what you would have charged to do the work and you have your answer

[ricktas]

Australians are known for their generosity to the community. We band together during times of hardship etc. One of the aspects of Australian life that I really like is the way we volunteer for so many things for our communities. I don't believe that we, as photographers, are immune to that. Donating our money, time and skills is something we should all be able to do from time to time.

And you never know, you might just get some paid work out of it, in the future. I don't think asking for your credit on each photo, or even a photographers bio is to much to ask. If you do take this offer up, hope we get to see some of the results.

[para]

I do some events for the leukemia foundation basically when they have a function eg gretest shave etc, take some photos etc for the foundation for the local branch,they list me as a sponsor and has my logo on a mail outs etc.
But to be honest I have had some work out of it so it helps me as well as helps them plus quite often end up selling a few photos etc from the events to clients.It`s good pr

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day Paul

You describe an offer / activity that is common across the Oz community - [as Rick also mentions] effectively volunteering your skills for a community org. This has happened with me a number of times over the years gone by

I do the job and "charge" them my commercial rates for my time and skills [with bio credit as appropriate], then "donate" it back to them for a tax-deduction. ie: I will charge them $500 (say), donate it back again, there is a paper transaction to show each of us has done something, and I claim the $500 on my tax return [I do make them sign a copyright agreement too]

This way I reckon we are all winners - they get a prof result, I get the cudos, I get another item for by CV, and I get a tax refund on the "donation"

Hope this helps a bit
Regards, Phil

[Leeston]

As someone who works for the National Trust which is a NFP organisation I think it would be great if you could manage to donate your time and work, funding from the Government is very low and NFP's and the like just could not exist without acts of generosity such as this.

As has been stated before there would be a very good chance of you getting paid work from doing it, I would definitely ask for photo credits and maybe some sort of plug/advert/recognition in the finished product.

[Nator]

They are selling a fund-raising calendar... to make money to make the community (your community) a better place.

Do it for no cost to them, feel warm and fuzzy, and take your family back to the even more beautiful parks that you have when the group has improved them.

It's nice to be selfless sometimes.

[DavidG]

They are selling a fund-raising calendar... to make money to make the community (your community) a better place.

Do it for no cost to them, feel warm and fuzzy, and take your family back to the even more beautiful parks that you have when the group has improved them.

It's nice to be selfless sometimes.

what he said ^^^^

but ... I'd ask for both photographic credit and a small ad/contact details printed on the inside front cover where I imagine they will put a blurb about their community activities etc. - hopefully to get some PAID work :)

good luck ...

[Paul G]

Thanks everyone. I agree with the sentiments you are all expressing. I'm can say I'm a humble person and have been fortunate enough to have received goodwill and help from others at various points in my life and I always strive to give this in return where I can.

Some community organisations, however, can demand a lot for very little but I'm sure this isn't one of those and I am happy to assist them for some credit/mention in return for my work. I am far from a professional photographer, (keen amateur at best), but I always try to be professional in my approach.

This shoot is not a certainty yet but I hope to have the contract details finalised before the end of the month. This will enable me to start forward planning for the various locations to determine the best aspects in relation to time of day, sunrise, sunset, lighting, shadows, etc etc.

Should it all pan-out I'll definitely post up some of my shots ;).

[Raven]

Thanks for posting this!

I was about to post a similar thread because I've been "dobbed in" (thanks dad!) to do a calendar for a gym who wants to donate the proceeds to breast cancer research.

Will be watching to see how this pans out for you :D

[bobt]

My question to you is would you charge to do a shoot for a community group such as this or should photo-credit for my images in the calendar be payment/thanks enough? Or maybe negotiate for a 'Photographer's Bio" blurb inside the front/back cover?

I must admit that I feel that there is too much emphasis on charging for photographs, and often the photographer should just be able to enjoy the fact that his/her work is being appreciated by someone. In this case, maybe a mention of your name would be sufficient payment.

There are many occasions when taking photographs provides the photographer with a good opportunity to tackle a project, and the experience gained is itself valuable. Sure I'd charge if the recipient was making a personal profit, but not in the case of a charity or community effort.

I also believe that we often take photos which are only possible because someone else provided the photo opportunity. I recently photographed some kiteboarders who asked for a copy of my shots. I put them up on the web and wished them well because without them I wouldn't have had any shots at all. Photography often costs us nothing, and brings its own rewards - it's not always about the money, but simply an opportunity to give a little in a world that often takes too much.