Work for charity

[Mikejf]

Rather than giving money, I was thinking of offering my services to charities for free with the hope that if I do a good job they would recommend me to people (word of mouth) or even get a piece of publicity in perhaps their newsletter or website.

What would be the best way to go about this? Do you think its a good idea?

Many Thanks

 

[maria102]

Rather than giving money, I was thinking of offering my services to charities for free with the hope that if I do a good job they would recommend me to people (word of mouth) or even get a piece of publicity in perhaps their newsletter or website.

What would be the best way to go about this? Do you think its a good idea?

Many Thanks

I think its a double edge sword really, on one hand its not in the spirit of voluntary work, ie you are not doing something for "nothing", however lots of businesses donate/sponsor for publicity?

So I suppose I have now answered my own question....

 

[Emily Cleaver]

I think it's a good idea. The charity benefits from your skills, and you hopefully get recommendations or the chance of some publicity. I've tried something similar before to get together material for a portfolio and it worked well. But I think you need to be open
about your motives and what you hope to get out of doing the work.

 

[formerguest]

You might find this previous thread helpful, see below, as it is highly relevant to your opening post.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=62565

 

[Mikejf]

Some great advice there thanks, and the outcome looks like its all good to do charity work.

My next question is really how do I go about contacting charities. Should I send a mailshot to a select few? Is there a list of all charities somewhere?

Many thanks

 

[Richard Glynn]

Hi there Mike,

Yes - smart move. But I've a couple of observations which might help.

1. Be careful that it isn't screamingly obvious that you're engaging charity work to make more cash for your business. There's a fine line between selfless generosity and profiteering. And if your customers perceive your actions as profiteering this isn't helpful.

2. Try and unearth a story behind the donation of your services. Perhaps a local youth group is revamping its hall and needs a new floor? Perhaps there was a flood? Or act of vandalism? The better (more controversial / more human interest) the story is behind your involvement with a charity - the more publicity you will generate.

3. Has a local charity been adopted by your local paper? Or does the local paper run an appeal of its own? If they do it would be smart to see if you could get involved with this charity. Mercenary I know - but hey.

4. Draw up criteria to help you make your choice: Local publicity - links with local media? Quality of other organisations actively supporting the charity? You may have others? Narrow it down to, say, three possibles and give them informal marks.

5. Charities won't necessarily recommend you to other organisations. They are a charity after all - not a lead generation service. And if this is your main reason for getting involved there might be smarter ways to get your message across.

6. Alternatives? Consider how much time and product and service you'd be prepared to give to a charity. Then work out the value of this if you were going to sell it. Consider offering a prize of this value to a local business networking organisation (or an organisation with a high proportion of potential customers - whatever it may be) for its members? OR, prepare to underwrite this amount of services/goods in an added value offer exclusively for the members of a business association.

To summarise: Charities. Smart move? Yes - but only providing it coincides with your marketing priorities. And delivers results with maximum effect.

 

[DanMartin]

Is there a list of all charities somewhere?

The Charity Commission regulates all charities in England and Wales. They have a searchable database on their website.

 

[Mikejf]

Thanks Richard. It just so happens a community centre just round the corner from me was damaged in fire so this may be a good start.

Many Thanks

 

[Richard Glynn]

Thanks Richard. It just so happens a community centre just round the corner from me was damaged in fire so this may be a good start.

Many Thanks

Love it when a plan comes together!

 

[theppcman]

ALL Charity work is good work so long as the charity benefits there is no harm in you adding some value for your own business!

As long as you are up front about your intentions and the charity concerned does not mind then, why not?

The press are always interested in philanthropic work so try to get them involved.

 

[nxmd]

Hi there

I am not saying this is a bad idea, it could well be a good idea, but I did something a while back and i would not go as far as saying it went badly but it did not go according to plan

i guess i went into it thinking that i was doing them a favour, but just because there is no exchange of money, it does not mean they are going to be any less demanding - i started out by doing a small uncomplicated job which started to escalate according to their bolder plans, they were completely inconsiderate when it came to other work commitments that I had and had the attitude that I had committed myself to the long haul. Even though I had made quite clear from the outset (albeit verbally) what I saw my role as being.

In the end, I said I could not participate any longer unless they showed a more flexible attitude, which left them with the feeling that i had somehow decieved them and not delivered the goods - so make sure you get a contract - even with a contract you are still on rocky ground, because if you dont give them what they want they can refuse to give you links, press or even badmouth you ...

I would personally avoid it, it is not as if the directors of these charities are living in poverty, they all take a salary out of the proceeds - so is it unreasonable to expect to get paid (albeit at a lower rate)


Just my experience

 

[Third Sector Lab]

I'd say don't lump all charities together and treat each job on its individual merit. For example, many national charities will have huge budgets for things like marketing and, in your case, CAD. However, for many smaller charities this simply isn't an option.

By completing work for small charities this can often open up the door to working with larger organisations who have the budget to pay you the market rate for your skilled work.

 

[oldeagleeye]

Can business and charities ever work together. YES _ YES _ YES and don't be frightened to say so. In fact publicly announce your plans and so I have to disagree with Richard. Let me give you an example - and please don't think that it is to somehow show me in a good light. Every member of every local Rotary and Lions club does more for charity than I do - so here goes.

Many years ago when my son was a teenager he had a friend he met through the old CB radio. Ironside was her 'handle' and eventually my son met her and I her parents. You can obviously guess that she was in a wheelchair. In this case due to a spine deformity and lung problems. She was just 14 and the prognosis was that he had about 3 years to live and boy did she intend living it. At the local community centre I asked her what she would like to drink. Dry Martini came the answer and a nod from her parents approved. Next out came a sponsorship form which she smiled and shoved in my face the cheeky monkey so I thought I would get my own back and asked her how much. !0p a length of the swimming pool was the answer and so far she had got a promise of about £5 quid if she did three lengths as she planned. Now there were around 5o kids in that school for the handicapped that she went too and she was good which meant the school would only raise about £150 quid towards the £1,00O they needed for equipment.

I on the other hand was spending a £1,000 on full page promotions in the local rags-sheet. There had to be a deal there somewhere so I wrote on the sponsor form 0p for 3 lengths but do 5 and I'll give you £1,000.

The result. Ironside or dear Lynn who has passed away now did 11 lengths and demanded £1500 quid with a great big smile on her face God bless her which I was only to happy to give the school. The newspaper got a great story and gave me a double page spread - and it didn't stop there. Percy Chandler who was chairman of the company that owned Walthamstow Stadium and who I knew well saw the story and he invited Lyn and the teachers to a slap up meal in the Stow Paddock Grill. That lead to yet another big local story and in the end the school ended up with enough money to build its own small swimming pool as well.

Charity and business can work together well then and personally I would only deal with local needs because most Charities are big business themselves these days and not all that money filters down. In fact I think that many are a rip off with less than 20p in the pound left after management costs.

 

[Excel Expert]

This is somethig that worked really well for me when I was setting up my web design business. I initially donated two years hosting and my web design services to a charity providing aid and help in Kosovo and Chernobyl.

Not only did I get great publicity from my support (my advert was the only advert on their site and they pushed their own URL in every press release etc) but I also became closly associated with the charity and as a result I gave up many of my holidays to work out in the field with them.

My tip would be to find a charity working in a field you feel strongly about and become involved with them on more than a donation level. Dont go in to it expecting the rewards to be 100% business related, the other rewards can far out weigh the business benefits.

 

[oldeagleeye]

I tell you what Excel. I felt bloody good too which is why I joined a local Lions Club. Anyone care to donate a case of wine we can auction off this year most appreciated.

 

[sarahlou]

How about offering to donate a percentage of any future referral work back to the charity? That way, the charity has a reason to shout about you; but you are also helping the charity longer term.

 

[conquer]

I have considered trying to mix some aspects of our business with charity. There do seem to be different perceptions about whether its right or wrong depending on who you talk to. I feel that as someone else said, if the charity benefits then thats all that matters.

Communication is vital I think, its not ethical to trade and profit off a charities name for example if the donator believes they are contributing to the charity solely. I see lots of opportunity in getting positive PR for businesses but there is plenty of suspicion and alot of charities are focused purely on cash raising.

 

[dotwhack]

I've recently offered my online marketing services to a charity completely free of charge and as they needed a new website, found a web developer who was also willing to donate his time to the charity by doing the build.

I didn't approach any other charities, I simply chose a charity close to my heart who I already had contact with and offered to solve their web problems for them. I discussed puplicity with them and they agreed as it would raise their local profile and mine & the web developers too. I am hoping to gain awareness of my company while helping a charity I truely believe in.

Once everything is finalised, I will of course post in the PR section so you can all see what was achieved and the great benefit the charity will receive.

 

[betterlanguages]

Rather than giving money, I was thinking of offering my services to charities for free with the hope that if I do a good job they would recommend me to people (word of mouth) or even get a piece of publicity in perhaps their newsletter or website.

What would be the best way to go about this? Do you think its a good idea?

Many Thanks

Hi Mike

I have a few concerns about this approach. Having worked extensively in the voluntary sector ( both paid and unpaid), I know that some charities definately take advantage. e.g. you wouldn't call a tradesman to your house and expect him to work for free! But some charities have this approach with professional services.

We were contacted by a local charity wanting us to translate a Christmas message last year, (into a rare and expensive language). This was for a Christmas card. You might think this would be very simple, but no, they wanted a very wordy complete speach by Nelson Mandela. As we subcontract translation this would have cost us considerable time and money. They were very surprised that we wanted to charge. The trouble here is that you can't win, we would have only looked to cover our basic costs. If they come back to us in the future wanting a larger text we will sound expensive. Do it for "free", and we would have incurred costs, and not really have been appreciated for our efforts.

My advice would be not to offer a professional service for free, as it can devalue the perception of you from a potential customer's viewpoint.

There are however other ways to get involved with charities, e.g. our church runs a Christmas hamper appeal every year, giving hampers to people in need who otherwise would have very little. Hampers can be sponsored, and also they ask for volunteers to help pack and deliver the hampers. Being involved as a team either fundraising or helping for a day is a great teambuilding exercise for a local business, as well as giving something of value.

Hope this is of help

cheers

Mike

 

[vision2020]

I work for a large enough charity and the type of thing you are talking about is what we call 'a gift in kind'. I have managed a few 'gift in kind' projects, one being a website and another being consultancy from an advertising agency. The first one was a disaster as the company did not have the skills to carry out the job and the second one was a great success. The reason the second one was a success is that we basically had a 'contract' saying what we would do for them and what they would do for us. The same way that you would agree a work plan if paying for work.

I would recommend that you chose a charity that has some tie in with your own ethos. As charities we are very protective of our brands and only want to partner with organisations that we know will be socially responsible. For example, I work in the disability field, so if I was working with you I would want to ensure that you fully understand the DDA and wouldn't to a set of plans for another paying customer that did not take into consideration the needs of disabled people.

In terms of press, yes it is good and can work very well, but be clear with the charity at the start about who is going to be responsible for pushing PR, doing press interviews etc.

You may want to check out Business In the Community website.

Hope this helps and good luck

In terms of

 

[Bruce Allinson]

it is not as if the directors of these charities are living in poverty, they all take a salary out of the proceeds - so is it unreasonable to expect to get paid (albeit at a lower rate)

All our directors are volunteers as indeed the have to be I assume you are talking about managers and CEO's - What do you class as poverty - as manager I have had no income of any kind for the last two years - many charity directors are indeed in "poverty" - bleeding big brush you got there - lol.
Having said that I must agree I know some very incompetent people doing very little for a very good pay packet in the sector, but then these problems exist across all sectors.

If your looking for charities local to you contact your local CVS (coucil for voluntary services) you will find them on the NACVS website. Most CVS's would be happy to put something about your offer in their newsletter for you. You might also like to look up your local business in the community as they are all about connecting local business gifts in kind with local charity needs

 

[frockery]

I chair a national Scottish charity which has no paid staff and has been run by volunteers for the past 12 years.

As Bruce says, many people donate a great deal of time and effort to charity without being paid because they believe in the particular cause.

OTOH the 'big voluntary sector' may as well be an arm of govt in many cases as external funding brings with it its own issues and can result in a compromise of principles along the lines of 'he who pays the piper'.

Whatever happened to the UKBF charity auction by the way?

 

[oldeagleeye]

Come on now Bruce. No salary doesn't tell the whole story does it. I am not sure if the many genuine people that work for the Red Cross are on salaries buy they get to go to some damned good jolly ups usually staying at 5 star hotels all expenes paid and boy don't the shampoo flow.

As for the church sorry my friend but the biggest crooks in th world who own properties worth so much money it is impossible to calculate and they then come round with the begging bowl and who ends up helping the poor. The poor or relatively poor.

The only charities I give too are those that I can see where the money is going and it has to all go every penny. Those tombola stands. Give a donation to the RNLA.

Oxfam. Forget it. They know that when it comes to disaster relief the vast majority will go into the dictators pocket or corrupt politicians in those countries and they do nothing about it because they know that they can pass the begging bowl again.

All major charities suck and that is a fact and if you don't believe me you drive around Kensington in London. African Embassies. Asian have got so many new Mercedes outside the public can't park a bike.

You want to help. Organize a lorry load of gear and I am sure members on here will support you but lets not forget. Charity begins at home. There will be 1,000 of our pensioners freezing in their homes come Christmas afrain to switch on the gas fire. They don't need a web site just a chat and a small hamper of cip of soup will do. Robert

 

[pitsos]

i agree in general, after all, charity, is the english word for philanthropy in greek ("friendly to human").....

 

[oldeagleeye]

Thanks for that Pitso. Love the Greek philosophy where they honour the Gods but don't take them too seriously. After all even Zuce was a bit of a rascal when it comes to hiding in clouds. If any of you havent read Homer it is worth a read just to find out why all the cows sit down when there is a cloudy sky and it's about to rain. It's not the rain they are worried about. Rob

 

[pitsos]

actually, greek religious (even if the term is invalid) and greek philosophy are not so close as it seems, so just read some more greek philosophy ("friendly to wisdom") and give your Homer Book for charity...

 

[oldeagleeye]

I meant in a light hearted way. Pesonally I wouldnt be at all proud of Greek relgion but then I remember people being gunned down in front of churches in Greece. I'll stick with Homer thank you. Robert

 

[Chris@Crane]

Hope I'm not interupting a classic civilisation argument up there ^^

Back to the OP's question, we did some work for the Great Ormond Street Hospital charity around Christmas last year, I think we got put in their newsletter, and it also gave us something to put on our website

I'd say it's worthwhile overall