How Do You Respond When People Ask For Pro Bono Work?

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Permalink Reply by James Ryan on February 27, 2009 at 4:12pm

I would say something like, "I am so honored that you thought of me. Normally, I would be happy to consider helping. Right now I am committed to so many other projects that I just can't find the time. I will keep you in mind, so if I meet any other comics who could help, I'll be sure to have them call you."

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Permalink Reply by James Ryan on March 3, 2009 at 7:50am

Oops. I thought you were a comic! lol. Doesn't matter. The technique is the same.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on March 3, 2009 at 8:12am

I am. I'm just very bad, and I don't get paid for it. That's where the web development comes in.

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Permalink Reply by Bradley Miles on February 27, 2009 at 11:30pm

I would ask them if their phone "service" was provided pro bono.

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Permalink Reply by Bradley Miles on March 2, 2009 at 11:38pm

for the record i did donate over 200 hours to develop my churches website :)

www.newhopenews.org

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on March 3, 2009 at 8:14am

Nice site, Mr. Miles.

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Permalink Reply by Nicki Laycoax on March 1, 2009 at 12:07am

Hi Clay,

We have a few pro bono clients. When approached by a new one, and it appears to be too much work to not get paid for, we talk about other ways to benefit from the relationship. If it doesn't seem like a good fit, we'll refer them to someone within our network that we trust will take care of them. This way, they are taken care of and we aren't taking on another commitment that we can't successfully fulfill.

You might check with Robby Slaughter on here. He is a professor at IUPUI, and if it's web work, especially PHP, he might be able to take it to his students and have them handle the project. The church will be taken care of and the students will get more experience!

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on March 1, 2009 at 3:23pm

Great replies, guys. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Morgan on May 12, 2009 at 3:02am

Just considering the win-win possibilities for the future - pro bono work could be offered if there is some sort of inherent agreement that future PR or News about your firm will be available to the members of the organization.

With a large organization or network this 'agreement' could turn into a very sweet deal in the future.

- Brian

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on May 12, 2009 at 10:46am

My original thought in writing this post was looking for advice on how people turn down these opportunities without burning any bridges, but the question ended up being a lot more open-ended. This is going down a different (and probably more interesting) direction. How do you evaluate whether a pro bono project can lead to future exposure?

- Are you talking to the right person within the organization who has the influence to spread your name?

- Is the project high profile?

- Will it be seen by good referral sources and/or people in your target market?

How does everybody else measure these? I'm imagining it's more instinct that any kind of formula.

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Permalink Reply by Ashley Kersh-Fletcher on May 12, 2009 at 6:28am

I must admit that I've done my share and continue to do my share of pro bono work. I recently turned down another project and just stated that I plainly just didn't have the time. That was the truth. I have two ongoing projects now that are pro bono, one of which is a bartered and the other is for a local non-profit.

I must admit that I am hard pressed to turn down a good project for a worthwhile cause as while I may a living in website development, I actually like doing it also. Sometimes you can be taken advantage of though. I've walked that road too. :-)

From experience I believe if you have the time and it's worthwhile for both or either you should do it. Lend your skill. However, I know evaluate more carefully my requests.

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