NON-PROFIT MARKETING

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Permalink Reply by Jason Nye on April 13, 2009 at 10:14am

Curt, What I've found is that my relationships that I development with the non-profits is what lead to opportunities to be financially rewarded as well. It takes time though and really good people at the non-profits who try and take care of those professionals that help them. I'm a web designer/developer and I worked with a couple non-profits over the years and because I try and take care of them they are always trying to find ways to help me, usually in the forms of referrals. The other thing is being involved in the non-profit, more than just providing your service. For example, I sit on the board for one of them and it is create opportunity to provide more than my services but also to be engaged and become a part of the organization, which leads to more contacts, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Kendal R. Miller on July 24, 2009 at 6:34pm

Hi Curt.

As a full-time PR person AND a professional photographer on the side, I can relate to your situation. If had $50 for each photo job that I did for free hoping for more opportunities, my bank account would be looking quite nice right about now.

I've made MANY mistakes with my photography career, although in fairness I have to admit that most were learning experiences. I was amazed at how “great” a photographer I was when I was doing it for free, but when I decided that I was being taken advantage of and "changed the rules" by mentioning that I now needed to receive some sort of compensation for my services (even only a small amount), I found that many people didn't need pictures so badly anymore.

Through the years I've learned to be choosy in who I donate my services to--and occasionally offer my services for no charge depending on the cause. When I lived in Florida I would donate my services to “Healthy Families Florida” that worked with mothers and their children who recently got out of bad family situations or were being taught to avoid such states.

If you plan on doing your services for free, I would suggest the following to hopefully gain some rewards from your hard work:

-Get credit where you can. Photo credit with your published works—whether it be print or website. If you have a website, see if they’ll link to yours. If they can photo credit AND have them list your website that is even better.

-Always have business cards and/or brochures available to give out to the people that are accepting your services, and ask if they will allow you to have them available at their location for people to pick up. If you do animal portraits for instance, perhaps put a framed sample on display in their location.

-Try to “trade” for your services. You photo services for an ad in their newsletter, brochures, etc.

-Write and distribute a press release about your donation of services. Something like: Curt Alexander of Alexander Photography Studios has teamed up with the XYZ Humane Society in efforts to find homes for unwanted pets. Granted this doesn’t always work—if a paper feels like it is more like a “free ad” they may not publish it. However, it never hurts to try.

-Ask the organization if they are interested in teaming up with you for an event. Pet photos with Santa in late November were always popular at my local humane society in Florida. Split the fee with the organization—you get part, the other goes to them as a donation. Have items available there that show your other work—family portraits, graduation photos, etc. And of course have your cards and brochures on hand.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Kendal

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