“Tis the season… for shopping and baking and vacationing and celebrating… and donation requests. With the cover story that this is the time of year the budgets are set, but with the ulterior motive that the holiday season will put you in a generous mood – this seems to be the season for donation requests.
In the beginning, I donated to just about everyone that asked. I supported a variety of groups and organizations all in the name of some cause. I was sure this would be a win-win situation and wootness would abound.
Over the years, I began to notice that certain situations just didn’t work out well. Session certificates for raffles & door prizes were losers. I found better success with donating to fund-raising auctions, and the best results were from the live auctions as opposed to the silent ones.
Some groups were easier to work with than others. Some asked that the donation have a certain value. Most didn’t let me know who the end recipient was and hardly any wrote thank you notes. Sometimes the resultant session was a joy, sometimes it was a train wreck.
There’s been a lot of articles out there about how to choose who to donate to and what things work if you’re a photographer – that’s all been hashed out – so here’s just a few extra of my own personal pointers on the matter:
Don’t feel obligated to donate to everyone that asks. Pick the causes that mean something to you, the ones that are near and dear to your heart. So, if the recipient turns out to be a bit of a hassle or if the organizers didn’t get around to doing thank you notes, you’re not all bent out of shape about it. You don’t ever want to regret a donation. You may not love it, or even like it, but arrange it so you never regret it. You want to give from the goodness of your heart and feel good about it after it’s all said and done.
You don’t have to donate photography services. If a cause is holding a fundraiser where the audience just isn’t your target market, or you’re not in a position to donate a session, but you really want to support the cause, donate a tangible item, like a frame or a photo album, or just write a good old-fashioned check. Or here’s a novel idea, donate your time. Volunteer. You’re good for other things besides holding up a camera.
It’s called a donation, not a discount. For the most part, you’re probably going to be donating a certificate or coupon of some sort. I’ve heard a lot of variations on this and one thing I want to really drive home is that a donation is a donation. There should not be any strings attached and the recipient should have something tangible to take home. Donating a $50 gift certificate to your studio, when your minimum purchase/package is $500, will not endear you to anyone. Do not require an additional purchase for the recipient to walk out of your studio with something in their hands.
Do not upsell. The overall intent to upsell or make money off of a donation just makes me cringe. Donate because you want to help and not because it might turn into an income opportunity. Make your certificate good for a session and a product/package, go through the process, deliver the agreed upon product and shut up.
This advice probably won’t sit well with some – but think about this – if you donated a certificate for a session/package that was auctioned off – that new client has already paid a sum of money for what’s on that certificate. Now maybe they got a good deal and maybe they didn’t. I’ve had bidders pay more than the value of the certificate because they supported the cause and they wanted the certificate that badly. Any attempt at upselling to these folks is going to be offensive. They already paid. What they paid is not your business. The donation is between you and the organization, not you and the certificate recipient, so looking to the recipient as a source of income to recoup your donation is misguided and ill-advised.
Go above and beyond what you’ve obligated to. If you want to guarantee that a donation will be a totally win/win situation, go those extra steps to assure that your donated sessions are such a spectacular example in hassle-free customer service that the recipient is well pleased, and in turn tells others about their fantastic experience with you.
Now, go be merry and stuff!