charity events?

Great info here guys, thank you. Here's my personal situation. I have just started my business, very new at 'quality' face painting, rather than just the typical cheek art with tempera (I know.) paint that I had done previously. However, I just this past weekend did a free charity event, local Relay for Life which I have been a part of for a few years now, and do for my own personal reasons to fight back against cancer. although it was a long hot day, and the supplies are expensive, to me it was for a good cause and also a great way to get the word out about my business, get my face (and faces) out their locally, etc. It seems to have worked, just today I got 2 offers, but they are both for charity events. Both things I am actually VERY interested in doing, but I don't want to put myself in the hole being a free loving hippie and just wanting to do it all for the love of it. On the other hand, I need the publicity as I am brand new....I definitely want to at least ask for the tip jar, the advertising, and her email mentioned something about supply costs, but I'm just not sure where to begin in negotiating.

Any tips on specific questions I should ask her to gauge if this is worth it for me or not?? I'm thinking, hours I'm expected to work, will I get breaks, will there be other face painters, what are their terms for supply compensation? etc. Hope this makes sense...Im happy to be getting offers, but I kind of suck at making decisions and my head is swimming a little. STill, my first big event with REAL paints went well, and I got a lot of compliments, happy faces, and happy parents, which makes me feel confident moving forward.

I will have to share the pics with u guys soon, but in the meantime, feel free to check out my fb page: http://www.facebook.com/mysticalrainbowcreations

Perry, your advice on this topic is very valuable. I don't think I mentioned it before on this thread but, I would like to use your wording on my website explaining how I do charities. If you don't mind. I have round about told people the same thing but you put it so nicely and professionally.

I just did the breast cancer pledge ride on Sunday. I do it every year and I give them a heavily discounted rate, I am verbal letting the clients know that I *AM* being paid to be there, and I have a tip jar that states "Tips are always appreciated, and NEVER expected. Thank you for your patronage" Under that "TODAY! Half of all tips go back to this event".

My invoice to the event shows my hourly rate and my travel fee
Then the sub-total so they understand what I normally charge.

Then under that the 'charity discount' and under the travel fee, I put N/A
*artists discretion*

Final total is the equivolent of half price or less. By seeing both totals, they love that they got the service for so low. I love that I still get some tips to make up for the 'loss'.
The clients see it as a nice thing that the event does for thier entertainment, I still get paid and I get paying gigs afterwards. They also have anadd for me in the "Ride Guide" as a contributer. I will try to post some pics and put them into this reply later!

Perry has the best lines in her page about how to deal with the 'charity' questions when they come up. I've altered it a smidge, but it is essentailly hers:
"Fundraising Events
There are so many great causes and charities that I would love to support but it would be impossible to donate time and materials for free to all of them so there are different options for these requests.

*Pay Per Face (raising money for you): I will appear at your event to do face painting while charging my standard "pay per face" rates to the patrons of the event. At the end of the event 40% of the collected money benefits your group/charity and the rest covers my costs and materials.

*Discounted Hourly (free for patrons): I can offer you a discounted hourly rate since it is a fundraiser. You would remit the reduced hourly fee, but you may choose to sell tickets or use entry fees to recover that price and it would be part of the day's entertainment.

*subject to artist approval*

The questions you ask would be the same for any event. How are breaks handled, etc.

I hope this helps! You just have to do the ones you really want to. If you want to donate all your time and materials because a cause is important to you, then go for it! But realize that often the 'return' will be not so fab. It COULD be great, but it often is not. Just keep in mind that you did it because you wanted to give, and not because you hoped to receive.

It's what I do but what works for one may not work for everyone! Hope this helped! My two cents!

I guess my question is what specific questions do u guys think I should be sure to ask if they aren't listed in my comment already, through experience? And also, being that I am brand new and haven't had any paying gigs booked 'yet'...I'm leaning towards taking these 2 because of my own personal interest in the charity, and also because I really need the exposure and publicity to get the business rolling, as well as the valuable real life hands on, line waiting, PRACTICE. Does that make me seem crazy? I of course, want to reply to them with offers similar or the same as you have all described above, and see if they can compensate me as asked, or even negotiate a little, but at the same time, I'm thinking the exposure may be worth it. I'm kind of kicking myself I didn't think of a tip jar for the event I just did, but live and learn. I appreciate how helpful and open you all are with your experience so we don't all have to ALWAYS learn the hard way!

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone and esp. Perry for the wonderful wisdom and wording!

I'm in Alabama and had just started face painting shortly before the terrible tornadoes hit here. I knew right away I could help bring some smiles to very sad children and families and have volunteered with a wonderful lady here called, "Grannie", who started a non-profit that gives birthday parties to children from the worst-hit areas (lost homes, family, friends, pets, devestating stuff.... ).

http://www.facebook.com/blingafling#!/pages/Alabamas-Lost-Birthdays/121535981259190

At the same time, I have 4 local mama friends who are all adopting Reece's Rainbow special needs children and desperately trying to raise money before the Eastern European countries close down International adoption (the children as young as 5 then get transferred to adult mental institutions ).

Needless to say, I have not made a cent off my face painting. i I really need to get a website up and running and figure out how to recoup some of my expenses, because all I am doing right now is shelling out a LOT of money as I buy paints, chair, tote case, look at insurance/website/tent/table/etc.. Thank God for my very kindhearted and supportive husband!

Sparklyone, I think in your case might be the one case I would change my philosophy on working for free...if my area were ever hit with a devastating natural disaster, of course I would do what I need to in order to bring smiles and cheer to the children affected if I could. Good for you:) But you are right, sadly, the bills still have to be paid on your end, but cheers for doing something for those who need a little light right now.

This is my first year of actually working with a budget and I did budget a few charity events this year. Although next year I won't take any from May - August, those seem to be my money months. I also negotiate some sort of sponsorship listing, I use my promo materials, and they have to allow me to put out a tip jar

Gamezgirl wrote:Sparklyone, I think in your case might be the one case I would change my philosophy on working for free...if my area were ever hit with a devastating natural disaster, of course I would do what I need to in order to bring smiles and cheer to the children affected if I could. Good for you:) But you are right, sadly, the bills still have to be paid on your end, but cheers for doing something for those who need a little light right now.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that encouragement. I just got another request tonight for a group of 11 yo girls who are having a "spa party" group birthday party...how can I say no, knowing what these children have gone through and are still going through? And truth is, I don't want to say no anyway. Do what you love and love what you do, right? And marry a good man who can pay the bills!

There are very few that I want to say no to also, but I have too. I thought when I first started that I would hand out cards, and book some parties off the volunteer work. Not once have I gotten a job from volunteering..crazy huh? So I do Ronald McDonald House free (not big events, just a small one hour event at the facility) whenever they want, or I feel like it. Everyone else who I would like to donate my time to, must buy the paints and my gas and if it is a long day, my food also. So the amount depends on the amount of kids, but usually 50-60$ and if they plan on having unlimited amount of kids then they must cover that for my partner too. I prefer to do ppf and donate 25% or whatever depending on the cause, I have done 100% at the end of the day if I feel led by the lord to do so, but I don't want that commitment before hand.

Sparklyone wrote: Do what you love and love what you do, right? And marry a good man who can pay the bills!

That is the truth! I think it might be just coincidence that these few events so close together all resonate with me personally for one reason or another, so I'm going to follow my instincts and do them, even if they can't give me everything I ask for. But all of the input here has been helpful. Thank you all! I will let you know how it goes! Now, I'm on a mission for finalizing the details on what I am comfortable offering, what I want to ask for, what I need to include as necessity, and getting it all worded professionally. Already have a good start thanks to some of the posts here. If anyone has a pile of links or documents they feel like sharing for wording/detail ideas, by all means, share away! Already copied Perry's wording for the charity events to tweak and make my own. You all are a great group! Best wishes!

I'm doing the same over here as I design my website, I'll post when I'm done. Perry's wording and all the great suggestions here are SO helpful!

sooo, I've been officially booked by one of the charity events, WITH pay! They offered me slightly less than I was asking, but needing to get my name and face(s) out there, it sounds great to me. $150 for 3 hours paid, then they want me to charge the pay per face and then ALL of the PPF money will go to the charity. This works for me rather than splitting the pay per face I had originally offered, because it's only 3 hours, not a huge event, so regardless of how many people I get, I'm guaranteed my $150, which makes me feel good. Comes close to covering a big chunk of the money I have invested on products so far. It's for a company my Sister in Law works with, so I am helping her out in a way as well, and it's called 'Last Day Dog Rescue' which saves dogs from 'death row' and adopts them out to appropriate families () which of course is a beautiful thing! So I'm happy with the outcome, I'm so glad to have had all the info and ideas here so I had some options to offer, confidence in offering them, and also comfortable knowing everyone ultimately does what works best for them in the end, there is no 'wrong or right' choice as long as you feel good about it, and I do! I'm sure as I get further along and busier I will become more choosy and firmer with my rates/demands, but for now, any business is GOOD!