Charities and charging

[Mick Bailey]

How do you price work done for charitable organizations? There are quite a few that contact me, often with serious amounts of equipment. If I did this for free It wouldn't be long before I was in a queue outside the church waiting for free soup. One place even killed off one of my regular work streams because I wouldn't 'sponsor' them.

Other than charities, there are community groups, churches and other places of worship that expect low or zero rates.

[Enzo]

That is what they do everywhere they go, ask for freebies.

Ask if their management works for free. I bet they don't.

CHARGE them. Unless you have a personal stake in the whatever, or an abiding interest in their concern, you are doing them a service like any other customer. You will have to decide if a particular blackmail threat holds water.

You want a fight, look the charity up. What percentage of funds gathered go to actual benefits for the cause. A lot of those charities calling for donations have abysmal percentages. For every dollar you send them, maybe 15 cents goes to the veterans/orphans/ infirm/etc. The rest is all "administrative expense". Maybe we can discount them the percent they benefit the homeless.

In my experience, the churches were the worst for non-payment, unrealistic expectations, etc.

[J M Fahey]

I often work with charities, churches, etc, and have to split them in very different groups, they are NOT the same by any means.

1) "rich" charities/churches, think TV Evangelists and such: they swim in money, why would I donate my work?
They have the best expensive equipment , think JBL and such, real Hammond organs, best musical instruments, etc.
Pay full price and then some.

2) poor charities or churches, they generally have middle of the range or cheap equipment, think old Peavey or Soundtech and similar generic house brand stuff, generic low cost instruments (Epiphone is a top brand for them), etc.
They get standard pricing minus, say, 20% as a "charity bonus" .

I wonīt crash economically because of that and in fact profit if word of mouth spreads that "I charge very reasonable prices to charities" and as a result I am flooded with work.
Charge it to the "advertising" account.

3) charities/churches with which I share ideas or beliefs or which I see they are really helping the poor or those in need: if possible I charge nothing or at most, parts cost, plus I donate them abandoned stuff customers didnīt pick up.
But that is my own voluntary choice; fast talkers and high pressure type guys are shown the door and if necessary propelled by a kick in the butt.

Of course, you do what you consider best.

[g1]

Tell them:
'You look much more well off than most of my musician customers who pay full pop. Maybe you can take up a special collection to cover the costs.'


And the ones you know are really doing good work and not well off, like JM's #3 mentioned above, I waive labour costs.

[Mark Hammer]

Charge what you believe to be a fair price: One where they can have reasonable expectations that you were weren't doing a half-assed job just because it was cheap or free, but not so low that you create an expectation that you're now the go-to guy for cheap labour.

You deserve to feel like you're not being taken for a sucker, and they deserve to know they were treated in a professional manner.

[Mick Bailey]

Thanks for the advice guys, always good to get a consensus of opinion.

[Leo_Gnardo]

In my experience, the churches were the worst for non-payment, unrealistic expectations, etc.

Same here. Especially those that have multiple ministers. It becomes a game of pass-the-buck when the bill's presented. Eventually the person doing the WORK gets discouraged and gives up chasing Pastor Fred, Pastor Jimmy and Pastor Gertrude. Also churches that have volunteer "experts" running their sound systems. Usually at least half a dozen, and they range from total know-nothings to mad scientists who drop a lot of buzz words, and gleaned their knowledge from HiFi magazines and the most dubious of internet chatrooms. Add the game of "telephone," descriptions of problems get garbled, and then you have to wait for the "resident expert" to come back from his latest gospel trip to Pago Pago so he can examine the repaired system, give his approval, then starts the Pastor-go-round game. I avoid doing work for churches. So far no synagogues or mosques have come calling. Maybe the word has gotten around.

[The Dude]

If you repair MI gear for a living, you yourself ARE a charity. They should donate to you.

[g1]

Yep.
"I won the lottery, and I'm going to keep repairing amps till it's all gone!"