What to do for a charity event?

[NathanO]

I am going to be photographing a large charity event. I'm kind of nervous because of the size of it, but also relaxed because the getting-paid-stress is nearly gone.

Have you ever done a charity event? If so, what did you do? How did it go? did you give them a DVD with the pictures? Did you hand out business cards to sell prints online? I

'm just looking for more information because there is alot of info on doing stuff for free (to get started in photography) and alot of info on earning with photography....but not so much on what to do if a charity hires you for free with posibility of networking and external sales..... please help if you can.

[Swisstony10]

I guess everybody's experience of doing charity work differs, but here's mine.

I've done quite a few shoots of charity events run by the charity wing of my local hospital. I got into working with them because since last summer I've been an outpatient of the Oncology Centre - back last year, when I was having one of my checkups, my oncologist mentioned that he was abseiling off a very tall building in Bristol to raise money for the Oncology Centre's current appeal. I jokingly asked if they were having a photographer in attendance, and he passed my details onto the people who organise the charity stuff. It turned out they hadn't arranged one, because they didn't have a budget to cover it, so I did it, and told them that any time they needed a photographer, give me a shout, and so far I've steadfastly refused to charge them. They emailed me just last week with another request, but won't let me do it for nothing, because for a change they have a budget for it, so this time I'm working for them for money.

As a spin-off from that (and this is where the value of networking is revealed) The charity people passed my details on to the Hospital Trust management people just before Christmas, and they got me in to take some pretty straightforward posed shots at an awards presentation ceremony. Stupidly, I didn't realise that they weren't part of the charity thing, and thus had a budget for photography, so I didn't charge them for turning up and taking the picture, but with the prints that they ordered, I still ended up making about £120 for a couple of hours' work (including the post work).

But like I said - that's just my experience of it, because I'm pretty closely affected by the work that the charity's doing - how you approach depends on your relationship with the charity, I guess.,

Russ.

I actually have a big charity gig coming up this Friday.

Always shoot charity gigs for free, and ask them for a "gift-in-kind". Basically, you're donating your services and can write-off what you would have charged on your taxes. For instance, the gig I'm shooting this Saturday is 4 hours of photo booth and 4 hours of regular photography, which I'd normally charge about $1075 for. At the end of the year, I get to write $1075 off my income taxes, which makes my tax bill about $300-$400 lower.

I got the gig because all the local "pros" wanted too much money, and it wasn't in their budget. This is a big event...lots of corporate executives and board members...I can't imagine what the other photographers were thinking. This is a huge marketting oportunity, and the charity already mentioned (btw, it's one of the big charities) that they'll probably hire me for their future events (they have 3 or so other events this summer).

And about the photos...I'm giving them a royalty-free DVD of all the best, touched-images from the evening. I'm also going to web-host all the photos on my Zenfolio site, with free digital downloads and a small mark-up for prints.