Charity percentage

[BryanPanting]

I am working an event this weekend, and a portion of my sales are going to be donated to our local SPCA origination. When I have talked to the people running it they have not given me an answer on what percent of my sales they would like me to donate. Anyone have any tips on what might be considered fair?
We are still in the very early stages of our photo business so i would like to make some money off this event, but on the other side it is for a good cause and I want to give a fair amount. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Ambrosia76]

You need to at least cover your cost,by that I mean your supplies and at least some of the time you are putting in.Think of it as in investment in marketing. Also make sure they give you a receipt for what you give them it will be a great tax right off for your business.

[Biomech]

When I shoot for charity events or sports clubs, I take off expenses/tax and then give them 10%

[Jim Poor]

Are you giving a percentage of total sales, prints included or a percentage of session fees?

When I do mass events, I give 40% of session fees. For fundraisers out of my studio, I give $100 per session.

[BryanPanting]

Are you giving a percentage of total sales, prints included or a percentage of session fees?
When I do mass events, I give 40% of session fees. For fundraisers out of my studio, I give $100 per session.

It will be a percentage of the print sales. I don't think we are going to do a session fee for this because we are just going to have a small set up in our tent for some quick dog portraits. My hope is people will like the work and book a session based off that.

I was also thinking of doing a coupon for a future session fee with a percentage of that also going to the charity.

Thanks for all the comments so far, that helps.

[Jim Poor]

Originally Posted by BryanPanting

It will be a percentage of the print sales. I don't think we are going to do a session fee for this because we are just going to have a small set up in our tent for some quick dog portraits. My hope is people will like the work and book a session based off that.

I was also thinking of doing a coupon for a future session fee with a percentage of that also going to the charity.

Thanks for all the comments so far, that helps.

Now that I know you're talking dogs (I totally read right by the SPCA bit the first time around), I have a little more input

Tammy and I have done many of these. We started out with a small (think miniscule) session fee, with prints sold separately. We donated a portion of everything to the group.

Tracking the print sales (for how long?) became a PITA, so we went to a portion of the session fee alone. Prints and packages sold separately with on-site proofing.

The on-site proofing was a MAJOR PITA when things were busy (easier if we had had one or two more people, but we didn't at the time) so we went to proofing after the fact, but allowed folks to pre-pay for their packages at a discount. Originally, it was 10%, now it's 20% off. No proofs seen first, and we thought nobody would go for it, but they did and they do.

If you do sell prints or packages on site, keep it simple with no more than 4-5 choices. Make choice #1 not all that attractive, choice #2 a little better, choice #3 a great deal compared to 1&2 (this is your target). Then make you last one or two choices pretty high-end. My package 5 is almost the equivalent to what I expect from a low-end studio session and package 6 is in the realm of "are you crazy, nobody will buy this," but it does occasionally sell. When it does, we have a NICE dinner after the event to celebrate.

Even if you do sell on site, I recommend delivery at a later date. Just too much to do all at once.


Something to consider is that for these mass events, we'll be going to a 100% session fee donation this year. We'll make our money on prints.

[BryanPanting]

Thanks Jim that helps a lot.

Its just my wife and I at the booth, so onsite sales I can't do. I need time to edit after the event, so everything will be sold through my website.
I am meeting with the people running the event and I think I may mention charging a small shoot fee and then giving all that to the SPCA, I really like that idea. Then I could give a small percent of print sales to them also and make more off the prints.

Thanks again

[Jim Poor]

Sounds like a plan, but you CAN do onsite sales without showing any photos. That's what we do at all of our mass events. Of course, we're well known, but a simple "If you don't like any of them, which hasn't ever happened yet, I'll refund your print purchase" worked well in the beginning.

It's really important to get at least a small sale at the event. It makes a HUGE difference in total sales (we sell about 10% on the web and 90% on site this way) which allows you to make more and DONATE more.

Either way, don't forget to have fun with the dogs!

[Jim Bryant]

We donate 10% back to organizations and charities AFTER all expenses are taken out.