Charity/Barter work... anyone here does it? (or plan to)

[ChrisAdval]

For whatever reasons you do it please mention it... even if its for pure PR/Marketing and Advertising or even barter purposes. Or even just planning on doing this..

I know I wanted to volunteer taking some photos for my local animal shelter but I actually volunteered as a helper instead as I just got my first (entry level) DSLR when I started to volunteer there but then left for management conflicts. I may look for other animal shelters near my college to attempt this fall of this year.

[3bayjunkie]

I Took photos for the the YMCA Golf Tournament and for the BOSS Car show on our military post. I used my film Nikon N80! It was fun. I got chaufered around in a golf cart all day

[BuddhaPi]

my business is not photography related, but I rarely barter, as bartering does not feed my kids or pay my mortgage. as far as charities I'd rather donate to them, and get the tax deduction, as opposed to working for free.. Keep in mind most ( not all) non-profits make a good amount of money..

[NicoleScraps]

Do the charity work if you were going to do it anyways, but don't expect anything in return. As far as bartering, ehhh, depends. I did a major barter over the summer and that yielded 0 ZERO results for my business. I'll never do that again.

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

Do the charity work if you were going to do it anyways, but don't expect anything in return. As far as bartering, ehhh, depends. I did a major barter over the summer and that yielded 0 ZERO results for my business. I'll never do that again.

was that the radio thing??

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

was that the radio thing??

Yes, they recorded the most amazing commercials for me and I was so excited.....then nothing. They ran for two full months, 3 times a day too.
All it really cost me was two or three hours of work, but it was still completely useless.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

Yes, they recorded the most amazing commercials for me and I was so excited.....then nothing. They ran for two full months, 3 times a day too.
All it really cost me was two or three hours of work, but it was still completely useless.

sounded like they just placed it at the wrong times or/and with the wrong content, bad marketing? They maybe just placed it at a time slot they didn't have filled and no body wanted to buy/pay to advertise for, hence the lack of results possibly. Were you allowed to keep the recordings to maybe use it on another station that had your prime demos? I know when a station barters time slots or even commercials they tend to have very little or weak audiences in the marketing world.

[NicoleScraps]

No, they ran them at good times. I was their "top tweet" sponsor at the top of the hour 3 times a day, one morning, one afternoon, and one evening for two months straight m-f.
I think radio in general is just a bad idea for photography, although they did an amazing job making the commercial paint a visual picture in your mind. They gave me the mp3s, I can use them on my website if I want, but not other radio stations.
They are a fairly popular station as far as getting community info and news, not really for music though.
Here is one of the ads that they did for me.
digital artistry by nicole movie1.wmv - YouTube

[NathanFranke]

I've done some volunteer work, with zero customers from it. I got tearsheets out of it, and references for future employment, but nothing else. The plugs I got in a concert program yielded nothing. I was also unemployed at the time and doing something is always better than doing nothing.

My wife, on the other hand, does a lot of volunteering for various pregnancy and stay-at-home-mom organizations, and I get a lot of business through those circles.

[terri33inne]

I bartered with my hairdresser this summer, and got a booking from her sister, and they both booked a session for November. Not to mention my photos will now be displayed at her station at work! For me it was totally worth it! I got a day of pampering in return!

As for charity... my plan (already have one lined up) is to donate a session, and print or proof album for a silent auction, or raffle. I have no idea how it will go, but thought it was worth a shot for exposure.