Thread: Anyone else tired of "freebies"

Story:

Client: Hi, I'm B_______, we're having a big Day of Dance here at a major hospital in Denver.
I would LOVE for you to come and teach for two installments of 20 minutes, 2 hours apart.

Me: Okay, do you have a budget for this.

Client: Oh no, sorry. I can advertise your classes though.

Me: Sorry, my classes are full, and I turn people away.

Client: Do you have anyone to recommend.

Me: No, bye.

**************************************

By the way, I donate my performance to TWO charities a year. MAX.
One is breast cancer and the other one is operation smile.

Because at those events, EVERYONE is donating their time, not just the entertainment.

you can do it and have them write it as a donation this is a tax deduction so you still get payed by paying less taxes. and you get to dance and make people happy.

On my website I state that no matter how good your cause, I cannot dance for free. That I donate my services once a year, and that is it. But, I am willing to discuss a lower rate dependent on many factors.

I have been bit in the backside too many times by people promising things and not delivering, including that tax receipt. So, sorry, won't do it.

{{{{HUGS}}}

yes, the tax receipt. big deal.
I cannot go to the grocery store with a tax receipt.

My tax advisor told me that I'm only able to take a deduction on *goods* donated, not services. I can write off a donated hip scarf, but not a donated performance. I don't know if that varies by state, though.

Because I do not donate money to charity on a regular (or even semi-regular) basis, I alot myself one performance per fiscal quarter at no cost to charities or non-profits to keep the old karma in line. The rest of the time, I offer a 20% discount off of my full rate if I'm hired by a non-profit group.

I do donate gift certificates to charity auctions and such for a free private lesson on occasion. But that's more of an advertising gimmick than a charitable donation for me. Almost without exception, the people who win the gift certificates go on to pay for additional privates or join my group classes.

I've donated a 5 punch class card worth $55 to Emergency Family Assistance this year for their annual auction instead of a performance, which they asked for. They are really hurting this year, because donations are way down, (economy sucks in CO)
so I went ahead and donated that, and they made money on it.
I have an expiration date on it, Coming up in March, they haven't shown up yet with punch card.
But, as long as EFA made money on my donation, I'm ok.

But donating lessons to a major hospital in the area that has LOAD of bucks, nope.......sorry....pay up. At least $50 for god sake.

Originally Posted by laura 2

My tax advisor told me that I'm only able to take a deduction on *goods* donated, not services.

that's what i was told too.

i agree that while it is important to give to charities, we all must draw the line somewhere. and that is a very individual line.

i am happy to dance for real charity events where real money/goods go to real needy people.
but not for multi-million dollar hospital businesses masquerading as needy. when they stop billing $8 for a box of tissue, i might reconsider.

one of the hospitals here uses the tag line "enter a world of healing" but the locals call it "enter a world of stealing"...l;,

Originally Posted by *maria*

I have an expiration date on it, Coming up in March, they haven't shown up yet with punch card.
But, as long as EFA made money on my donation, I'm ok.

Excellent point, Maria. They should always have an expiration date - I do mine 6 months out. Something else I did was to add the phrase "No Cash Value" to my gift certificates; a friend who owns a music studio clued me into this after she donated a certificate for a free lesson and the winner called wanting to cash it in for the $30 value in lieu of taking the lesson.

This is a bit of a hijack, but from a business perspective, gift certificates are one of the chepest forms of advertising out there because of their low redemption rate. Over the last year, I have donated 6 gift certificates and had one - that's right, one - redeemed. In each case, I followed up with the charity, and they confirmed that the other 5 were indeed purchased. I've just never heard a peep from the people who have them. I talked to my friend who owns a small niche retail store, and she reports the same thing - she said her redemption rate on gift certificates is less than 30%. ..c::

Originally Posted by sabrinabellydancer

that's what i was told too.

i agree that while it is important to give to charities, we all must draw the line somewhere. and that is a very individual line.

i am happy to dance for real charity events where real money/goods go to real needy people.
but not for multi-million dollar hospital businesses masquerading as needy. when they stop billing $8 for a box of tissue, i might reconsider.

one of the hospitals here uses the tag line "enter a world of healing" but the locals call it "enter a world of stealing"...l;,

EXACTLY, that's why I wasn't super nice when she said she couldn't pay me to come down, all the way to SOUTH Denver, which is at least an hour away from Boulder, spend 2 hours or more hanging about, teach! then leave, ALL for the wonderful privelege of advertising my classes, which are in BOULDER.
Which is an hour away.

I get these requests a LOT, like several times a month -- between yoga and bellydance. I do a lot of them, some for karma, some because they really are good publicity for my studio (I'm not turning students away just yet....).

But the sheer number of requests is overwhelming, and I can't do them at all in the evenings any more because I'd be paying a sub to teach my regular classes and it would COST me money!

I know these people think "well, it wouldn't hurt to ask" or they think you're someone with an interesting hobby who would enjoy sharing it... but it's hard to say "NO" so you can't help feeling put on the spot. I think that's why I start resenting them.

It definitely should be at your discretion. There are certain charities that I will damn near bend over backwards for, simply because I feel so strongly about helping them as best as I can. But...you have to know when enough is enough. Everyone...even if they have an entertainment budget available will try to get us to dance for free. I like to ask "Who else is entertaining?, have they signed on already?"...I call those folks and get the skinny...and wouldn't you know it...most of the time, they either said "yes, but we are getting paid", or "no, cause we aren't getting paid". It's always a good idea to find out who else is "donating" their time and who is getting paid to "donate" their time.

Originally Posted by laura 2

Excellent point, Maria. They should always have an expiration date - I do mine 6 months out. Something else I did was to add the phrase "No Cash Value" to my gift certificates; a friend who owns a music studio clued me into this after she donated a certificate for a free lesson and the winner called wanting to cash it in for the $30 value in lieu of taking the lesson.

This is a bit of a hijack, but from a business perspective, gift certificates are one of the chepest forms of advertising out there because of their low redemption rate. Over the last year, I have donated 6 gift certificates and had one - that's right, one - redeemed. In each case, I followed up with the charity, and they confirmed that the other 5 were indeed purchased. I've just never heard a peep from the people who have them. I talked to my friend who owns a small niche retail store, and she reports the same thing - she said her redemption rate on gift certificates is less than 30%. ..c::

At Arthur Murray we always added "New Adult Students Only" and "not to be combined with any other offer". Not sure that is applicable, but thought I'd mention it.

We used to give out gift certificates to every blasted charity under the sun. Not sure how we pulled it off, but we were able to write off the certificates. But we are in Nevada and he's an c-corp. I have no idea if that makes a difference.