Welcome to the second installment of our Creator Resolutions Blog series. With the new year ushering in a wave of creative energy, we're invited to dream with infinite optimism and real intention! To kick off 2023, we asked Tongal Creators to share with us tips to help you hit the ground running in the upcoming year. Check out the first installment here.
The nature of creativity is generosity.
Many creators yearn to not only express themselves, but to give their entire beings to others through their creative expression. That is why so many of us can become frustrated with the confines of the “creative jobs” that enable us to pay our bills. They tap into our technical skills, but often only skim the surface of what we seek to express through our creativity.
For me, that is part of what drew me to Tongal in 2014. It provided an opportunity to bring my authentic voice to projects that would never otherwise have crossed my desk.
This same spirit of generosity also compels many of us to donate our time and talent in our community. And yet, rewarding as these experiences are, they can quickly exhaust the very spirit that compelled them: how many photographers have been asked to donate photoshoots to one too many auctions that never generated a paying customer? Or musicians asked to play galas “in return for great exposure” … which was mostly to other unpaid gigs?
Pro bono creative work is often the spiritual equivalent of working for equity in a startup: the return is illusory and often simply leads to more opportunities to work for free. So how can creators give back in a way that is not only sustainable but also mutually rewarding?
Below are five lessons I learned during the Great Recession of 2008, an era that is eerily similar to today. During that time, I was honored to serve as the founding Executive Director of Executives in Action, a nonprofit that matched out-of-work executives with nonprofits that could not have otherwise afforded their talent (and, thanks to the generosity of the Kleinert family, provided a small cash stipend to help our volunteers during their transitions). Through the hundreds of pro bono consulting projects that we delivered to local nonprofits each year, I learned the following lessons.
Define the Scope (in writing!)
This is the most important way to avoid burnout and maximize impact. I recommend treating this business relationship no differently than you would others. Identify and define a specific project that you will support. For example, if you are a graphic designer, commit to helping them with a logo or creating a newsletter template. Ideally, you would define this scope in a contract that defines terms such as potential payment and the timeline of the project.
You might learn that your nonprofit partners may not have had substantial experience collaborating with an independent Creator. In cases where nonprofit partners are slow to review and sign a contract, I would recommend explaining the importance of such formal agreement, as it might relate to other stakeholders. Insurers, for example, are one group of stakeholders for whom a signed contract is significant. I’ve done this more than once to turn an informal agreement into a signed contract.
Hold Pro Bono Clients Accountable
This is hard to do even when clients are paying. One thing I like to do with my nonprofit partners is give them a timeframe for returning edits and feedback before I add a charge for future edits. When written out plainly, it can help signal to partners that by not handing over edits on time, that there is an associated cost. Overall it holds pro bono clients accountable to doing their part of a project on time. Don’t be afraid to maintain the boundaries that you set up to ensure you can fit this project into your schedule and that you can deliver the quality the nonprofit deserves.
Track Your Hours
While you can't claim unpaid labor as a donation for tax purposes, you should track your “billable hours” and report them to the nonprofit so that they are aware of the in-kind value you have donated. Not only will this help you to see the value you provided, but they could possibly use it in their own financial reporting and grant proposals (e.g. reporting that they received $5,000 in pro bono design work for an annual report might convince a donor to pay for printing it). Pro tip: consider limiting your pro bono work to a specific number of hours and then charging for time above that; this will avoid a scenario in which you experience burnout.
Have an Exit Strategy
Beyond limiting your overall hours, define a timeline for the project to end. For example, let the nonprofit know what your schedule looks like. You might have exactly three weeks before your next major gig begins. In that case, let the nonprofit know that you are only able to donate your services during this time. Similarly, be sure your scope has a clear definition of when the project is finished so that it does not grow arms and legs.
Celebrate Together
In my two decades of work as a professional fundraiser, I had corporate donors demand check presentations, photo opps, and press releases for grants as small as a few thousand dollars. There is nothing wrong with asking your pro bono clients to recognize your work publicly once it is complete (which also helps you to honor the aforementioned agreements of when your pro bono work ends). You could share a quote from the nonprofit CEO on social media, as you would for any satisfied client. You could also request that the nonprofit share your information with their board members or specific donors who could possibly hire you.
By doing these things, Executives in Action was able to turn every dollar that we received into about $10 on impact in the nonprofit community. We also created meaningful experiences for our executive-volunteers that helped them during their transition; many were actually able to cite their volunteer work during job interviews to help them land their next role.
You are paid in many ways: money is just one. Appropriately structuring your pro bono projects can help you to integrate volunteerism into the rest of your working days, adding enormous value to your life while also supporting your overall career … and making a measurable difference in your community.
Now get out there and do some good!
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Note From Tongal: This blog is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here!
