Question on Pro bono work, when starting new business.

I believe that pro bono work is an important part of building any new business. I have been providing some of this work recently and, as a new business, it has helped me to hone my skills and get some great feedback about my work.

Also, by starting out with pro bono stuff, you establish a relationship with someone who can 1) work with you again later as a paid service and 2) refer you to others based on your results.

I am a big fan of pro bono work and the only thing I might advise is to establish specific expectations and timeframes. Make sure you are both aware of what the goal is and when it will be achieved. Otherwise, you could be doing this work forever.

Best of luck.

Sure, pro bono work can be a great way to build networks. One of my mentors advises posting on your site, "I do a limited number of pro bono talks and trainings each year. To apply, click here..."

If going pro bono, I would recommend (a) submitting an agreement, as you normally would; (b) sending an invoice with a dollar amount, then saying "waived;" (c) asking for a testimonial as payment; and (d) making sure they really need your services. Once I donated some services to an arts group...then I discovered they had funds to bring in a high-powered strategy consultant from out of town.

having moved my studio around the country, and virtually restarting, i found pro bono work got me out into the community, gave a great deal of freedom in the work and the results produced new clients. I also find it's better to work, than not, even if it's not for dollars. it's an opportunity to do great work and serve a greater community. I still take on a fair bit pro bono work. It feels good. There were some good suggestions about administering these types of projects earlier in this thread. Whatever gets you out there.

I've been told by two different accounts we've worked with that services are not tax deductible, so this does somewhat limit that aspect of pro bono work.

i think work should be paid. especially in the design and advertising business. in my work i am detail driven and full of passion. and this should not be for free, except for friends. sorry, but i don´t share most of the opinions. pro bono equals to me to exploitation and reduces the honesty and the value of the efforts. e.g. i am annoyed about businesses, telling me they payed "only" 300$ or less for their logo. a logo, to me - is one the most valuable parts of a business. it separates them visually from the competitors giving a company a soul, visions and strength.

to make it short: pro bono kills economy.

Wow, Marco- pretty strong opinion there. And, it seems like you're feeling pretty upset at what you imagine is people not appreciating yours or similar services.

I can understand that feeling of upset if you aren't getting the appreciation you need, or feel that it's at risk.

And yet, the conclusions you draw from it seem pretty strong and over the top. For instance:

I completely and totally disagree with your assertion that pro bono kills the economy, since I've seen myself and many, many clients and friends use pro bono as an excellent means of getting their business started- their pro bono work actually expanded the business.

I'll make my own strong assertion: that pro bono expands the economy, and that many small businesses thriving today wouldn't be here without having provided pro bono work.

hey mark :-) maby my opinion sounds a bit stong. but i got the feeling that a lot of pepole abuse pro bono for saving money for the wrong reasons. what about the value of quality? a owner of a porsche, does not care about the price of his car. normally he first gets one, when he can afford it.

does not the economy grow, when people spend more money?

i would never ever let somebody do professional work for me for free. at least i pay a price, that makes me feel good for the wright reasons and the person i paid, at least can afford to fill the fridge with food and beer, go out on a weekend and can make one payment for his car.

i know, that reality is different.

i would love to change it.

:) Harshness can be good- I like the honesty.

Question: How do you feel about charity, or tithing, or donations?

honesty is a good thing.
i take the truth, even when it hurts, as a benefit :-). i like charity and donations, because they do help solving problems. doing business for them is a good private job, otherwise i would have the feeling i am stealing some ones piece of bread from the plate. why are you asking?

Well, I'm asking because 'pro bono' work often falls into the category of charity and donations.

For instance, I've sometimes done pro bono work as a 'strategy'- but mostly I've done it as a charity or donation. I could've written a check (actually, there were times when I couldn't have written a check, at least not for an amount that would've made a difference in that situation) but I saw a need that I could help with.

I've volunteered for lots of organizations, I've served on non-profit boards, and for me, pro bono work sometimes falls into 'charitable giving'- it's not a check, and it's not hours spent envelope stuffing- it's me donating my expertise to a worthy organization or cause.

From your perspective, are you suggesting that when I do that, I'm killing the economy?

no, if it is private

and yes if it is business.

Let me just state that I don't want to be the "negative" post or the one that has a slightly negative tone about pro-bono work, but I do want to offer some real world observations about pro-bono work that we have experienced.

First, we believe very much in giving back to the community and over the years, we have offered both "reduced-rates" & "pro-bono" to some charities & non-profits, but we have also been used and abused by some groups in doing this. This has led us to be more particular about who we actually offer "pro-bono" to and to state EXACTLY what services are being offered.

Very rarely do we offer the pro-bono service now because as it's been stated above, "Free has no value." but instead we offer "reduced-rates." Where it is true that SOME non-profits are limited in budget, it doesn't mean they all are. As we have learned from some of our accounting clients, "non-profit" is a tax term mainly used for IRS purposes. Just because the organization is using it, doesn't mean that they don't have the resources to pay you for your work.

It has been our experience that if the organization is well established in number of years in existence, there is usually a budget in place that has allowed them to stay as such, a budget that can pay for your services.

Don't be afraid of being honest that your services do have value and that you would like to be paid for them. Some organizations will use the non-profit banner knowing that they have the resources to pay you, but will still expect you to give them a break. A sign of being a true business person is to do what you did and walk away from a deal that is not going to benefit you.

Pro-bono doesn't mean that you can't receive benefits from your contributions, so you should make sure that the benefits you want to receive are well stated.

Heck, even our lovely government gives you a deduction on your taxes for being generous with a donation and they're the biggest NON-PROFIT there is!!!

I think what we're seeing here in this thread are two different things: the question of pro bono work period, and then the second question of, if you do pro bono work, how do it 'smart' so that you don't feel like you're getting used.

For me, it comes down to my heart. If I'm doing pro bono as a marketing strategy, then it's more like a barter than truly pro bono- I may not be asking for money, or for my full financial compensation, but I will be asking for certain commitments that make us equal partners in the arrangement and keep things balanced.

For true pro bono, where it's a donation to a cause, that's just me giving from my heart, without expectation of receiving anything back other than the satisfaction of helping some organization, cause, or issue that I want to help.

I think both can be done in healthy, or unhealthy ways.

We've established a formal pro bono program called localworks where we select one non-profit per year that is engaged in one of two areas of importance to us: sustainable food systems or technology for kids. As Jeff and others indicate, we treat our relationship with the recipient organization as if they were a paying client. For the last two years, we have selected the Poulsbo Farmers Market. It has been very rewarding helping this early stage market grow, and it has helped get the word out about our business in the community.