I’ve picked up some great ideas over the last year while working with a small group of artists in my local area, which is Asheville, NC. We’ve started to work in collaboration with a few local nonprofits, sharing our artwork with their supportive followers, and in doing so have met new patrons and enthusiasts for our art. I’d like to share a few ideas that I hope will inspire you to do the same.
Why nonprofits?
1. They tend to be pursuing great causes that you can contribute to using your creative gifts.
2. They cultivate loyal, supportive and generous followings, people who are willing to spend money to support the good cause.
3. By aligning yourself with them as a supporter of the cause, you can generate great value for your name and artwork within the nonprofit’s following and local community.
So how do you use your creative gifts to contribute to the nonprofit’s cause, while also profiting for your time and effort? There are many possibilities. What you must do is find an active nonprofit with a healthy following, one whose mission excites you and fulfills your values. Then brainstorm a project which relates to their mission and presents a means for you to profit while providing value to their followers.
It could be a dance show, a music performance, a poetry reading, an art exhibit… Nonprofits love to host events such as these.
I am an avid environmentalist, but I’d rather be painting than protesting or cleaning rivers. We have a well-known nonprofit group in our area whose mission is to sustain the large local river that runs through our city, and so they proved an ideal candidate to work with. We assembled a small group of artists and proposed doing a private exhibit of paintings of the local river. The event had a 50-65.00 ticket price, all of the proceeds benefiting the nonprofit, and art sales were encouraged with a 60/40 split, 40% benefiting the nonprofit and 60% going to the artists. We spent spring and summer 2014 making the paintings, and opened the exhibit in October, 2014.
The venue with our artwork before showtime.
The nonprofit was able to obtain donations for food, wine and beer. Music was donated. The venue was also donated for the event! Could the artists have done this for our own group exhibit without the established, well-reputed nonprofit? No way!!
A few times throughout the evening the nonprofit director addressed the people in attendance, thanking them for their generosity toward the cause and encouraging them to offer further support by purchasing a painting.
The result? We grossed over $30,000 in sales. I sold artwork, met potential future patrons, and got a radio interview! A wealthy, anonymous supporter of the organization privately went around and bought one piece from every artist, expressing gratitude for their time and generosity. In addition, plans are in place to repeat the event annually. In addition, the artists received publicity with their names attached to a renowned local organization.
It takes a good amount of planning to pull off a large group exhibit, but the results can be immensely beneficial. It is important to remember that you must pick an organization that has a followers with the means to support the project that you propose. And the desire to do so. The more you frame the event about benefiting the organization, with you assisting in that goal, the more willing the followers will be to aid you in that, and in turn, you will receive a share of the revenue.
On a smaller scale, from what I have observed, many artists frequently receive requests from nonprofits to donate a piece of artwork that their cause can auction off for revenue. As a result, artists either don’t sell for their usual prices, thereby undercutting their own existing pricing, or only the nonprofit makes money and the artist gives their time and effort without compensation.
I have two thoughts about reframing this problem, and welcome your additional questions and ideas.
– Give away a studio event as an auction item, rather than a piece of art. Our studio did this recently with a nonprofit auction, teaming up with a local wine shop. The “item” donated for their auction was a two hour private art talk and wine tasting in the studio for a maximum of four people. We do the wine tasting and then have a discussion of our art-creating process, tell stories about the landscape scenes we paint, show them how we hand-prepare painting surfaces in the studio, talk about the quality, locally ground paints we have on our palette. Anything that can be both educational and entertaining.
There are a ton of benefits to doing this:
– It costs the artists nothing in terms of giving away inventory.
– It brings interested people, potential new clients, into your studio as a captive audience.
– It allows you to give a deeper perspective behind your artwork to those potential clients through storytelling and sharing your enthusiasm for what you do, thus greatly increasing the chances that they’ll want to become more involved and purchase artwork, join your newsletter, follow your blog, etc.
– It gives you a chance to practice and improve at interacting with folks and sharing your story, and seeing what art / story / process people are most responsive to.
How to Hold A Fundraiser:
1. Write “private studio visit with (your name/business)” or something alluring that conveys exclusivity and as the auction item title.
2. Be very clear in the description as to what is being bid on. “A two-hour, private studio visit and wine tasting. The artist will walk you through their creation process from conception to the final painting, sharing stories about creating their favorite paintings.” (You could also offer tea, coffee, juice, beer, whatever, but I like to provide some sort of refreshment.)
3. At the nonprofit’s auction, if it is a silent auction, show up with a laptop/tablet that has a slideshow with images of your artwork, work-in-progress images, your studio, you painting outdoors, anything that can grab interest. In the event I did, I periodically came by the auction table if I saw someone near the display item and gave them a brief summary of the event.
4. Schedule a time to do the event with the winner. It can be soon after the auction or as was in our case, a few months later.
The other idea I have is that in some cases, it is worth donating a piece of art or a print. If the nonprofit is a well-known organization with a strong following that links into the sort of audience you wish to connect with, it can pay future dividends to donate artwork to them. My colleague John Mac Kah donated a painting to such a local nonprofit association of lawyers, and thereafter made several thousands of dollars of sales to clients who saw his painting at the event and wanted to talk about commissions or were interested in other originals / prints.The key is to be visible at such an event and to make it easy for interested people to connect with you.
We are also now talking to that group about doing an exhibit fundraiser with them as I have outlined above, so donating a tangible piece of art can be a good way to establish rapport with a nonprofit that you wish to work more with in the future.
I welcome your feedback about this interesting and complex topic! There are many ways that we can reframe practices that take advantage of artists and their work to those which are beneficial for everyone involved, allowing us all to lead abundant lives!
What are your ideas about collaborating with nonprofits successfully?
Jason Rafferty is a 23-year-old full time fine artist based in Asheville, NC. His singular passion is to lead a life of abundance as an artist, and help others to do so with what they love. For more information, visit Jason Rafferty at www.jasonrafferty.com, or email info@jasonrafferty.com.
This is a great article. I work with a few nonprofits. I only donate paintings to them when I feel strongly about their cause. I prefer that they do a lot of publicity with my donation and name. The other stipulation I look at is that in the past they are able to sell for a good donation. I really hate to see paintings sell in a silent auction for less than the cost of the frame.
I love the idea of the “studio talk”. I’m planning on using that idea! We have a First Friday Art Walk for our community monthly–but this is a great idea for me. It’s a new idea for my area and it also puts your work in front of collectors.
The group exhibit is also a great idea. Panhandle Plains Historical Museum has an invitational each year to help grow their permanent art exhibit. I know they have lots of sales, but I’m not sure about how much everyone profits.
Another thing I often do for donations is a gift certificate for a certain amount off of a commissioned pet portrait–at least $100. This works really well for me–I get to meet the person who bought the certificate so it’s not a dead customer and I still make a good sale and make a little money.
I recently met with my accountant and he told me once again that as an artist, I can only use the amount of my canvas and paints as a deduction on my income tax for IRS. This always blows my mind. He told me a story about Richard Nixon donating his notes–he could not deduct the historical value of his notes–only the value of the paper and ink! Nonprofits really don’t understand this concept. Artists seem to be easy targets for donations. I have learned to say “No.” And artists should learn that. It’s not that I’m not generous, but it is not to my advantage to donate in very many situations. And it is often not advantageous to the organization unless they can get good prices for the art.
I have had some great benefits from donations. One was that I was the featured artist for the musical drama “TEXAS” in Palo Duro Canyon. Fifty of my paintings were printed fairly large throughout the program. I donated the cover painting to the organization. About a thousand people attend that play Tuesday through Saturday for almost 3 months. It was so beneficial that it really changed my life as an artist.
I really appreciate the information you shared here–and I’m going to take advantage of it real soon!
Glad you enjoyed the article, Marsha! Lots of good points you made as well. I work in a more experienced artists’ studio and have seen them have to refuse many donation petitions as well. It is common to take advantage of artists I think, even if organizations aren’t consciously intending it as such. But as you said, a key donation to the right cause can be very, very beneficial for everybody! 🙂
I’m very excited to see this topic written about. For years artists in my community have been giving away or auctioning work at lower than market prices. This has created an environment that has not been favorable to the artists. The old “why buy the cow when the milk is free?” While it’s generous of the artists to support the non-profits it hurts sales in galleries as well as the artist’s bottom line. There are a few of these invitational shows where the art is for sale at normal retail prices and the artist donates a percentage of any sales. The percentages range from 10% to 50%. Often the artist is paid quickly, finds a new patron and everyone has a good time. I believe this is a better way to go than donating to art auctions. Most of the patrons of these events can well afford to buy art at the market rate. This old model gives an elite group of people who can afford to buy tickets to the events, or get invited to the events the chance to buy art for cents on the dollar. Hardly a win win for anyone. As well, if the pieces are for sale, the artists tend to put in a very successful piece instead of some older one they’ve had around the studio for a while.
Thanks for posting this.
Glad you enjoyed the article Leslie! I also agree that if you’re going to get your work out in front of new faces, especially the affluent potential-collector types, it only makes sense for them to see your best stuff, not the old thing in the corner, haha. And as such the artist needs proper reimbursement for their best work, of course!
I usually donate a commission once a year to my village fete…. I stipulate size on the voucher… It goes on the raffle ticket so it’s free publicity and people enjoy the process. I get to meet the people they get to know me. I get the challenge of the commission and they tell their friends so it win win. I agree the situation you cite is not good.
That’s a good idea too Barbara, just donating an open commission. I’ve been taking on more commissions such as creating drawings and paintings for music album covers recently and it’s very liberating if you get to explore new, exciting ideas you wouldn’t otherwise take on.
And yes, anything where you get to meet the patron and develop that relationship is such a plus!
Well thought out article. Sounds like a long to-do list but with real benefits if done correctly.
I recently had a request from a national government agency to donate some of my works in photography to hang in their regional event. While I believe in their agency efforts, I replied with what I think was an appropriate response. And it was the truth. I would not be able to supply framed pieces of photographic art, since I no longer keep prints around, that I could offer them a set of digital image files which they could print.
I find that unless the advice offered above is followed, most of the time, these event only offer back minimal compensation, if any to the artist.
It’s tempting to give work away thinking the long-term benefit will endure, but it seldom does unless the artist is in the circle, so to speak.
Glad you enjoyed reading it Rich, thanks for commenting! The challenge for us is to over time, get into more and more of those ‘circles’, haha!
When I saw the photo, I said to my self, “Hey, that looks like Jason Rafferty!”
Whaddaya know.
Here’s a thought for artists regarding donations: You don’t have to give away the farm.
Recently, I was approached by a local private school that’s having a big auction fundraiser. I asked if I could donate half the price of a painted portrait. They said, “Sorry, we only accept items that are 100% donated.” So, I said, “Can I donate a gift certificate (valued at half the price of my lowest priced portrait)? They agreed. Problem solved.
Hey Brennen,
Whaddaya know! Hahaha. Thanks for the comment. That’s a good idea as well, giving a gift certificate. A lot of these auctions and fundraisers are real ritzy events, gotta get into as many as you can to enjoy the great free food and drink! 🙂
Loved the article. I did an open studio event for a local land trust last summer. Win win, they charged a ticket price for supporters to come to my home, I provided food and beverages. It was a lot of work, but I sold a piece a few days later to a couple who came. My work definitely aligned with the land trust.
I don’t love the donations for auctions for the reasons you site, I love that folks are looking for new ways to gain attention for the artists and the non-profits…
Which leads me to a question, do you know how best to set up a “portion of the proceeds” situation? I would like to designate 10% of my proceeds to go towards a scholarship fund for sending girls to sea, either educational or apprenticeships…this would be ongoing….any thoughts or resources?
Hey Antonia, my apologies for not having seen your comment until just now. That’s a good idea regarding donating proceeds for girls’ studies, have you made progress with it?
I have messaged an artist whom I know of that has quite a bit of experience partnering with various charitable organizations and doing what I think are some ongoing donations like you mentioned. Nancy Hilliard Joyce: http://nancyjoycegallery.com/
In lieu of any tips she has to share, I would do some research to find one or two organizations that are doing just what you have in mind: providing scholarships for girls going abroad to study / apprentice, and pitch your idea to them. Ideally you want to set up a partnership that is mutually beneficial, i.e., they help share your artwork with their audience (ideally donors, the girls’ parents / families, etc.) and you donate a percentage of proceeds of some or all sales ongoing. It’s a great idea to set up a symbiotic relationship with such an organization, especially if they are able to help your business by referring new clients from their followers in exchange for your ongoing support. Hope that helps!
Wonderful article – it was very helpful and provided great ways of collaborating with artists. I work at a non-profit and we had an artist approach us recently to form a partnership. He was tired of giving a gallery 30-40% of his sales and wants to instead donate that much of his sales to our organization. He wants our website (he doesn’t have a website) to house an online gallery that would show his work (sketches of pieces that he hasn’t yet created, but can) and others’ works. Do you have any recommendations for an organization on how to highlight this kind of relationship? Also, do you know of any other non-profit that has done this?
I encourage to artists to participate in fund-raising auctions because they can potential benefit from a potential increase in market value and market awareness and goodwill. However there is no need for any artist to have a loss in this situation. The minimum bid can be set as the list price or current market value of the work. If the piece is sold the artist receives their price for the work. And amounts above that minimum bid goes to the non-profit organization benefiting from the auction. The artist can also choose to donate a percentage of the proceeds from their portion of the sale and request a donation receipt to file with their taxes. Specially made new works or one time limited-edition prints can be sold at fundraising auctions. Artist can also work with corporate sponsors who agree to work with artist by sponsoring their works and reselling them at auction to benefit non-profits charities.
How can I find fundraising auctions in my area that accept artwork for the auctions? I have searched and can’t seem to find any. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I have worked with non for profits quite a few times. If you pick the right event/non profit it can not only be deeply rewarding but also end in sales. Even if what you donated doesn’t sell. As an example. One event, I had my work filmed by the local news, received kind words from a celebrity that attended, my work was viewed by a collector who has so far returned and bought over $10,000 in art off me. So it can definitely be a smart move as well as fulfilling.
Love this article! And love the projects.
As I’m writing a paper on how nonprofit and profit can collaborate (social profit and commercial art), I’m doing some online research on how this is possible, some good practices etc. This article is very interested but I’m looking for more projects like these. So I was wondering if you have or know any other online documents/sites/.. or other information similar to this article? I tried to find some online but didn’t find much.