Should Writers Have Special Rates for Non-Profits?

July 7, 2010

heidit Business , , , , 8 Comments

Many freelance writers who do corporate writing find themselves the position of working with non-profit organizations. The question they then face is whether they should charge a special, lower rate for the non-profit than they would for corporate clients.

Arguments Against Special Rates

1) The writer still has the same amount of work to do as when she writes for a corporation.

2) Many non-profits have massive budgets and plan for expenses such as hiring writers.

3) Writers are not non-profits and rely on their pay to make a living.

4) Determining who does and does not get special rates can be a slippery slope. For example, even a small non-profit may have more money in its budget than a start-up corporation.

5) Non-profits that can’t afford regular writers’ rates should take care of communication in-house.

6) If the non-profit does have an increase in its budget, or requires a lot of extra work, it can be difficult to raise your rates after you’ve already agreed to work at a reduced rate.

Arguments for Special Rates

1) Some non-profits have small budgets (or no budget at all) for communications.

2) Since non-profits are often about doing good in the community, offering them a break on rates is the writer’s way of helping society.

3) A job that pays less than usual is still better than no job at all.

4) By offering a reduced rate, the writer helps the organization become more visible, which may lead to a larger budget and more good done in the community.

5) By offering a reduced rate, the writer helps the organization free up funds for other projects that may benefit more people (or animals, or the environment, depending on the organization). Again, the writer helps do good.

My Thoughts

I determine non-profit rates on a case-by-case basis, factoring in the amount of work to be done, the size of the non-profit and any other special circumstances.

For example, I recently worked with a wonderful non-profit called Access Justice (which provides free legal advice to people who cannot afford to pay a lawyer). The work I did was at substantially less than I would normally charge. The reason I did this, however, was because I had already volunteered with Access Justice, writing the newsletter, for a year.

When Access Justice found room in its budget to pay me, I accepted, even though it was less than my usual rate. It was nice to be offered pay when I previously volunteered and the work only took up a few hours every three to four months, so I wasn’t losing higher-paying jobs for the sake of this one.

Factors to Consider

When determining whether to charge a special non-profit rate (and this is only for people who haven’t firmly decided on whether to charge a reduced rate–if you’ve already decided on a policy, then this probably won’t change your mind) I recommend considering a few factors.

First, how large is the non-profit? If it’s a nationally-recognized organization, it probably has room in the budget to pay you your regular rate. If the organization has various departments–including many paid positions–responsible for overseeing operations, it can probably afford to pay you. If the organization is small and run entirely on a volunteer basis, you might consider a special rate.

How much work will you be doing? If writing for this non-profit will take you away from higher-paying work or will take up a massive amount of your time, it’s probably better to charge your regular rate. If you’re looking at a couple of hours a week, or less, it might be okay to charge a reduced rate.

Is it an organization you believe in or one you want to support? If it’s just another job to you, then your regular rate should be fine. But, if it’s a small organization that supports a cause you strongly believe in–and an organization you’d enjoy working with–then a reduced rate could be okay.

Even at a reduced rate, however, I don’t recommend charging less than what you can live on. If your regular rate is $80 an hour (I don’t believe in charging hourly rates, but it’s less complicated for this example), I wouldn’t recommend charging the non-profit $10 an hour.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with charging non-profits your regular rate. I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with giving non-profits a break on your rate. If you’re torn on the topic, these thoughts might help you to make a decision.

There’s more information on my blog about writing for non-profits. One post is about charging for grant writing. The other is about working for free versus volunteering.

For those of you considering working for non-profits or sitting on non-profit boards, Doreen Pendracs has written a book called, “Before You Say Yes…A Guide to the Pleasures and Pitfalls of Volunteer Boards.” Definitely worth a read.

Working With Non-Profits: Grant Writing

April 16, 2010

heidit Business, Writing , , , , 5 Comments

The question of charging non-profits came up yesterday while I was in a course on grant and proposal writing (an excellent course, by the way). You may recall that I posted about working for free or volunteering two weeks ago.

A woman who is new to freelancing asked a fairly common question for freelance writers: should she charge for grant writing based on the amount her client receives as a result of her grant application. For example, should she charge 10 percent of the amount the non-profit receives from her grant application?

Now, I understand that this thinking makes sense. If you write the grant application and the goal of the application is to make money, it makes sense that you don’t get paid unless the application is successful. Similar to lawyers who don’t get paid unless their clients win at trial.

Oskar

Oskar contemplates charging non-profits, while I do the actual work.

Agreeing to not be paid until after the non-profit secures funding might make you appear a better choice than writers who charge up front with no guarantee their application will be successful. If you have no experience in grant writing, this might seem a good way to convince non-profits to take a chance on you.

These are logical thoughts for someone who doesn’t have experience in grant writing or working for non-profits. But they will do you more harm than good in the long run.

First, to use the example of the lawyers: these lawyers pick and choose which clients they work with. If they’re not going to get paid unless their clients win, they’re unlikely to take a client with a case is not guaranteed to win—unless they are likely to get a lot of publicity from that case (you are not likely to get publicity for your grant writing. Think about it: how many famous grant writers can you name off the top of your head?)

If their client does win, the lawyers aren’t just getting 10 percent; they’re getting up to 35 percent of what their client wins, plus expenses. I don’t know of a non-profit that would agree to pay 35 percent of their grant money to a writer. I can’t imagine that a foundation would be okay with the non-profit saying, “We need $10,000, $3,500 of which is to pay our writer.”

Second, although you might have control over the actual grant application, you have no control over the approval process. You can’t guarantee there isn’t a better candidate for the grant or that someone on the foundation’s board doesn’t like the work your client does, or really wants to support a different cause.

Grants are given out by people, and people sometimes make decisions based on emotion or some other reason not rooted in the actual grant application. You can’t control that process and if your grant application isn’t successful, you’ve just done a lot of work for free. Furthermore, some foundations take a long time to make decisions about grants. If you’re not paid until the non-profit is awarded money, you could be waiting a very long time for your cheque.

Third, non-profits want to hire people who have experience and are professional. Offering to work for very low rates—or to not get paid unless their grant application is accepted—can appear unprofessional. You have to treat yourself like a professional to get others to treat you the same way.

Fourth, if you start off this way writing for a non-profit, you’ll have a hard time changing how you charge them later. It can be very difficult to change either your rates or your method of charging clients once they become used to one way of doing things. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it’s difficult to do. This is also why you shouldn’t start your career charging rock-bottom prices.

The instructor at the grant writing course recommended volunteering for an organization and helping with their grant applications to build some experience. This is a good way to start. It’s how I got involved in grant writing. Taking a course on grant writing is another way to build your confidence.

The thing to remember is this: I don’t know any writer who makes a living SOLELY as a grant writer. Usually, grant writing is offered along with other writing services. Taking your time to break into grant writing—by volunteering with an organization and helping with grants—isn’t a bad thing, if you’re making money somewhere else.

Volunteering in this way is not working for free, as long as you’re volunteering with an organization you like, not using your business time to help them and are going to use your grant writing experience at one organization to build the confidence to charge other non-profits for grant writing.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 141 other followers