The question that most artists don’t like is this:
Will you donate a piece of artwork to My Good Cause?
And then it is followed by something like “You can write it off on your taxes” or “It will bring great exposure”.
The answers to the follow-ups are “Only the cost of the materials” and “People die of exposure”.
If a good Cause needs items for raffles and auctions, it would behoove both parties (the Cause and the artist) to buy the items.
All those causes are good. One year, I donated more than I sold. It didn’t bring me more business; it brought me more requests for more donations.
A Cause can spend some of its resources on an item and then sell the item for more than it paid. It will make a profit. If it doesn’t make a profit, it can write off its expenses.
An artist who gets asked to donate her individually produced items depletes her inventory, can only write off the cost of the materials but not her time or the value of the item, and gets worn out.
An artist who gets worn out begins donating items of lesser quality, items that haven’t sold, items that aren’t her best work. (Honestly, I had an artist friend say to me one time, “Just give them your junky stuff that hasn’t sold – that’s what I do!”)
In a small community like Three Rivers or even anywhere in Tulare County, word gets out that you can either buy a piece of art for full price or you can just wait for the next fund raiser for The Good Cause. Then, Mr. Good Taste who spent money on art, sees that someone got a similar piece for 1/3 of the price, and the artist’s credibility goes down.
So, I don’t give my art away anymore. If your Good Cause would like to buy a piece, call me or email me. Perhaps we can work out some sort of a discount. When you truly value my art, I may be more likely to value your event.
Hint: if you have never bought any art from an artist, how do you have the chutzpah to ask for a gift??
There are a few Causes I choose to donate to, because they are part of my life. One of them is the mural project in Exeter, which was started by me and an awesome group of volunteers in 1996. Someone called me for a piece for their upcoming Garden Party fund raiser (a very nice event on May 5 this year); I explained my point of view because I’m teachy like that, and then I offered a painting.
Because it hasn’t sold in spite of the fact that I really like it (Obviously, my opinion does not causes pieces to sell), I took a hard look at it.
I paint better now.
Before
After (New and Improved!!)
If you don’t think it is improved, just be polite, ‘k?
I wrote about this a few months ago and called the post “Donations Bloviations”.
