Should You Offer Your Face Painting Services for Free?

Have you ever been asked to do a face painting gig for free?

Maybe for a charity event or fundraiser?

If you’re a beginner, you might think it’s a good idea because you want to gain experience and of course gain exposure that will hopefully bring in more face painting jobs right?

But when you’re giving your services away for free, it’s not really free is it? It’s costing you.

You’re using your own paints, brushes, equipment and petrol etc. Surely you should atleast be reimbursed for this?

If a chairity organizer tells you that they can’t pay you, it’s probably not true because most big charity events and fundraisers have a budget set aside for entertainment, so don’t let them fool you otherwise!

I recently read a great article called - “When Is Free Not Free?” By Shannon Fennell as published in Illusion Issue #3. (Shannon Fennell is a professional Make-Up Artist and has won numerous awards and prizes for her character designs, costumes and make-ups over the years.)

Shannon made really great points about offering your services for charity/ non profit events. What she does, and what she recommends you do… is offer a non-profit rate for your services.

So if you’re asked to do a charity gig, offer them your ’non-profit rate’, so that all your costs are covered and you don’t lose out.

Shannon advises that you “Do not advertise this rate. All I say on my website and literature is that a special rate may be available for non-profit and charitable events.

Then there is no commitment or obligation to provide any kind of discount. If I feel generous towards the group, I quote this rate making sure to tell them it is discounted from my regular rate, which I will also make them aware of. My non-profit rate is approx 45% of regular hourly rate.”

She also mentions something very valuable about making people aware of the discount that they’re receiving: “This is a useful marketing technique because by making the client aware of the amount you charge your regular customers, they will usually be more than happy to pay less than half of that.”

You can read the article on Shannon’s Website right here.

And tell us what you thought by leaving a comment, just click here.

Happy Face Painting,

Philadelphia Tivoli

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