A potential client asked if I'd be willing to provide sound for a small scale all day festival. This would include musical performances and presentation from speakers. It's an event where all proceeds will be going to a charity, hence the reason he's asking if I'd do it for free. The event is located in my community so I'm thinking it would be a good opportunity to get my studios name out there, hand out cards and post a banner with the studio name & logo. I would be responsible for providing and operating the equipment throughout the day. Your thoughts....

if you would be willing to make a cash contribution to the cause then an in-kind donation is not out of the question.

However, I tend to shy away from free gigs for two reasons:
1) people tend to value things at least partially on what they pay for them
2) the gig will have real costs associated with it - and I'm seldom in a position where I can - or want to - cover them

On the plus side, you will get some marketing value, and only you can determine if the marketing value is sufficient to work for free, in other words, will at least offset your real costs?

The only other potential downside is that folks will expect you to do stuff for free. That's really more an annoyance than anything else...

There are two local community theatre companies where I do work for free. I do so because:
1) everyone there works for free, both are 100% volunteer organizations
2) the people are cool, and I'd enjoy hanging with them anyway
3) sometimes I get to stretch artistically, in ways and directions that I could not otherwise do
4) it has been great for word-of-mouth advertising

Other than these two, I do not work for nothing.

If you don't have to buy new gear to provide the service then it is at least worth considering, just beware!

Most charities Ive seen will just pay a reduced fee for services (sound management, bands, ...) do to the amount of work involved and equipment usage. 

Size of the venue and amount of equipment needed would be another factor.  The larger the event, the more it will take.

Another thing is for the ones Ive seen or worked, they account for costs and should expect a smaller charge for services such as this.

One way to explain it would be that you can donate your time and expertise for the event.  The fee will cover costs in equipment usage, transportation, insurance to cover the equipment for the event, etc...

If the charity is legit and you would like to support it, then donate your services. i wouldn't worry too much about what comes back your way afterwards.

thanks for the input, I will take all of it into consideration

If your are a legitimate business you can ask for a receipt in kind of equal value to the services provided. This can be used as an write off at the end of the year or Quarterly if that's your reporting schedule.

your going to incur expenses to haul the gear, setup and wear and tear and of course your wages, add it up take off a percentage as a donation and present that invoice to the charity.

most legitimate charities will provide receipts for services rendered.

If you can handle it by yourself, where you are not having to pay someone out of your pocket to help you.... and it's local so not much gas or travel expense involved, and you have the time to contribute.... 

Perhaps. 

Is the work directly for the charity? Is the charity a registered non-profit with the IRS? If both those can be answered yes, as well as the first 3 also being yes....

You can do the gig BUT.... ask for a tax receipt for the amount of money you would charge a full price paying customer. It will be handy and valuable if you itemize your taxes and claim income from music. 

I did a like kind deal with a local pregnancy center for them to license a song I wrote for their usage for 1 year. 

While you are there, be sure to have plenty of business cards and a nice banner on the speakers and the FOH would be a worthwhile investment. Use it for marketing and get the tax write off.

I have mixed feelings on things like this. The "nice guy" in me wants to jump and say yes. The business/reality guy kicks in and I say "sorry, but I just can't."

It depends where you are in your career as well as what this "potential" is with the client. I had a show one time where I was looking for people to help out for a MS benefit. The sound compnay I used....the owner owned a music store. I told him if he bailed me out that I'd give him all my business as well as send all my friends to him. He didn't truly believe me, but he took me at my word and sure enough, I spent insane amounts of money for the next 15 years and used his store exclusively until a new owner took over.

As far as the "where you are in your career" part, what I mean by that is, I've done free gigs from the time I got involved in music for the first 15-20 years. At this stage of the game, I sincerely feel my services are worth something as well as my time. Every 5-6 hours I give up for something free, it takes food off of my table. I could master an entire album in that time or mix a project for a client. I often feel people take advantage of our good nature. In an economy like this, there has to be a really good reason for me to do something for free when I have work piled up over here that can get me real money.

The other side of the coin is, it's always best to do what you feel is right if you feel good about it in your heart. I walk away from "potential clients" every day man. I get guys asking me to master 30 seconds of a project to see if they want to use my services. They just do not understand that it takes me the same amount of time to master a 30 second clip as it does a full song. In that amount of time while I'm hoping this "potential customer" becomes a REAL one, I have jobs waiting around where people have either paid in full before I even started or they have given me half down to start.

You just have to look at things realistically. What if you bring your gear out for this thing and something happens to it? Granted, we are in a situation like this even if someone pays you...but at least you have money to pay for repairs that don't totally come out of your pocket. Now if it were a real customer already, I would try my best to do something for them. But for potentials....people are evil today brother. They will take whatever they can from you while they promise you things and just disappear.

I've actually done loads of things for free for people my entire life. Some I still do today when I feel it's the right thing to do. However, none of the things I ever did really got me business. It got me labeled as "a great guy" but that's about it. Being a great guy doesn't give me the coin to pay the bills per month I need to survive owning a home, two studios, and all that goes with running them. But....sometimes if you feel good about it, you take the shot depending on your situation.

If you're financially secure and want to do it just because, go for it. I've been there too. Sometimes it's nice just to be kind and say "yes". Other times, if you have paying clients waiting for you where you could make money, well, it may not be a good move not to mention, "current clients" will always hold precidence over "potentials" to me. There are just too many people with larceny in their hearts in today's world. Times are totally different unfortunately.

-Danny

Wise words from Danny.
I'd add, go with your gut feeling.
Local community thing, musicians will gravitate to the board and check out whatcha got - if the sound is decent, you may get some prospective clients out of it.

Maybe the charity thing might be worth it overall.

The event organizers may consider you for additional (paid) events since the are aware of you and you services.

...and that potential client may end up being a client afterall.

As far as the charity is concern I'll need to get more details on that. The organization is a Spiritual Center located about 10 miles from my studio. They rent out spaces for all types of denominational groups (Coexist movement stuff). Looking at the centers calendar they have a consistent amount of weekly musical performances there. The couple that I may potentially work with our Yoga instructors that also perform their own music. Turns out that one of my more consistent clients that I work with also attends this spiritual center and performs there monthly. He was telling me that a lot of local musicians perform there and that it could potentially be a good networking place. I do have a studio assistant that would be helping me. My PA equipment isn't the best but would do for small event like this. My thought is if I get my foot in the door I could potentially get paid live sound gigs which would then require me to get new equipment. And we all know how much fun it is to get new gear!?!?!?