A lot has been going on in my head lately about donating to a good cause. I don't know much about where to start so I figure I'll throw it out there for some suggestions from y'all.

Here is the skinny...

I'm an artist. Outside of my job as a scenic painter for the entertainment industry, I make my my own work. Mostly landscape because it is what I know and love. Not the typical Bob Ross "happy trees" but more a spin off of the Dutch Golden Age landscape painters.

I'm working on a series of pen and ink drawings right now that I'd like to put up for sale. But I'd really like to donate the money to a good cause whether it be foreign or domestic. I like the idea of helping those less fortunate than myself even though, as an artist, admittedly I don't have a lot. Nonetheless, it is still something that I need to do.

My other thought is that it would be neat to get the money matched another person, organization, business, charity, etc. Once again, I don't know where to begin approaching anybody about it.

Any ideas?

donate your time.... it carries more weigh than money.

teach kids at a boys and girls club basic artistic skills, or maybe spend some time in a nursing home helping seniors with painting skills. ( we geezers tell interesting stories to people who help us)

Quote from: bobspapa on July 21, 2014, 06:00:58 PM
donate your time.... it carries more weigh than money.

teach kids at a boys and girls club basic artistic skills, or maybe spend some time in a nursing home helping seniors with painting skills. ( we geezers tell interesting stories to people who help us)

+1
money is what rich people donate to make themselves feel better about their POS attitude towards the 99 % . Time is what is worthwhile

Quote from: stonemaster on July 21, 2014, 08:39:30 PM
+1
money is what rich people donate to make themselves feel better about their POS attitude towards the 99 % . Time is what is worthwhile

Unnecessarily glib value judgement response, if you don't mind me saying so.  Or even if you do mind.

By global standards most of us here are rich.  By the standards of our first world lives, I'm not rich.  But I'll give away some money to a deserving cause where I believe it can help.  Because I believe it can help. 

And when lazylightnin works out what it is that he wants to donate his efforts towards, I'll be happy to donate a few bucks to his cause. 

Because just wanting to help out others is admirable and worthy.

For the record, I am already volunteering at a retirement home where I spend time with the residents keeping them company, taking them for walks and bringing my 3 year old son to visit with them.

I have a desire to give in other ways possible and am employing the run "what you brung" tactic here. I've been given an incredible talent in art and would love to be able to use it in a positive way to influence or help out others.

This isn't about being rich or poor and I resent your view on giving stonemaster. If you've anything positive to add, please do so.

lazylightnin717, good on you for whatever you do

Charities need both volunteers and donations, plus the obvious, most of us cannot travel through the world volunteering time. I remember, several years ago, when volunteering time to God's Love We Deliver come holiday times too many volunteers would show up, creating havoc in the kitchen.  They do need money to buy food and pay people.  One of the reason God's Love We Deliver is a favorite charity of ours is the only people on payroll are the chefs and drivers.  The chefs do probably about 150% of what they are paid to do and the drivers are paid because part of their job is to go into not the best of neighborhoods.

My only advice as to who gets your $ is do some research on how much goes to the cause and how much to administration as well as what they really do.

Good on ya! It's fun and very rewarding to donate art - in addition to raising absolutely necessary funds for the organization, the sale of your individual piece(s) gives them the opportunity to raise their profile in the community - a double win for them! I have a lot of fun donating pieces to a variety of local charities.

What I'd suggest is to pick the charity first, then approach them to find out what would work best for their purposes. A lot of non-profits have periodic fund raising galas, for which donated art is a staple. Or they might want to run a raffle or auction off the piece themselves. Or they might simply prefer you to sell it on your own and donate the proceeds, as it sounds like you're intending.

One practical note - from the perspective of the IRS, the last approach (sell it yourself, donate the money) is the only way you can deduct anything approaching the real value of the art from your taxes as a charitable donation. If you donate the art itself, only the cost of materials (paint, canvas - or in my case, scrounged-up scrap metal) is deductible.

And have fun with it - donating art gets a little bit addictive, so don't have TOO much fun with it. 

First, good on you, lazylightnin! 

Second, any chance you have a link to your work that you'd be willing to share?  I always enjoy looking at the great stuff DMFers create.

Third, it sounds like you want to see what options there are out there for donating art to be auctioned off/sold to raise money for charities.  There are plenty of these events, but for the life of me I can't think of any right now.  I will reach out to old art world contacts (from my previous career) and see if they have any suggestions.

Depending on the type of work and its audience, you might create something like an Etsy page to sell your works with 100% of proceed going to charity.  Put up your work that you want to sell and give all proceeds to the charity(ies) of your choosing, or the buyer could pick from one of a handful of charities you selected.  Just a thought.

Quote from: stonemaster on July 21, 2014, 08:39:30 PM
money is what rich people donate to make themselves feel better about their POS attitude towards the 99 % . Time is what is worthwhile

Maybe one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Seriously. Charities need both time and money. You'll be happier when you get over being jealous of what other people have.

to the OP:

I can think of a couple approaches. First is like BP said...offer to donate your time in teaching kids art. There should be an organization/school/daycare in your area that caters to the less fortunate. The one I'm involved with locally is called Childhaven. Here's a link to get an idea of the type of place I'm talking about: https://childhaven.org/

Another approach is to donate some artwork to a charity fundraiser. Most charities have fundraisers with silent auctions, so you could donate some artwork to the silent auction. They're always looking for donations. I'm partial to children's charities, so have attended events for Childhaven, Kindering (local place that treats children under 3 with special needs...there should be a local equivalent for you), Make-A-Wish, and The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Your local Humane Society also likely has a yearly fundraiser if you're an animal guy.

Anyway, good on ya for wanting to help. There are lots of good charities around, you just have to decide what cause(s) you want to help. After you decide just shoot an email to someone on the board of directors, and they'll get the ball rolling. 

Quote from: Triple J on July 22, 2014, 08:39:01 AM
Maybe one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Seriously. Charities need both time and money. You'll be happier when you get over being jealous of what other people have earned.

+1 and
Fixed it for you.

I have a pretty worthwhile organization I can throw out there for you. It's a summer camp for children with a specific medical condition. This camp helps kids to realize that they can lead a perfectly normal life with proper care and that they aren't alone in dealing with their medical issues, as it can often seem.

Donations can be made specifically for the purpose of "camperships" which allow children to attend which otherwise would not be able to due to family financial circumstances. The total cost to attend for the week of the camp is roughly $1,400 but half of that cost is covered by a sponsoring organization. The remaining 700 and change is either paid by parents or campership donations.  I've been a volunteer at this camp for 15 of the last 18 summers and was a camper there before that and can personally vouch for its value to the children involved. It's also an American Camping Association accredited camp with a sterling reputation.

Also, as far as donation matching goes... there's another volunteer at the camp who works in banking. She has an arrangement for her employer to double any donations made.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in supporting, shoot me a PM and I can get you some more info. If not, no hard feelings. I know there're a lot of worthy causes out there. 

Quote from: bobspapa on July 21, 2014, 06:00:58 PM
donate your time.... it carries more weigh than money.

teach kids at a boys and girls club basic artistic skills, or maybe spend some time in a nursing home helping seniors with painting skills. ( we geezers tell interesting stories to people who help us)

I can't say enough for helping the Boys and Girls Club!  You work directly with the kids and your efforts benefit the kids without a middleman. 

A lot of these kids are in poor situations by not fault of their own. 

if'n it's money you wanna give...... I recomend Honor Flight.

A very deserving group , if ever there was.

Quote from: Rameses on July 22, 2014, 11:11:30 PM
I have a pretty worthwhile organization I can throw out there for you. It's a summer camp for children with a specific medical condition. This camp helps kids to realize that they can lead a perfectly normal life with proper care and that they aren't alone in dealing with their medical issues, as it can often seem.

Sounds like Camp Korey here. Very cool place.