Should charities pay creators to fundraise?

Disclosing

Disclose if you are paid, received items to give away, or have been provided anything outside of brand assets. If you’ve been told you do not have disclose, double check that because chances are that is incorrect. Like I said, I’m not a lawyer so you’ll want to dive deeper into this yourself or engage with a lawyer. (Probably best to only action on legal advice from your lawyer; a lawyer that is not your own or is representing another party in the discussion is not representing your best interests)

Why charities pay talent

Firstly let’s go over some reasons that a charity might pay talent (influencer or content creator) to fundraise for them:

• Not all messages resonate with people equally. A charity may be struggling to find talent that connects with their message or mission and paying talent may be their way to break into the space.

• A corporate partner is underwriting the experience and a charity needs talent to do specific things to satisfy the corporate partner from an influencer marketing standpoint.

• They’re asking for more of a commitment than, “will you fundraise for my organization?”

• Social posts, change content type, travel, join a larger event with a bunch of other talent.

• They are doing a marketing campaign themselves and need the talent to be locked into specific terms while also being vetted.

• The charity is struggling to get their leadership or board to okay an influencer fundraising program so a splashy paid activation could help them build a case study. With a successful showcase they can show off ROI for investing in the influencer fundraising space.

Why might talent want to get paid

Each person is different and has unique reasons for why they may be interested in doing paid charity fundraising activations. It’s a personal choice and while I’d love to see everybody do something out of altruism, we do live in a capitalist society that requires charities to help solve society’s problems in the first place — but what can we do?

• The talent may find that when they fundraise they take a substantial hit to their income and they’re unable to reasonably fundraise without the cushion.

• Telling charities they only fundraise when they’re paid to do so could limit the number of asks a talent receives. Influencer fundraising is public and open so if you’ve had a successful fundraiser you may get hit up a lot by charities. However, this does likely mean that if a charity agrees to their rate they will accept and fundraise.

• They plan to utilize the money for their fundraising plans by buying incentives, having custom work built, or something else!

• They simply do not feel as passionate about doing charity fundraising. (Research on altruism is pretty cool, recommend reading up on that)

When should talent get paid

In my opinion, there are some cases when talent should be paid by a charity for their work. The charity industry has huge issues with reasonable and fair pay for work but that’s a topic for another time.

Anyways back to the message – charities should pay talent:

• When talent is traveling to fundraise, host, do a workshop, speak at the charity’s headquarters.

• The talent is asked to create content that is not part of their normal content strategy (e.g. talent streams shooters exclusively and charity asks talent to not stream shooters)

• There is an expectation or requirement of work:

  • Hours streamed or VOD hours produced

  • Social posts

  • Specific game to be played

  • For-profit logos required to be displayed on content

  • Produce a big event like a tournament or other heavy effort show

  • The charity has asked the talent to promote a for-profit brand as part of the fundraising. There is a clear distinction between XYZ brand giving headsets as incentives versus “Fundraising event for LMNPO Charity brought to you by ABC company”.

Every charity has their own strategy to achieve their mission and this includes fundraising strategies. Some charities have a strict policy to never pay talent and they may stick to this policy regardless of their ask. Some charities pay only but only under specific conditions. And some charities pay based on the fundraising they may see. Unfortunately, charities need consistent and generous fundraising to be effective in achieving their mission and what works for one charity does not always work for another.

How can getting paid to fundraise impact your experience:

If you do decide to do paid charity fundraising here are some things to keep in mind that could impact your experience.

• Your fundraising may not be as effective and that could hamper the vibes. Yes, I said vibes but a lot of the fun with charity fundraising is celebrating your impact and if your impact is not as high then it may not be the best experience all the way around. There’s a lot of nuance in effective fundraising and the willingness to give.

• You may be seen as disingenuous by your peers and/or your community/fans

• You may have a hard time communicating the message and revert to comments like “come on guys it’s for charity”

• The stigma around it could negatively impact your brand

• You may get an influx of these activations and your community may start to feel like an ATM if you take them all the time.

How can paying talent impact a charity’s experience:

For most people there is a huge difference in doing something because you’re being paid to versus when you are doing something out of passion or labor of love. Paying talent definitely has an impact and these are just some to consider:

• They may only get the bare minimum — exactly what’s contracted (Yes, there is many people who will go above and beyond but do not expect it)

• You may not see an effective telling of your mission and why it’s important

• You may find talent will only fundraise for your organization if they are paid because there is a huge inequity in who gets paid in the talent industry (well all industries) or it’s just what’s now expected of your organization.

• This could teach newer talent coming up in the industry to only accept paid fundraising.

• Some talent may consider you disingenuous in your desire to work within the industry and it may slow organic growth.

The most effective way to grow fundraising in the influencer fundraising space is through consistent engagement with those who are enthusiastic about your mission. It is definitely a long game but the potential is limitless – seriously, as talent grows so does their efforts for your organization.

Additional things you should know (as talent):

• Getting into Influencer Fundraising is scary for charities. They’re entering a world they have no experience in and they are listening to all types of advice. Some of the people giving this advice profit from charities paying talent. They’re looking to increase their revenue so they tell charities that the most effective and best way to break into the space is a paid activity and others tell charities it’s the only way. It’s all a learning experience for charities.

• Some charities assume that the successful charities working with talent pay them. They believe that if they don’t pay talent they may not be able to convert fundraisers.

• Charities target known charity fundraisers first – this may also contribute to an uptick in paid charity fundraising (my hypothesis).

• Not all charities are going to be able to dedicate resources to a single industry and it may be more cost effective for the charity to pay talent from time to time over hiring and building out a strategy.

• Sometimes paying talent opens the door to a longer conversation and deeper unpaid relationship. Sometimes talent gets in the room and says never mind, I don’t need payment I love your work — remember strategy. The hardest part for a charity is getting somebody to listen.

In Closing

We are going to see an increase in paid charity activations in the influencer fundraising space. Especially as more charities are entering the space – more charities means it’s going to get competitive. But like most things it should be met with a healthy dose of nuance and balanced discussion. There are some ways you can help shape when charities pay and how often.

• Tell a charity you would not like to be paid

• Offer alternative payment solutions (instead of money, you want to come to an event they have)

• Ask charities why they are offering payment – this could be a learning moment

• Point the charity in the direction of people and resources you trust

• Be open and understanding to the different strategies charities are working through.

Charities often have low response rates from influencers. I’ve heard influencers say it’s because they feel bad for saying no or they just did an event. That’s okay, I get it but it’s really helpful for the charity for you to respond with some information. Here are some data points that could help them understand the industry and other talent like you better:

• this organization doesn’t align with my values

• I just did a fundraiser I won’t be looking to do one until X time again (mention if you will reach out or if they should)

• The mission of your organization isn’t something I feel confident in communicating with my community or network

• I only fundraise for X organizations

• I fundraise for organizations X times a year and this year I’ve already made my commitments (mention if you will reach out or if they should)

• I only fundraise for organizations that do X type of work.

As with most topics, it’s important to address the conversation with nuance and empathy for all those involved. Influencer fundraising is the future and we are all learning as we go!