The decision to donate our artwork is more of a personal choice than a business choice.

The Question

Most artists wrestle with being asked to donate artwork to multiple charity and silent auctions for organizations usually offering in exchange business-related results such as exposure, recognition, and a tax deduction. However the most an artist is likely to receive is a warm feeling for donating to a good cause. Many of us are asked to donate far more often than we make sales.  So, when do art donations make sense for the artist? Below I’ll outline the pros and cons as I see them with regard to offering your art to worthy non-profits.

Tithing Art
Before I share my critique of the trials of donating art I need to own up that I do donate a certain amount of time, money and yes, my art to worthy causes. I annually donate artworks to a certain umber of charity and non-profit auctions.

I offer the use of the images of some of my watercolors of quilts for use in a set of fundraising cards for HospiceCare Inc (available here). HospiceCare was important to my family during my father’s decline and death and its important to me to support their work so they can help others too.

Recently I became very involved with an organization called the Grassroots Leadership College (GLC) The organization shares my belief that Everyone is a Learner, Everyone is a Teacher, Everyone is a Leader.  It offers trainings, forums, and semester long courses in leadership and advocacy strategies for people from all backgrounds who see problems they want to help solve.

A very generous donor has offered a $4000 matching grant to the GLC and I would like to help the meet the challenge.  At this very moment I am offering to donate one of my limited edition giclee prints (donor’s choice) to the person who makes the largest donation through the on-line Crowdrise fundraiser by February 15, 2011.

This challenge is just getting going so a small donation through the Crowdrise site could gain you a limited edition giclee valued at $280. (It looks like there is already considerable action toward the goal but my personal donation and the donations through the GLC site that are listed are not a part of the challenge, so yours could be the first donation that counts toward the print give away.) I’m also giving the GLC 50 % of the sales of all of my giclees prints until February 15, 2011 through my etsy on-line sales site.

Finally, as a special offer open to just readers of this blog I am including my newest limited edition giclee in this offer (See it below.  Its still at the printers and will be available March 1).  Yellow Ladyslipper Field is a 19 x 17 inch print of my watercolor painting.  There will be 100 prints in the edition, and it will sell for $280 like the others.

I recently joined the board of this wonderful organization to try to fill a vacancy left by my late good friend Rae Atira-Soncea. I have a personal investment in helping them keep their work going. Feel free to help me help them.

Each of us has causes and organizations we want to be able to support. Most artists don’t have a lot of money to give so it’s a natural leap to consider figuring out a way to use what we do best to help organizations working on causes we care about. However there are important considerations as to how to proceed without undermining our selves and our art.
The Cons of Donating Your Art:

• There is no tax deduction incentive for artists to donate our own work. Anyone else who owns an artwork can deduct the entire sale price of the piece that they donate to charity, but we artists are only allowed to deduct the value of the materials used to create the piece of art. You, as the artist, may not deduct the fair market value of the work. Knowing that we have given to a worthy cause is the only reward we receive.

• Fundraising organizations often claim that donating a piece of art can be translated into paying money for publicity, but the reality is the publicity gained is rarely worth the amount of the artwork. Fundraisers are typically about the work of the organization not the art they are selling to raise money to support their good work.

• Once we make a donation the only way we actually gain a tangible benefit is if the charity organizes their publicity and displays in a manner that gives us visibility and makes contact information available for admirers. We rarely receive information about the person who purchased our work through the charity auctions, so we can’t even add them to our collectors list.

• Charity auctions and giveaways can lead to misconceptions about the value of our artwork. The artwork is typically purchased for much less than its fair market value. If great art can be purchased at a charity auction for a deeply discounted price, what is there to encourage collectors to buy it at the normal retail price?

Artists are as altruistic or more so than other people. We are usually willing to give to an organization that we want to support. If we are unable to donate substantial amounts of time or money we often are willing to donate a piece of artwork to a favored cause. But we also can experience ‘donation fatigue’ especially when its assumed we will be happy to be asked to give our work away whenever we are asked.

Artists are asked to donate in disproportionate amounts to other professions, professions that often receive higher compensation for their work than we do. Artists are actually among some of the lowest paid in the country compared to other professionals with similar level college degrees, but we are asked with greater frequency to donate our artworks to causes. The reality is that many of us are working hard just to stay in business let alone support all the community’s increasingly under-funded charities. A little creative thinking could go a long way toward making it easier for us to support ourselves AND support the causes we believe in.

We can Do Better By Artists
So how can artists support the work of the organizations we want to help without undermining themselves and undervaluing our own careers? We need to help organizations figure out how work with us in a more productive way. Tell the organizations you support that there are things they can do to help you help them. They should consider the following:

• Encourage their regular donors to purchase art from local artists and galleries to donate back to the organization for their charity auction. This allows the donor to enjoy the process of supporting the arts and the cause at the same time. A person who buys art and donates it to an organization can deduct the full amount of the purchase, regardless of the sale at the auction, while an artist can only deduct the cost of materials.

• Share 50% to 60% of the sale of art at a charity auction with the artist, and expect to set a minimum bid. Setting a minimum bid ensures that both the artist and the organization gets something, and it shows the public that the organization takes the artwork’s value seriously.

• Try a win/win auction. Consider organizing a fundraising auction where donors are encouraged to purchase and donate artworks for auction from artists who have indicated they are willing to donate 50% of their sales price to the organization too. (Artists CAN receive write-offs for donating money just like everyone else).

• Give the artists as much recognition and publicity as possible and the opportunity to connect with patrons. Having our art propped up among a hundred of other items set up for auction is not useful exposure. If it is possible develop pre-auction publicity that features the donor artists’ work. At the event it is important to place the artworks in an area of prominence and set up the display in a way that represents the artist well. Encourage the artist to share business cards or brochures so that interested parties can follow up with them would be useful. Consider giving the artist a free or discounted ticket to the charity event too.

• Offer opportunities for artists to share a portion of their proceeds from ongoing sales, and help them market their work. Etsy and Ebay are just two of many online sales websites for artists that offer percentage of sales to charity programs. When you help artists market their work, it benefits your organization and the artist.

• If it is to be a special topics event give the artists plenty of notice when asking them to create themed pieces. Too often, organizations will ask artists to donate work around a specific theme, but not do give us the time to create a new work.

• Follow up with the artist after the event. Provide artists with contact information regarding the purchasing patron, if possible, and let us know the final bid for the piece. Make us feel like you appreciate our donation.

• Provide the artist with a tax receipt for the donation. Again, please understand, if artists donate the artwork to you outright to sell they are NOT allowed tax deductions for the value of their artworks as donations. Artists are only permitted to deduct the cost of materials.

Donating to non-profits is a wonderful way for artists to support great causes, but like everyone else we must be judicious in picking the right events for ourselves personally. In the end, our donations to an organization should be given because we believe in and support the cause and the mission of the group, not because we will get a tax deduction or great exposure.

It is okay to say ‘no’ to a fundraiser. Artists need to plan out our charitable giving, allowing for a planned level of donation per year, like everyone else does. When that allotment is up just  say ‘no’  and explain that your allotment for the year has already been donated.  You can invite them to contact you earlier next year if you want a future relationship with them.

Advocate for the Arts and Artists
The current law is unfair to artists, hurts museums and libraries and results in fewer donations for worthy organizations. Artists donating their own works should receive a deduction for the full fair market value of the work as demonstrated by previous sales.
The Artist-Museum Partnership Act is a United States bill that was proposed to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow taxpayers who create literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly compositions a fair market value tax deduction for to tax-exempt organizations the works are properly appraised and are donated no sooner than 18 months after their creation. The bill would place limits on the amount of such deduction based upon the donor’s artistic adjusted gross income.

The bill was first introduced to the United States Congress by Democratic Senator of Vermont, Patrick Leahy in 2005. The measure has passed the Senate more than once in the past several years, but it still hasn’t become law.

The organization Americans For the Arts has taken the lead in arts advocacy for us. Their E- Advocacy Center can help you take action on this and other issues.
They also offer updates on legislative actions that effect the Arts (like the fact that the Republican Study Committee recently released a legislative proposal that calls for terminating programs and agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Arts in Education, funds for Community Development Block Grants, and funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting among more than 100 other programs slated for elimination.

At this point, it is unclear how or when cuts to these programs might be proposed throughout the budget process this year. Americans for the Arts will continue monitoring these issues. Help them help us!