How do you decide which charity or volunteer events you are going to do?

[Mermaid Joie]

Hey Mers
I looked around and I didn't see a thread on this yet only on ideas for charity events. Please feel free to share it with me if you know of a thread that already addresses this topic.
Basically I want to know how do you decide which charity or volunteer events you are going to do and which ones you are not?
And has your experience with charity work been largely positive or negative as mermaid?


I am regularly involved in my church, with both volunteer work and donations, and I’ve coordinated several mission’s collections and I'm an advocate for autism awareness and education. I love doing charity work,... on my own terms... But when I've encountered it in my business and had a very different experience and sadly it's usually wasting my time or money or both or there was some aspect of it that was off on the part of the host. Usually I get a nasty gut feeling when I'm talking to someone like “something is just off this could be a disaster ” (said my gut) but I ignore it because “they're working for a charity so it must be okay right? And they really need me!” I tell myself.

In my entertainment business I am usually approached by someone asked to donate my time or reduce my price for charity "because it is a great promotional opportunity and their budget is tight" they’ll say. However, when I get to the event is very clear that their budget allowed for some very expensive other things. Like random inflatables, food trucks, crafts for hundreds of kids, table, chair and tent rentals, etc. etc.

I've encountered a couple of other scenarios involving poor planning on their part leaving me with a huge line of angry people because they did not hire enough face painters to cover their event.
https://mernetwork.com/index/showthr...reat-Rough-gig
***cough cough cough***
Another time
One lady approached me for an event and wanted me to give it to her for a quarter of my normal rate I told her straight her price was way too low and offer some alternatives but she got angry and left me a one star review on thumbtack. Later she said that it was for a charity fundraiser. I found out she was a part of a competing company.

Some charity functions have asked me to work for tickets (usually churches) and my pay is based on how many tickets I get, but small fundraisers that operate like this are usually very poorly promoted. So that doesn’t work….

This seems to happen a lot for face painting but it has been enough of and experience to give me anxiety that makes my vision blurry just thinking about it right now… The rest of my work I love and I say the charity work makes up about 15% of my time spent at events. Sadly I just realized in this post I described every charity event that I have encountered but one.

My current criteria are as follows
If someone approaches me asking me for free or a reduced price, I'm only going do so at a reduced price that covers the cost of travel and materials. But they will be billed the full amount showing the value of my discount that I took off to make it that price. This hopefully helps to communicate the value of my services.
I need to know how many people were at the event last year in order to prepare accordingly and how long the line was for this activity etc.
I will not work for tickets and require payment upfront.
There's a last-minute cancellation fee/deposit for events canceled within one week of the event (although I'm not sure how much. What's an appropriate fee for mermaiding?)
If I am volunteering my time I'm not required to bring extra materials. Tables, chairs, crafts etc.

Perhaps my experience would be different if I sought out organizations to volunteer for instead of taking on these weird jobs from people that approach me.
I'm not very experienced in approaching of other people and really “selling” my services. I have only done it once successfully. So maybe the problem is me?
Let me know how you filter through these types of opportunities. Have you approached people and volunteered your time? I would appreciate any comments or feedback on my past experiences as I'm still trying to figure out how I could handle these situations better. Let me know what you think of my criteria and if they're reasonable or not.
Splish Splash My Mermaid Friends

[AniaR]

You can't do em all! I limit my team to a certain number per year and they have to be in line with our values.

We typically volunteer for Make a Wish, a Wildlife rescue, and World ocean's day. all 3 are massive undertakings, but everyone involved volunteers.

I will donate items for charity auctions occasionally.

I also leave it up to my team it they want to take something on personally as well as a mer