Hi Tom, I’m Andrian from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Thank you for the story! I’m going to open my new design business with a pro bono service on the side.

It’s some catholic church organization that supports young priest to be. I’m always quite active in donationg them money every month but recently the office that I worked for suddenly closed! SO there goes monthly paycheck for me.

So I was thinking since my donation wallet is getting a bit smaller, I’m thinking to donate my expertise to them.

Hope it works!

Cheers,
Andrew

If people only learn one thing from this series — it’s my sincere hope that they make the choice to respect their own strengths! It might not be enough for a whole book, but I could probably publish a mean bumper-sticker and sell it on BoDO!

Thanks for your comment!

I think the solution’s going to lie with the educators, like always. I think professors and design teachers should require a pro bono project or two for their upper level students. How many times have we heard design graduates say that they never learned the business end of their careers until AFTER they left school? Both students and teachers should grasp the rudder and find ways to create design opportunities in the ‘real world’ laboratory - what better way to do that than pro bono work?

I think you make an excellent point! Those who are in charge of educating the next generation of designers should consider getting them involved with pro-bono work. It’s a great way to get a feel for real client work, working with a client, deadlines, etc.

Now…how do we get the powers that be to agree???

And you’re right about the “not wanting to be difficult” part. I think we’re always so hesitant about being regarded as “business creatives” when the first thing you learn about the business world is that hesitation and pussyfooting around will get you eaten alive. This is why pro-bono work is such a great testing ground for those first few contracts and jobs — it’s like being able to test drive your car before jumping into the rat race!

This brings back flashbacks of when I was just starting out…being green, and thinking “I just want to do a good job and not be difficult.”

So I DID do a good job, and I wasn’t difficult. But I sure did get screwed. Numerous times. And, wait, lemme think…I believe I have at least 5 invoices that are 10 years past due…

Back in my infant days, I was handed a pro-bono project by my mentor. After the first few initial meetings, she handed me the reigns, and wished me luck. She’d been working on the project for awhile, and had determined that she just wasn’t meeting the clients’ needs. So I was brought in - fresh, hungry, and oh-so-green.

I jumped at the opportunity to rebrand a non-profit agency that helped children. I mean, c’mon, who wouldn’t?

So I jumped in with both feet…and no life jacket…I mean, contract.

Needless to say, I provided a logo, letterhead, business card and envelope that they loved and I was very proud of. But it took 6+ months of weekly meetings, changes, font changes, tagline changes, color changes, then another tagline change, and then approval by committee, etc., etc., etc., before it was all said and done. And I did this for free!

So yeah. I don’t care if it’s free, pro bono, for your mother/father/sister/brother/boyfriend’s cat’s pet mouse: USE A CONTRACT!!!

Excellent article, by the way…as usual! :-)

So when I started taking on pro bono work, it didn’t dawn on me to insist on contracts because I didn’t use them for clients either.

Then I started going to the about.com gd forum …

Well, by then I’d already made most of my mistakes and found way around them. Except for the contracts.

Bringing in contracts was awful. Some clients were insulted. Some took on contracts with a vengeance (you should see the whopper I had to sign!).

But once it was in place, it was not bother at all. Just a part of the working process.