charity raffle for wedding photography

I know that this sounds weird but has any one ever done a charity raffle for

wedding photography? Here is what I want to do but don?t know how about doing

this. There is a local Veterinary that is the best I have ever been to. She

is a single mother who rents a spot but has been try to open her own animal

hospital for two years. She has the building up but ran out of funds to

finish it. As an animal lover I know how hard it is to find a vet that

lovers your animals as much as you, and doesn?t try to take you to the

cleaners. The thing that is so special about her is that she is in it for the

love of animals, and not the money. In the county that I live in we have no

animal control and if there is a stray in need, she is always willing to help

out. Last night I had to put my 13 year old cat to sleep, and my daughter

LOVED this cat. When I took him there and was crying with my daughter, I

asked how much I owe and she told me not to worry about it. What vet does

that? She?s got a good heart but at that rate she will never get into her

building. What I am trying to say is, I want to give her the kindness and

love she has giving me, and my family. I really what to try and raise money

to help her get into her building. So I thought, I could raffle of a wedding

photography package, and donate the money that I raise to help her. So what I

need is ideas on how to go about dong this. Any ideas you might have will be

greatly appreciated.

It sounds like, despite her love of the critters, she needs to get a little more business-like so that she can bank on being around and having the facilities with which to deliver her thoughtful services. That does take money, but more importantly, it takes a FLOW of money that comes from how the business operates. Maybe you're better off offering some sort of periodic partnership on some discounted pet portraits for her clients (where you both share the revenue). She gets the warm-and-fuzzies with her customers, and you get a chance to see a lot of people (and prospective event photo customers) at her practice once every couple months. Just a random thought. Pay me no mind! I never listen to my own advice well enough anyway!

 

Oh: since she's not ACTUALLY a charity, don't forget that there's no avoiding the taxes on the money you're talking about. If you collect it, it's probably INCOME for you, legally speaking. Whether you give it to her or not. I'm sure a more CPA-ish comment will surface shortly.

Wow, reading the title I thought this was going a different way. Ditto what the previous poster said about business sense. But, I'll give the answer to the question I thought you were going to ask--yes, I've donated my portrait services for charity auctions set up by others. It gets the name out in front of the people who have money to spend, in my opinion. Perhaps she could set up an auction where you and others provide goods and services to be auctioned off.

 

Wouldn't it be simpler to insist that she take payment for her service? I felt similar gratitude when an all-night emergency room vet charged the same rate as a 9to5er.

Matt's idea of pet portraits sounds like a real good idea. You could promote it by saying all proceeds would go to help this vet into her new building, and that would bring all the people that feel the way you do to her aide. You could potentially raise more money and interest that way and benefit more people than selling off a wedding package that would only benefit one couple and the vet.<br><br>You and your daughter have my sympathy for the loss of your cat. I know how hard that is.

You could just donate the proceeds from one wedding to her :) unless you need the publicity.

She sounds like a sweet heart your veterinarian! Not a lick of business sense if she is giving away her services! I agree that maybe you could just do a wedding and donate the proceeds to her..... along with maybe working with her on pet photography to her clients.

 

PS.... send her a check (for whatever amount) for the euthanasia of your dear kitty..... even though she didn't want to charge you for it. I'm sure she'll love you for it.

Jamie - I have done charity contributions before and I enjoy it. it gives me a chance to provide somethign to someone who has an interest in whatever agency I have an interest in, and it spreads a good mojo around town.

 

if you are doing any tax grooviness on the side, remember that the IRS says that your actual, real costs paid in donating your services is deductible, but the retail cost of your services is NOT tax deductible - ie. you cannot deduct the value of your time or services :-)

Thanks everyone for your help. After doing research, I found that there are several people in my town feel the same way about her. I just moved here two years ago, but she grew up in this town, and her family has been here for years. I live in a small town, you know the kind you and blink your eye and you missed it. Well any way people down here don?t care about animals, they dump them off, let them multiply and never get them the shots they need. She does more farm call then any thing and I?m guessing from what I have heard people around here shoot their animals then putting them down. Anyway, what I want to do was raise money to not only help here but the animals as well, because she has helped me with getting strays off the street. So I am going to hold a benefit dinner and ask businesses in the larger town next to us if they would donate things that I can auction off to help raise money for a now animal hospital. Thing are already going great with the dinner. I have the hall donated and a DJ donating his time. I just hope it work out. And thanks again for all your help.

I've been in the rescue/shelter biz for several years (visit my website for info on this), sounds to me that a vet clinic doesn't answer the problem with strays and donating the money to a private individual can create some problems since she in not licensed as a charity 503C organization. Perhaps there is a neighboring Humane Society that you can network with and you might be able to lobby the town/community to make some efforts in that direction.