The concept of an accountability group was worth the cost of admission all by itself.

For now, if I am personally involved with an organization, (e.g. my sports car club, the local section of my professional engineering society, my high school graduating class), I just do some photographs or videos at events and post the results online. I don’t take requests for doing full jobs to their specification, as that requires a contract and payment.

What if a subsequent event occurs when you’re booked, or what if the org turns out to be horrible to work with? Or what if the place doesn’t want to work with you again, or has no more events coming for several years and demands some kind of refund. In my most recent go-round, the local symphony called about having me make a video series. I developed and submitted a plan and proposal. A few days later their rep responded that they were getting it “pro bono” but they would be “sure to call me when they needed video in the future.”

I think all of these requests have to be evaluated on a case by case basis. If the caller is just going through the phone book, I plan to treat them like any other requestor: first 10 minutes of consultation free, $120 per hour beyond that through my Paypal invoice. You’d be surprise how many have forked over the $$. If the request is for a very prominent event and the requestor is familiar with my work, and HAS BEEN MY CLIENT IN THE PAST, I am more inclined to be generous.