Donating Your Art: the Good, the Bad and the Reality of Giving

Donating your Work
Artists are often asked to donate art work for a good cause. Much of this art work which will be sold for a fund raiser, or will fill the walls of an institution such as a hospice. Sometimes the requester will make an appeal to you by stressing that they love your work, how your name and work will benefit the cause, how your work will brighten the walls and enlighten the viewers, and sometimes they suggest that the exposure will benefit you as an artist. All of these things may be true, but if you are trying to make a living from your work you need to think about the issues before you donate.

There are enough good reasons to donate your work to a good cause, though whether you choose to donate new work or old work, best work, or expensively framed work, is something you need to consider. Balancing your own investment in the work with your commitment to the cause, while also considering what the donation may do for your career, can be challenging.

The GOOD things about Donating your Work

• Donating feels good, shows you as the generous person you are – and it is nice to know that your work is wanted.
• Donating might gain you exposure to an audience that may not normally see your work, such as corporations buying to donate to the charity.
• Donating can lead to future sales. If someone did not win the bid on your work, you may be contacted by the losing bidder to buy work directly from you.
• Donating can be a tax break, though not a big one (materials only, see the BAD things below).
• Donating your work to an institution allows you to add a section called “Collections” or “In the collection of ____” to your resume or CV. The institution does not have to have the work on display all the time to be counted in the collection. If you are thinking of donating to a museum to improve your CV, you might want see ask the museum about their guidelines which may look like these from the San Jose Museum.
• If you are donating to a high profile cause or one with a good promotional catalog, you may want to donate your best work and not worry about your costs. It could pay off with future sales.
• If your work will be auctioned, but first exhibited in a museum or gallery where you may get future sales, you might want to donate your best work.

The BAD things about Donating your Work
I have some gripes about being asked for donations. I’ve never quite understood why it’s common to ask an artist to donate their work, but not common to ask say, a plumber to donate some new plumbing. My best guess: The artist’s materials and framing are imagined to be cheap – we know that is not the case – and the artist’s skill, professional experience, and time is worth… well it’s not considered in the equation.

• If your work is going to be auctioned or otherwise sold to help out the cause, you need to consider your own costs as your donation on top of your hard work. For example: you spend $400 for materials and framing and the donated work sells for $500, then that’s a great donation for the cause, but you are the one who has donated $400 while the person who bought the work gets both your work the recognition for their generosity.

The majority of people buying art work at fundraisers will admit that they have NO idea what the art work they like is worth. This is one reason why some people bid low at art auctions. I suggest that if your are wholly donating work to charity (rather than auctions where you get a percentage of the proceeds) that you consider asking the organizer to have your actual costs, hours, and perhaps even your exhibit and collections history prominently displayed and promoted with your donation.

• If your work goes to auction and sells far below your reserve price – or worse still, doesn’t sell – it could look bad for you, as well as being demoralizing.
• If you thought that your donation of your work is a great tax deduction, you need to know that if you are donating your own work your tax deduction is for materials only, not your time and not the money you raised for the charity.
• George H David Law Corporation gives a good outline on tax laws for artists. Also see what the TaxGirl says about donating art, and what the National Institute of Appraisers say about providing records for buyer’s tax purposes.
• If the cause is the equivalent of a school bake sale, you might want to consider donating unframed work, or, better still, give cash instead. Even at these events there is no point in donating work with broken frames or sub-standard work as it won’t do anything but bring your reputation down.

Raising the most Funds: Blind Auctions versus Live Auctions
Fund raising events often include art auctions. If your work goes to blind auction, particularly where the bids are sealed, the audience is, in my experience, more likely to bid low to get a bargain. I would like to be proven wrong. Live auctions can be better for you and your reputation, and raise more funds. Nothing hikes the bidding like the visibility of generosity of the bidder, good natured competition between bidders, and high bidders getting caught up in the moment. If your work sells high, your name will be noticed and will be remembered.

Some fund raising auctions give a percentage of the proceeds back to the artist. This is my favorite donation. In this case, you stand to benefit from the publicity, the sales, and you get the warm and fuzzy feeling of giving.

Loans are a Temporary Donation
Artists are sometimes asked to loan their work to an institution, often for a long period of time, sometimes phrased as an extended “exhibit” rather than loaned art. Appeals to artists for lending work vary from an emotional appeal to help a deserving group of residents, to a hint of sales possibilities. When exhibits such as this are longer than a month or two, it’s more loan than exhibit. When exhibits are in a place where your work is not open to the public, when your work isn’t promoted for you, when your work is not for sale, then what you have is not so much an exhibition but a loan. If the work is there for a year or more, it’s a donation. If you don’t like the idea of your work being held from sale for a length of time, then you might suggest leasing your work.

If you do loan your work consider this:

• Be sure that your work will be insured against damage while on the property. Picking up damaged work after it has sat somewhere for a year cannot only be demoralizing, but you will wish you had donated the work straight out for the tax deduction.
• Be sure that if you place a work (particularly sculpture) in a public place and the work falls and hurts someone that you will not be held liable.
• Get a written contract which covers all issues of sales, insurance, and length of loan.

The Reality of Giving
Donating your work should put you and your work in the best light no matter what you think about the cause. If you think your work may not be valued, promoted, or handled well, you should consider donating cash instead. Cash donations are tax deductible.