[thelist] Charity and taxes

[the head lemur]

The whole point of Charity is to give it away.

No your time is not deductible, nor should it be. If that is your primary
concern, charity work is not for you.

There is money in charity work.  I'll get to that.

A lot of us recommend doing charity work as a tool to develop skills in web
building.
Because in the beginning none of us are very good.

The reasons range from knowing up front there is no money, we are just
starting, we want to use our skills as our contribution, as we have no money
of our own yet, they can't complain as you are doing it for nothing:).

Charities expand web design skill sets much quicker than brochure sites, by
ramping up to guest books, maillists, bulletin boards, e-commerce in terms
of online donation forms, client side administration, and linking and
promotion tasks.

In the beginning of a career in pixel mechanix, you overwork, underprice,
and suffer all of the trials and tribulations of starting and running a
small business.

Charities also expand business skills by allowing you to develop the
methodologies that you will use for paying clients such as site outlines,
documentation, timelines, project managment, and the myriad details that are
part of web design as a business and are equally important as getting the
pixels on the screen.
Business records, accounting and taxes:)

There is money in charity work.
The money comes from the secondary contacts related to the charity. Most
people that give money to charities, have businesses that are profitable
enough to do so.

Businesses that give to charity do so for a number of reasons.

Taxes, as charitable contributions are deductible here, they have an
understanding they live in a community, they believe in the charity, it's
good public relations, or their significant other said so.

Leveraging this information is one of the most important things you can do.

A lot of my clients give to charities, and I give to them. If they have a
charity  they sponsor, I build a free page for their sites with links to
their charity.

(yes i am a evil person. this provides another link to the charity, makes
the company look good, and gives me an opportunity to expand their site with
paying work)

Some I hornswoggle into it.
Hi, Fred can you write a check to xyz? I will donate a page or a link to the
charity on your site for your contribution.

(this helps to keep their website in front of them, and gives me an
opportunity to expand their site with paying work)

However you commit to charity work, from skill building perspective,  a
genuine desire and belief in the charity involved, through your significant
other saying, "they need a site"....., or one of your current or future
clients mentioning that they contribute to charity X, understand that this
will be some of the hardest and most rewarding work you will do.