What's people's views on charity discos, I had a phone call asking me how much I would charge for a charity disco at a venue with three flights of stairs. We normally have a set price for these kind of places as it's a carrying the gear up the stairs. The person said it was too expensive and after putting the phone down I feel I was bit harsh considering it was for charity.

I do one freebie a year for a Registered Charity, on the proviso that I get an advert in their association literature, and a mention in any press coverage, I find that I get at least 2 or 3 bookings from the advertising that we agree, which more than pays my expenses for attending the free event , so we all benefit.

For other charity events, I tend to offer a small discount for booking me. Those charities who tend to book me for their non fundraising events, staff parties etc, obviously get a bigger discount due to their loyalty. This also ensures that your roadshow doesn't just get taken advantage of, for the cheap events, and then they go off and book another D.J for the full priced ones .

One Charity I worked for, was once good enough to put a scaled down copy of my business card, on the back of their event tickets , in return for offering our services for Free. Since they sold a little over 800 tickets to one Gala, this was very effective advertising and worked well . Don't be afraid to negotiate free advertising in return for your services at the event.

Hi Loz,

I would never give a discount for a charity if asked over the phone by a new caller.

The problem with discounts is that they will continue to expect the same discount, and any non-charity bookings that lead from the event may expect the same discount. Also the chances are that they will go with who ever gives the largest discount, putting you under pressure to give a larger discount.

However I have occasionally done completely free discos for charity’s that I feel passionately about and am either personally involved in or a close friend is involved in. This I consider as more of a donation – a chance to give something back, which I strongly believe in.

I normally only do this once or twice a year, but I haven’t done one for a year and a half now. Your post reminds me that I need to do something about this.

If you ask the Inland Revenue, or an accountant, they would tell you, charge your normal fee, then make a donation back, because that is tax deductable.

I do a youth club which is a registered charity now and again. I get quite a lot of bookings through it as well.

Thanks for your replies, it makes it even less appealing when I think that I get £70 on a Friday night turning up with only my cds and cd players. Even if I offered £10 discount it seems alot of hard work to hump all my gear about for an other £20. Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age, because it's the private bookings which are more likely to reap future clients. As Chris says it's ok if you gonna get some advertising out of the deal, but in this case thats not so. I just feel sometimes maybe I ought to come down a bit with my prices and have the gear being used rather than stuck in the back room at the weekend.

I support one charity. Anyone asking me for a cheap disco gets told that I support one charity, and as I do this for a living I cannot afford to support more than one.
Ticket prices for charity events should take into consideration the cost of hiring professional entertainment. Many registered charities pay very good salaries to their staff also, so if they want a professional service, they should expect to pay a professional fee.
This said, I do give my time free of charge for any dreamflight fundraiser. I like to put something back - and believe me, I get a lot back in return. Its good to adopt one charity and do freebies for that particular one.

Charity work is THE best way to get good publicity. I don't have a problem with charity work, and last year raised about £2000 over 5 weekends, which admitadly could have been better.
It's all for a good cause!

I have done a free gig for a local charity that I also feel pastionate about. I haven't been asked by anyother charity as yet. But I would be willing to do 2 gigs year.

DM

Similar lines to most replies I do one charity gig per year which is 'at cost', or just below to be honest. This is at my residency.....the hotel also supports the same charity so we always host the annual dinner dance.....

I think its an easy trap to fall in to; constantly being expected to work for reduced fees at such events, especially when the attitude occasionally is "we will sort you out with a few drinks!!!"

Steve

I do a few freebies during the year, I do 1 a term for the youth club where I started out doing disco's and 1 for Mencap (first saturday of January) and that's it.. It's worth me doing them cos I get a fair bit of work out of them after (ie I do a fair few disco's at other youth clubs)..

I used to do more for free, but people started taking the pish so now I only do the ones that actually mean anything to me..