Comments on: Educate Those Who Ask for Donations of Your Art https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/ Trusted Art Business Coaching and Consulting Thu, 29 Jun 2023 17:57:11 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 By: Alyson Stanfield https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-83614 Tue, 02 Feb 2021 17:40:10 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-83614 Carrie Singer. Looking into this and will make noted corrections to Fiona's message as needed. Thank you, Carrie.]]> In reply to Carrie Singer.

Looking into this and will make noted corrections to Fiona’s message as needed. Thank you, Carrie.

]]> By: Carrie Singer https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-83590 Mon, 01 Feb 2021 20:16:59 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-83590 You are actually one perfect incorrect and quite honestly should be careful when making statements about tax deductions. A patron in no way can deduct 100% of the purchased item. They can only donate what was paid above the value. Education probably needs to go both ways it would seem.

]]> By: matt suess https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16324 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:20:22 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16324 Glad to have been of some help Angeline-Marie 🙂

]]> By: Fiona Purdy https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16323 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 02:26:49 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16323 You’re so welcome Angeline-Marie, I’m glad that you’ve found it helpful!

]]> By: Angeline-Marie https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16322 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:04:35 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16322 Once again, Alyson, I find great gems in your blog and website. THANK YOU for helping us artists.
Special thanks to the last two commentators here in this thread: Matt and Fiona (who authored of two of the original letters).
I will be using judiciously!

]]> By: Fiona Purdy https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16321 Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:26:58 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16321 Hi Matt, I’m so glad that my post helped you.
Thanks for posting your letter, it’s wonderful. I’m going to take parts of yours and add it to mine! I think it’s really great. How cool that the charity is considering purchasing one of your fabulous fine art photographs. This just shows that educating charities is a good thing!
The Celebration show has been great – hope Expo has been good for you.

]]> By: Matt Suess https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16320 Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:01:45 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16320 Hi Fiona – Matt Suess here from the AZ Expo – how has Celebration been?
Thank you for your letter and for all of the great comments from everyone. I had just received yet another charity request and found this page via a google search looking for just how to respond.
I ended up making my own version of your letter. I took my favorite parts of yours, combined it with some info from the comments here, and added in some of my own text and thoughts.
I emailed my letter to the charity, and wouldn’t you know a few hours later they were emailing me back and are considering purchasing a piece from the lower end of my price scale.
Thanks so much for writing and sharing your letter Fiona!!
Here is a copy of the letter I am now using – feel free everyone to use and/or modify as needed. If we all help each other out, perhaps we can start changing the way charities view us artists and possibly create sales for us as well (in addition to helping out the charity).
Here is my letter:
Thank you for the opportunity to donate my artwork to your event and charity ______(fill in charity name here).
As you might imagine I get a number of such donation requests each year. Each with their own unique, important, and worthy causes.
Unfortunately I have had to stop donating my artwork to charities. Please let me explain why I am unable to donate a piece, but also please allow me to follow it up with a possible solution to help raise money with my artwork at your event nonetheless.
It has been my experience that when donating a piece of artwork, the selling price of the piece more often than not ends up being far less than the normal selling price.
I’ve come to realize that many of those who attend these events expect to get a “deal,” and to be able to purchase artwork at less than market value. This unfortunately devalues my artwork and is extremely unfair to my collectors who have paid the full price for my work.
I would never do this to my collectors. It is unacceptable to me.
Donating a piece also presents a couple other issues – first for the patron.
From what I understand (and I am certainly not a tax professional) in order for a patron to claim it as a charitable contribution and receive a tax deduction, they must purchase the piece for more than the fair market value – or normal selling price – of the piece. They can then deduct the amount extra they paid. If they pay less than or the equivalent of the fair market value, there is no charitable contribution, and therefore no deduction.
The other issue is for the artist.
When an artist donates a piece of artwork, they cannot claim the full retail price of it as a charitable contribution. An artist can only claim the cost of the materials, which is not only normally a fraction of the price of the finished artwork, but the cost of materials are deducted anyways in the normal course of business.
Further, a piece of art is different than say a vacation, or a spa visit, or other donation of that kind. Artwork has an intrinsic value – much deeper than a golf package.
Here is my solution.
I would like to help you and others in fundraising efforts so I have developed these guidelines for donation requests:
1) Your organization can purchase one of my pieces at my gallery price, which is 40% off regular prices, and agree to start the bidding within 20% of the regular selling price. This helps guarantee a profit for your organization with the first bid and also helps retain the value of my artwork for my collectors as well as for your winning bidder.
2) The organization also agrees to send me full contact information of the winning bidder and the winning price to allow me to properly record the photo and edition # for my records as well as the purchaser.
Bidders can be encouraged to bid more than retail for the tax benefits (consult your own tax professionals first). You could also get the attendees to understand that the event is a fund raising venture and they should get behind your organization by bidding big to raise as much money as possible for this worthwhile cause.
I have pieces available in price for any budget – from $50 to tens of thousands – and can help you select the perfect photo and framing for your particular event.
Please let me know if you would like to discuss this further, and best wishes for you and your organization.
Regards,

]]> By: Fiona Purdy https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16319 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:50:11 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16319 Glad it helped you Elaine!

]]> By: Elaine Callahan https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16318 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:11:44 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16318 Thank you, thank you, thank you for this wonderful blog post. It was the perfect answer to another request to donate art.

]]> By: The Artist's Dirty Little Secret | Janice Tanton :: Full Time Human Being https://dy-online.com/fiona-purdy/#comment-16317 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:15:03 +0000 http://artbizsuccess.com/?p=11208#comment-16317 […] Edu­cate Those Who Ask for Dona­tions of Your Art – Fiona Purdy on ArtBizBlog.com […]

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