ARTICULATE YOUR NEEDS & LIMITATIONS

Presumption is miscommunication. It is important to get as much relevant information and clarification on the table as possible. This includes what you are hoping for in a finished product, the goals of that finished product, your anticipated time line for execution, as well as a realistic budget (more on this later).

Articulating each of these things will enable the creative to make a more accurate cost and time estimate, and not doing so will undoubtedly cost you down the line. Write down the specifications, date them, give a copy to the creative and once you come to an agreement, keep track of it a dated (preferably signed) version. A heads up: a good creative will hold you accountable to these things as well in order to protect themselves from being used. Working together on clearly articulated goals and dates is an important point from which mutual respect can be established.

TRUST THE CREATIVE

The goal of all of these steps is to move towards a place where you can trust the creative to do what they do best: be creative. If you can clearly articulate your goals and limitations the creative will have a framework in which to work freely. It’s in this kind of environment that excellent work can happen.

While it may feel like a risk, this trust is crucial to accomplishing real, meaningful communication between your organization and the people you are trying to reach. Here are some examples of creative work that came out of the non-profit sector, and is excellent because of early, clear dialogue between the organization and creative.

So you need a video, or a website, or photography, or a brochure. You call up a recommended creative. They ask you a series disjointed questions that have little to nothing to do with your organization, speak in abbreviations that have no meaning, and then send you an e-mail estimating that whatever it was they determined you wanted is going to put you out about $3000 more than you were intending to spend.

What just happened, and what can you do about it?

Hopefully the list here will help you head off these and other potential problems at the pass. Here we go.

LEARN SOME KEY BASICS

What you don’t know can hurt you. As you enter into a creative project, it is in your best interest to learn some key basics.

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BE GENUINELY INTERESTED

This may sound tricky but it’s important. Non-profits are more often than not rooted in passion. If you don’t much care for the cause the non-profit is based on, it might not be the best working situation.

That said, it is not necessary that you be personally passionate about the cause either. Your distance might give some much needed perspective in the creative process (more on this later). Thus I choose the term ‘genuinely interested.’ By and large, the individuals who are passionate will see and resonate with an attitude that recognizes and appreciates their special interest.

One of the best ways to show this is by active listening – asking questions, and saying what you are hearing back to the client. For example, “What I’m hearing you say is that you want people to understand these core values through a visual…”

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

The goal of connecting with and hearing clearly the non-profit client’s vision and ensuring your time is adequately compensated is to allow you to do what you do best: be creative. Having those boundaries gives you a clear structure within which to work freely. Gray areas tend to work as inhibitors in the creative process – known limitations can be seen as obstacles to work around or with.

Here are some examples of limitations-turned-advantage.

You get a call from a non-profit saying they need a video, or a new website, or some photography, or a brochure. They direct you to their current website. Yep – 8 fonts including, but not limited to Papyrus and Comic Sans. They don’t need a web-vid-brochure-agraph, they need a complete media makeover. You explain to them what it will take to make the project work – maybe developing graphic assets, on-location shooting, editing, maybe some SEO research etc. You send them a reasonable, nay even modest proposal and estimate. When they call back (if they call back) you can hear the quiver of shock in their voice.

What just happened, and what can you do about it?

Hopefully the list here will help you head off these and other potential problems at the pass. Here we go.

CONCILIATORY BUT NOT COMPROMISING

Non-profit means just that, and oftentimes organizations feel and/or are more restricted in how they spend their money. Again, awareness is half the battle. Coming into a conversation with the foreknowledge that cost is going to be a primary concern gives you the opportunity to speak directly to it.

That being said, what you say should articulate the value of creative work and set realistic budgetary expectations. Driving down the cost below operational levels hurts everyone – yourself, the project, the client and other creatives. When work is devalued, quality deteriorates and creatives aren’t able to sustain work.

This requires the hard work of knowing your own needs and worth. Learning your value in the market is crucial to surviving long term in creative fields, and essential to do truly good work.

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