{"id":208,"date":"2022-09-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freelancingintotheunknown.com\/?p=208"},"modified":"2023-06-11T21:29:47","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T20:29:47","slug":"to-pro-bono-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freelancingintotheunknown.com\/?p=208","title":{"rendered":"To Pro Bono or Not?<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve recently been approached by an old contact congratulating me on the move to freelancing and being my own boss. She also asked about the possibility of doing some pro bono work. And it\u2019s thrown up a few questions. Namely, is it the right thing to do? And is it the right thing to do right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Volunteering Mindset<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The voluntary sector is all about the public good. All charities formally their register their charitable purposes (chosen from the 13 available), and the culture within charities is often reflective of the wider organisation\u2019s purpose. People are very giving, there\u2019s a culture of going above and beyond and often an expectation of supporting the organisation in fundraising, and by volunteering is often part of that culture. And it\u2019s the culture I\u2019ve been part of for 12 years. It\u2019s why I love the sector so much, and it\u2019s why I find it really hard to keep to \u201cset hours\u201d when there\u2019s work to be done, to help an organisation achieve their goals. Like many in the charity sector, if someone one asks for help, my default is often to say yes, even if it doesn\u2019t really work. So, when the ask came in, I can feel the \u201cyes\u201d already brewing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a good thing to do<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In my defence, it would be a good thing to do. There\u2019s a community resource that residents are keen to save, and it could be a wonderful piece of work to do. Something that unites a local community in a common fight, retaining a valuable asset in the community \u2013 what\u2019s not to get behind? To be honest, I\u2019m delighted to be asked. She definitely framed the ask well. They\u2019re looking for someone \u201cexperienced and trustworthy\u201d \u2013 you can\u2019t help but be flattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would also be lovely to do something local (ish). All the work I\u2019ve done so far has either been remote, or for organisations a fair trek away, sometimes both. There\u2019s something really appealing about helping someone local in this new venture of mine. Especially as it\u2019s in the town that I started my first charity role in. Am I in danger of romanticising this?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it work I want to do?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, the work itself is a bit of an unknown. The outline is that a group of residents want to save a community building and are in the very early stages. Presumably it\u2019s about their governance options to start with \u2013 if and how they want to formally establish themselves as a group, and then related to that how they decide on their action plan, which in the first instance is around a business plan for running it and fundraising. It\u2019s certainly work I could do, although I may need to do some refreshing of my governance knowledge since it\u2019s been quite a few years since I did any of that. And double-check where exactly they are at, to make sure I\u2019m not making any fatal assumptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can I afford to?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They were upfront that it\u2019s free advice they need right now, although there is the potential for paid work later on. While I love the idea, the practicality of taking on more work without any income really isn\u2019t ideal while I\u2019m so limited in time. I\u2019ve already got 70% of my available time committed on contracts across the next few months, which is already looking shaky in terms of fitting in all my business admin of IT, finance, marketing, blog-writing, searching for and securing new work, networking and keeping up my CPD. There is a real danger this early on that adding in more work might tip me over the edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s also no clarity on when, or even if, any paid opportunity from it might be available. It might be work that never gets traction and can never offer any paid income. I mean, it might also capture everyone\u2019s hearts, have great clarity of purpose, encourage amazing people to be involved, secure brilliant funds and create some great freelance work. It\u2019s just that a \u201cmight\u201d doesn\u2019t pay the bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro bono or volunteer work, along with a sliding scale of day rates for smaller and larger organisations is definitely something I aspire to, but committing now feels risky. I\u2019m already a volunteer mentor with The Cranfield Trust, and give time every month to phone a charity leader and discuss where they\u2019re at. It\u2019s a wonderful thing to do, and I really enjoy our chats, but even that sometimes feels like it comes round really quickly and has been tough to squeeze in amongst everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s a good friend<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s someone I worked with many years ago, and I loved working with. She bravely set herself up many years ago and now runs a really successful company. It would be fantastic to work together again. I can\u2019t lie, I\u2019m tempted just because it\u2019s her that\u2019s asked. She also recognised in her message that it might be too big an ask, and that she remembered people wanting to pick her brains for free when she started out. Which helps me feel like she understands the dilemma I have and would respect a boundary of not asking too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Networking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The other aspect I can\u2019t help but consider is that – this is what you want from freelancing. A network of people that know and trust you, and approach you for your work, or recommend you to others. A big part of my commitment to regularly posting on LinkedIn is exactly for this purpose. And that\u2019s how she knew I was available. If I was involved, there would be definite benefits in getting my name back into the very local voluntary and community sector community, as it\u2019s a sector that knows me from previous roles, and I feel like there\u2019s more potential then to generate opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Verdict?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m probably my own worst enemy, but I\u2019m thinking of agreeing to attend an initial meeting to scope things out. Key things on my mind are \u2013 who\u2019s involved (personalities as well as passion and experience), clarity of purpose (are they united in what they want to achieve, and does it feel possible), and where they\u2019re at (how far through this process are they and what exactly is it they need right now). From there, hopefully I can work out whether its me, or someone else they need, and take a more final decision on my involvement. I think it\u2019s unlikely I\u2019ll be able to be involved at this point in my freelancing, especially while trying to balance the kids. However much I might want to. What I\u2019ve got to be really careful of is that \u201ccharitable mentality\u201d piping up, before my logical brain has kicked in and warns me off overcommitting myself. Because as someone warned me recently, the focus right now while I\u2019m establishing myself should be on over-delivering, not overcommitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image Credit: Photo by Jason Leung<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve recently been approached by an old contact congratulating me on the move to freelancing and being my own boss. She also asked about the possibility of doing some pro bono work. And it\u2019s thrown up a few questions. Namely, is it the right thing to do? And is it the right thing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[13,11,15,12,30,10],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pricing","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-founder","tag-freelance","tag-pricing","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t