Free kitten with every project?

August 10, 2011 3:27 PM

Free kitten with every project?
The animal non-profits I work with are always short on funds for spay/neuter, transport, boarding, you name it. The gist of the idea we had was for our business to offer special packages for web sites, and a portion of the project fee would be donated to the partner charity. The non-profits love it, my accountant says its legal, but I could use feedback on the idea, the presentation, ways to attract some attention in the surrounding community - anything.

Role: volunteer, designer, business owner

posted by korej (3 comments total)

It's a great idea. Good that your accountant has given you the thumbs-up, but if you haven't already done so, you might want to spend some more time talking to your accountant and/or lawyer about tax-deductible issues, i.e. Are donations to the shelter tax-deductible? Would your group take the deduction? What if the client wanted the deduction for themselves based on how much they're paying you, etc?
posted by FreelanceBureaucrat at 5:17 PM on August 11, 2011

Another idea for you would be to create an ad network. I'd pony up some cash to neuter a kitten if it meant I could have my ad on a website. So you might be able to discount your prices even further if you could get your clients to agree to an ad. Then you get money from someone like me and they get a cheaper site.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:34 PM on August 11, 2011

Both good things to think about, thank you! FreelanceBureaucrat - we'd make sure that our partner charities were US 501c3s. Most shelters, even if they're not one themselves, have a support charity that is. cjorgensen - I'm going to have to ponder on logistics, but I love the idea!
posted by korej at 9:10 PM on August 11, 2011