Charity/Non-Profit Contests

Hi all,

Just wondering why the so-called Charity/Non-Profit Contests have to offer prizes? I do some charity work for non-profit orgs, and would like to put in a few jobs but am not being paid for my work and only able to offer the glory of seeing the finished result online for the design winner (with their name on it) - we are trying to hone and refine our portfolios after all.

Obviously the posting of a contest for outsourcing homework etc is not to be tolerated, but surely some non-profit competitions would help in actually having consistent design jobs on the board?

I agree in some ways, but then anybody can say thier a non-profit organization...A Couter-Strike clan could be considered a non-profit organization...I think we should either 1) develope a system for screening for non-profits, 2) make it all for money maybe just for a very small amount 3) create a new forum where anything goes...Where the designers choose whether or not they want to waste their time doing whatever the holder wants them to do....Even if it's homework...On the other hand a forum like that would look very unprofessional and it would probably eat the bandwidth like crazy...

Yes, maybe we could screen them by showing a link to the project or website where the design would be placed. Then admin can decide if it is non-profit or not.

I just feel that by having prizes, we are limiting the amount of contests available for newbies like myself to play with for our portfolios.

Basically, we already are doing with that forum what you're suggesting. If someone is truly a non-profit, there are ways to confirm that - then we certainly would not require for them to offer some sort of prize.

Where we draw the line is when people come in here repeatedly asking for the designers to fork over all of this work without any sort of compensation. When someone comes in and says "my uncle needs a website for his business...." that's a red flag that something fishy is going on. Yeah, his "uncle" may need a site designed - but if you're running a business, you should expect to have to pay for the services found here.

It's a hard forum to try and manage- but we are trying to keep it as fair as possible, without giving everyone the idea that they can just post there - instead of having to host a guaranteed contest.

Suzanne:

Jenn summed it pretty clearly. I am personally going to monitor this forum, as the current contests (Recently the "Homework" contest) are not valid.

We do intend to allow non-profit orgs to host free contests, and have done a couple successful ones in the past.

Feel free to send me a private message if you want to discuss hosting a free contest. I can attempt to arrange it so that it ends up successful, and so that the designer receives something (even if just a link) as a prize

- John