1. Most of the time, the auctions include all kinds of stuff—from trips to heating oil. The art is beautiful and provides a lovely visual backdrop for the event, but the attendees are not primarily art buyers. If they bid on a piece they are hoping to get it for a song...partly because they aren't appreciative of the value.
2. It is expensive to frame a work and often the piece sells for less than the cost of the frame. I feel that I would be better off keeping the work to sell at full price and send a check to the nonprofit for something close to what the piece would bring.
There have been a few events in which the group splits the take with the artist 50/50 or 60/40. That is helpful in a couple ways. It recognizes the value to the artist, and it encourages artists to donate better work. But this seems to be rare.
I am honoring my donation commitments made so far this year, but would like to outline some criteria for future commitments. Maybe it considers the level of marketing exposure offered; maybe it's purely philanthropic, driven by the cause itself; maybe it considers the quality of the event; or maybe I simply limit donations to "all art" auctions, and write a check to the others.
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Hi, Linda. Good topic.
ReplyDeleteI stay with one art donation a year, but I try to make sure it is an all art auction, and I think they get better prices. That's a good idea to watch that, and I think you're right to decide to sell a painting yourself and donate the check if it's better money.
Thanks, Casey, for the feedback. One a year makes good sense. We have a very small community and it's easy to caught up letting personal feelings get in the way of saying no, even when you know it isn't a win-win situation. All art auctions are rare here. Sigh. I assume you support a different charity from year to year?
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