Public Relations / Event Management

[MrJamie18]

Hey! One of my mum's friends is organising a charity fundraising night thingy but she works nights so she hasn't really got the time to organise anything. Anyway, she asked my mum if I'd be able to help. But I just wanna know...am I allowed to charge her for my fab PR services or does this have to a goodwill thing coz it's for chairty?

[january_bug]

It's down to your conscience.  Personally I would never charge a charity for my work, unless I was employed by them as my full time job.  To me, volunteer work is volunteer work... you do it for free.  If you don't wanna do it - just don't bother. 

[Lillabet]

Yep, I agree with Anna. If you are being offered employment then she should make this clear and then you can either agree to the terms or not.

Otherwise, and seeing as the approach was through your Mum I'm guessing this isn't a formal offer of work, she is probably asking for you to help out for free.

Having said that I'm guessing you are quite young (the approach via your mum thing) and if so you could find that this type of volunteering will actually do you a lot of good, including financially, in the long run.

Doing charity work, volunteering etc looks fab on a cv and it could give you all sorts of skills such as working in a team, organisational skills and time management, budgeting and so on that will be really useful for job applications.

Maybe try to think of it as her giving you some work experience for which you may receive deferred payment in the future. Of course if you really don't want to do it you could say no.

[MrJamie18]

Hey! Thanks for the replies, I really wanna do it coz I need the experience. I'll do it anyway, but if she happens to offer me any money I'll take it lol!

[january_bug]

Take it, but consider putting it straight in the nearest donation box.  Honestly, in years to come when you're rich (and famous perhaps!) you'll feel so tight for taking �10 from charity!  Just remember to help yourself to the best biscuits and drink lots of free tea! :-)

[joko]

Does your mum charge you when she helps you? For all those years when she did everything for you? For board, food, washing etc etc? If not, I suspect you owe her a fair few years in back pay!  She has only asked you to give her a helping hand - as presumably you're not working - not ordered you to work all hours of the day and night for months. I hope the 18 in your user name is your age otherwise i'd be shocked you have even asked this question.

Seriously though, the others are right, in the long run you will benefit a lot more than few quid now. Perhaps that's why she asked you? You be happy to help your mum as a thank you and do you really want to see your mum run off her feet and stressed out all because she is trying to do a good deed?

Anyway, have a good time and do a good job - people will be watching...it's a good chance to impress them!

[joko]

My apologies, I misread your post - I thought you were wanting to charge your mum not her friend.

It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine (you could probably tell!)as my brother used to charge my mum before he'd do anything, even hand-written invoices out for moving furniture or painting etc when he still lived a home rent free! 

I still wouldn't charge though as it's for charity.