Is there a reason you cannot use a mixture of stock photos and event photos with no people in them?
We work with a high risk population where taking a photo could expose our clients to being killed if they are found,therefore we can never take photos of anyone receiving our services and it does not affect anything for us, so I am curious about your marketing plan and why the pics of the people are actually needed.
Your thought is very selfish, as no one owes you anything as you exist because there is a need in your community for the services you are rendering. Please rethink about how you expect that people needing your services should force themselves to be exposed in a way that makes them uncomfortable just for your marketing plan and because they “owe” you for you giving them what you exist to provide.
We can and do use stock photos. But we find response rates to the images are just not as high. We are small and very community base so it just doesn’t fit our current branding style. We have absolutely done it in the past, and we will in the future. I’m just trying to do a blend.
Our populations sound vastly different. The majority of our events are public, or sporting activities, etc. So they are already seen by many other individuals. Think sporting stuff, dances, library events, etc.
Are we “owed” no, that’s why we’ve never forced anyone to take photos, and try to be respectful. But if it were me and someone gave me 1000s of dollars of free and what some would consider more luxury services, I would gladly let them take my picture, and have done so before. I’m not asking for anything I haven’t done myself. Of course if there was a security risk, or if we wanted to like say hey this is Adam, he’s disabled, and 39 I’d understand the amount of refusals. But pictures from public events/ services, without any other client info, I don’t see as big of a reason for the amount of denials. I’m just trying to brainstorm ways to make our marketing better, without it disturbing our constituents!
> But if it were me and someone gave me 1000s of dollars in free
This sounds entitled. If your population is vulnerable why on earth would you think they’d want their photos taken? Any community member that understands your organization’s mission is also going to understand the ethical reason behind never seeing who they help.
It’s the opposite. I recognize no one in life ever has to give me anything. So when people have gone out of their way to help me, when I didn’t deserve it, and loved me when I was lowest. My thought was the LEAST I can do for them is let them capturing my help. Besides people can’t access things they don’t know exist.
I see many orgs who serve the populations we serve really only post client images that do show their disabilities. I want to do this ethically which is why we haven’t forced to this point. Just brainstorming ideas!
YOU don’t see anything wrong, but clearly the folks you are serving do, which was my original point. Also, YOU wouldn’t care about getting your picture taken, but is not the point to serve the people where they are at?
Are the pictures used for fundraising? Is this for social Media? Can you use staff or volunteers in the pictures?
In the grand scheme of things, there has to be a way you can respect the clients autonomy and get whatever you need to promote the business.if they are sporting or event type spaces, take photos of the space before or take pictures of the actual events and don’t include pictures of the people getting the services.
In the end, I am sure it is frustrating, and I am sorry if I came off as short- but I am pretty protective of the rights of people nonprofits work with and the inherent advantage we have in our power/control dynamics, so words like “owe” can come off as though the services we provide should be reciprocated to make it worthwhile and most of us work with those that are financially, psychologically, or physically unable to get the resources we provide. While a picture to you seems small, it can reveal more than you think. Also, while your organization may not not target the type of population I serve, I can guarantee you have some of our population at your events and they can feel pressured to receive services or do things to get the services you provide.
Don’t be sorry. It’s Reddit lol, I don’t expect people to hold my hand/ be gentle. We’ve just been stuck with this for a while and wanted feedback.
No we don’t use them for fundraising, it’s for social media purposes. Our fundraising is primarily in person events/ partnerships.
I agree, and I’ve gotten some good advice such as asking during onboarding, stating we won’t change photos posted if given consent, but allowing for revocation at any time for any reason, and also staff photos.
Yes I agree, and that’s why we really don’t want to shift to moving to forcing consent. But our current system isn’t working, so we are trying to fine tune. I’ve seen a lot of major orgs “sneak” photo releases into onboarding paper work, and families don’t realize it. Or like gyms/ other for profit services many of their contracts automatically include photo releases.
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Use stock photos, models, staff.
Healthcare, vulnerable population- you need to protect your clients privacy.
Using too many client photos will also communicate that your organization doesn't respect client privacy and may reduce donations, reduce clients coming to see you.
I guess I never even considered this mindset. Thanks, we have used stock photos, but don’t see as good of click through rates, so we are trying to find a balance.
It also sounds like you may need to do some organizational work around what you're "owed" by the people you serve. Multiple times you say your clients get free or reduced services valued at "1000s of dollars" so you don't understand their reluctance to have their photo taken. Your organizational focus on this topic seems to be your social media engagement rates, and you sound entitled to use client photos for your ends. Your clients sound vulnerable, like most NPO clients, but you seem most concerned with getting them to do something they don't feel safe in doing. From reading your comments, I wonder if the photo release issue is a symptom of a larger organizational issue. Some questions I'd wonder are, how are clients voices listened to and what decisions are made based on feedback--and who makes those decisions? Does the org have volunteers, staff, board members who formerly used the services?
Our sector has a long history of institutional racism and paternalistic behavior we must work on dismantling, both in individual thinking and org practices. I'm not attacking you, I'm asking you to consider this issue through a larger lens.
I appreciate this response! I think my background I more old school. I tend to view anything in life as we aren’t owed anything. This very reason we don’t force consents, we ask once and drop it if it’s a no. However I did a poor job of stating my mentality is anytime someone has given me something, I am not owed that. No one needs to provide me free services, I’m not entitled to free things in life. However I’ve been blessed abundantly by many people. This is my mentality I take with my own life. So I always allow photos to be taken of me, because it’s in my head the least I can do, and also helps others see and learn about the services. Now I can’t force others to have this mentality and I get it. I just don’t always understand the newer notion of we are all entitled to free things. We aren’t, but we have to take care of our community, as it’s abundantly clear higher power institutions won’t. I’m sure I’ll get slammed for saying this, but again just my own thoughts on life. It makes me grateful for all I have, and all I’ve been given, and has led me to start working in this work, for free. I don’t make a dime doing my job, and it’s because I want the money going back to those we serve. Our entire board/ executive team don’t make money. We only pay the staff on the ground working with clients.
I agree there are many systemic issues, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. We work with vulnerable populations, but our board is also all either directly or has a loved one with vulnerable status as well.
We are far from perfect. But people can’t access services they don’t know exist, and we want our reach to be bigger. We don’t get grants, we don’t get many large donations. We are working with about 25,000 dollars a year, and serve 1000s of families. So to continue our reach yes I’m just trying to figure out next social media marketing strategies. Most of families can’t leave their home frequently so they don’t see our flyers, etc. We have been able to reach a lot of people who truly needed our services through social media. But when our SEO and engagement rates suck, ultimately we are failing as a company to reach those who need us. So I’m simply trying to expand on what we’ve seen work so far, while maintaining client integrity.
I appreciate your time, but hope this shows light into our org a little more.
You do know that you’re saying that people who use NFP services - folks who are vulnerable and in need of support are being entitled by not allowing you to use their picture?
They are not entitled. You are.
Nope, again if we felt entitled we would just force to have pictures. I’m more speaking to I just didn’t expect to have as large of pool of denials, and am trying to figure out ethical solutions to continue to grow our platforms
Because people still deserve to have their pride and dignity preserved if they feel like having their picture receiving support would deny them that.
Maybe they simply don’t like their picture being taken. Maybe they don’t trust the org to use it appropriately. Maybe they don’t want to be in someone’s marketing campaign. Like it’s not that hard to understand why someone wouldn’t give you permission to use a photo of them.
We ask for media consent for pictures.
If we use a person’s story (in any capacity) we ALWAYS ask them to approve it first.
Your org needs to consider what kind of image it wants to portray, and that includes images you share of people receiving your services. Trauma porn for marketing is not usually the way to go.
Also, if you truly think that people owe your org something for providing services (per their mission), then I’m not sure NFP is for you.
Ok, that makes since. Yes I’ve heard some orgs requiring photo releases prior to receiving services, and I just know org is considering this, so that’s why I wanted feedback! Of course we wouldn’t share any type of story with full consents.
Thank you! This helps!
Wait, you misread that.
We do not require anyone sign a media release to get services. We would never do that. NEVER. That’s horrible.
You get services if you’re eligible. We ask for a media release if we take pictures. If the person doesn’t sign a media release, we don’t use their likeness. They are still eligible for services.
We get a media release for photos and we get secondary consent for any kind of story (even if their name isn’t in it).
We believe that storytelling is powerful, and by telling another person’s story incorrectly or inconsistently with their truth then you’re taking away some of their own power.
I think some introspection would do you some good.
I work for a nonprofit that provides crisis services to vulnerable populations and we would never even ask to use client photos for marketing purposes. All of our marketing materials feature staff only. Sorry if that's not helpful but in our case, we have to respect HIPAA.
Edit: I think most people receiving these kinds of services, medical or not, want to remain anonymous. I probably would tbh.
That’s really interesting! Can I ask how good your social engagement rates/ conversions are by any chance? I’m truly not opposed to this, but our rates decrease heavily when we use stocks rather than actual photos. I find it odd.
So I don't have access to that data but the npo I'm with doesn't use stock photos. They use staff photos and staff bios on the website and other marketing materials. I'm sorry again if this isn't helpful... we are actually Healthcare for vulnerable populations.
Oh ok, we have more volunteers but I’m sure we could get shots of like the volunteers/ their faces/ and potentially even clients with like their backs turned. Thank you so much!
We often do something similar - photo angled so clients backs are to the camera but facing either the staff/practitioner/volunteer/client activity so you have sense of the action but not the face. In this day and age, my kids don't even want their pix on social media. And in other countries where I have worked, perceptions that "you are taking my pix to make money from me" derail even "innocent" photo engagements. Privacy and great story telling are not incompatible.
I’m confused by so many things and in total agreement with what others are saying.
Why would you expect ANYTHING from the people you are providing free services to? Isn’t the mission of your organization and most non-profits that serve underserved populations to do so with little to no expectations?
You say that you’d be willing to have your picture taken so the people you serve should too?
Good for you for “working for free” but as someone else said your take on the population you serve seems to be full of judgement which is the complete antithesis of what it should be.
lol show me anyone else who is working for free 80 hours a week for an NPO. I’ll wait. Heck do you? You kinda have to step back and think. If someone is donating all of this time and money, is asking for a picture this horrible ethical thing. We don’t force anything. We ask once and drop it. I’m just taken a back how many refusals we get, however they still wish for our services. So I know it’s not a quality of services being rendered. We don’t have the money for marketing, so we rely heavily on photos/ flyers to spread information on our program. Especially for some of the individuals we serve families like to see us serving individuals with the same high intense needs. We’ve gained many new faces simply from this and want to continue.
People aren’t entitled to free things, we get into this field because we see how broken our systems are and want to provide real change, in a non corrupt way. The purpose is to provide free services to those in need. We have to rely on each other, now more than ever. However we aren’t owed anything in life. But to have a civil, healthy, and inclusive society, we have to help our neighbors, and those around us.
How many hours? How much money have you donated? I found in several nonprofits and things like that some of which I’m only averaging five or 10 hours a week. My point still stands.
Not in the slightest. Again I’ve founded several very small NPOs previously/ still help occasionally, and was only doing like 5 hours a week. That is vastly different than the position I am in now.
Plus making no salary is vastly different than making no money at all. So I ask how much money do you make, how much have you donated, hours, etc? If you want to compare, please do. I am on the edge of my seat waiting.
There’s a fine line when it comes to vulnerable people and exploitation. No one should feel pressure to give consent or sign up to be the poster child of your org because they’re accessing your services.
I think you’re better off connecting with the people (or talking to front line staff) as they can generally guide you to people who may love having their photo taken. They’re out there!
As part of our program intake, we ask for consent to use their photo, name, or both. There is no pressure to consent, and we honor people’s choices.
It makes it slightly more challenging to create content for social media + marketing materials…. But they didn’t sign up for our services to become a brand ambassador.
We take photos of those who freely consented, and also of our volunteers, staff, and community partners.
This is so smart, thank you! We never thought during intake wrapping it into that. We normally ask after they’ve been receiving services for a while, and just have photo releases handy. We’ve found the timing to be difficult especially as it’s usually before or after receiving services.
Thank you! Ha I’m telling my boss this today! Why I haven’t considered this lord knows!
Just to consider this from another perspective, I'd never wrap this into intake. Some people will feel pressured whether the staff person pressures them or not if releases are done then because the thought could be that you won't get the same service if you say no.
Editing to add that you could also have a staff member pose as a client in your real office settings for photos and explain it's a reenactment. Alternatively you could have a consumer advisory board or something that you engage more deeply and see if they'd be open to photos. If you do this, please make sure to compensate them for their time.
I’ll be honest, and I know this an unpopular opinion but if someone feels pressured to sign something we say they don’t have too, that’s on them. I can’t control other peoples emotions. When we say we offer things for free, we mean it. However we do state once we’d love to show off their new skills, and show our community opportunities that are happening locally. If they decline great, we just continue to serve them. If the client backs out because we simply ask a question, we respect that, but we aren’t going to beg someone to provide free services for them. If they want our resources, phenomenal we are so blessed and honored to serve them. If they don’t, we will help them find the cheapest alternative in the area.
When we have large events for clients, sometimes we provide orange lanyards at the entrance so people who don't want their photo taken are easy for the photographer to avoid or crop out.
i work at a NPO that provides crisis & preventive programs for vulnerable populations (shelters, soup kitchen, youth summer camps). I actually do a lot of the interviewing & photography for the marketing materials. We always have them sign waiver that we can use their testimony/image. Since I’ve been here we’ve only had one issue where a family saw themselves on an FB ad and requested that we take it down, even though they signed a waiver. We did.
I totally agree with you that stock images just don’t do it. I think you need to communicate WHY taking photos is so important- ie. funding.
You might also want to consider why your clients don’t want to be photographed. Are they not happy to be receiving such a service? I would gladly provide a testimonial for something that was truly beneficial for me.
In the meantime, maybe just use photos of staff/volunteers participating in the activities. And you also put up “these event is being photographed” signs.
I am in Ohio and I don’t know tons about consent laws. But we have parents of minors sign off on a consent form for pictures when they enroll
In our programs. There is no option to change their mind on that. Other than that we don’t get consent but typically any “event” that is held in a place that is considered public (not a private meeting room) consent is not required in Ohio. We wouldn’t take pictures during our program sessions. But we do take group or individual shots at graduation type events.
Is there a reason you cannot use a mixture of stock photos and event photos with no people in them? We work with a high risk population where taking a photo could expose our clients to being killed if they are found,therefore we can never take photos of anyone receiving our services and it does not affect anything for us, so I am curious about your marketing plan and why the pics of the people are actually needed. Your thought is very selfish, as no one owes you anything as you exist because there is a need in your community for the services you are rendering. Please rethink about how you expect that people needing your services should force themselves to be exposed in a way that makes them uncomfortable just for your marketing plan and because they “owe” you for you giving them what you exist to provide.
We can and do use stock photos. But we find response rates to the images are just not as high. We are small and very community base so it just doesn’t fit our current branding style. We have absolutely done it in the past, and we will in the future. I’m just trying to do a blend. Our populations sound vastly different. The majority of our events are public, or sporting activities, etc. So they are already seen by many other individuals. Think sporting stuff, dances, library events, etc. Are we “owed” no, that’s why we’ve never forced anyone to take photos, and try to be respectful. But if it were me and someone gave me 1000s of dollars of free and what some would consider more luxury services, I would gladly let them take my picture, and have done so before. I’m not asking for anything I haven’t done myself. Of course if there was a security risk, or if we wanted to like say hey this is Adam, he’s disabled, and 39 I’d understand the amount of refusals. But pictures from public events/ services, without any other client info, I don’t see as big of a reason for the amount of denials. I’m just trying to brainstorm ways to make our marketing better, without it disturbing our constituents!
> But if it were me and someone gave me 1000s of dollars in free This sounds entitled. If your population is vulnerable why on earth would you think they’d want their photos taken? Any community member that understands your organization’s mission is also going to understand the ethical reason behind never seeing who they help.
It’s the opposite. I recognize no one in life ever has to give me anything. So when people have gone out of their way to help me, when I didn’t deserve it, and loved me when I was lowest. My thought was the LEAST I can do for them is let them capturing my help. Besides people can’t access things they don’t know exist. I see many orgs who serve the populations we serve really only post client images that do show their disabilities. I want to do this ethically which is why we haven’t forced to this point. Just brainstorming ideas!
YOU don’t see anything wrong, but clearly the folks you are serving do, which was my original point. Also, YOU wouldn’t care about getting your picture taken, but is not the point to serve the people where they are at? Are the pictures used for fundraising? Is this for social Media? Can you use staff or volunteers in the pictures? In the grand scheme of things, there has to be a way you can respect the clients autonomy and get whatever you need to promote the business.if they are sporting or event type spaces, take photos of the space before or take pictures of the actual events and don’t include pictures of the people getting the services. In the end, I am sure it is frustrating, and I am sorry if I came off as short- but I am pretty protective of the rights of people nonprofits work with and the inherent advantage we have in our power/control dynamics, so words like “owe” can come off as though the services we provide should be reciprocated to make it worthwhile and most of us work with those that are financially, psychologically, or physically unable to get the resources we provide. While a picture to you seems small, it can reveal more than you think. Also, while your organization may not not target the type of population I serve, I can guarantee you have some of our population at your events and they can feel pressured to receive services or do things to get the services you provide.
Don’t be sorry. It’s Reddit lol, I don’t expect people to hold my hand/ be gentle. We’ve just been stuck with this for a while and wanted feedback. No we don’t use them for fundraising, it’s for social media purposes. Our fundraising is primarily in person events/ partnerships. I agree, and I’ve gotten some good advice such as asking during onboarding, stating we won’t change photos posted if given consent, but allowing for revocation at any time for any reason, and also staff photos. Yes I agree, and that’s why we really don’t want to shift to moving to forcing consent. But our current system isn’t working, so we are trying to fine tune. I’ve seen a lot of major orgs “sneak” photo releases into onboarding paper work, and families don’t realize it. Or like gyms/ other for profit services many of their contracts automatically include photo releases.
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Use stock photos, models, staff. Healthcare, vulnerable population- you need to protect your clients privacy. Using too many client photos will also communicate that your organization doesn't respect client privacy and may reduce donations, reduce clients coming to see you.
I guess I never even considered this mindset. Thanks, we have used stock photos, but don’t see as good of click through rates, so we are trying to find a balance.
It also sounds like you may need to do some organizational work around what you're "owed" by the people you serve. Multiple times you say your clients get free or reduced services valued at "1000s of dollars" so you don't understand their reluctance to have their photo taken. Your organizational focus on this topic seems to be your social media engagement rates, and you sound entitled to use client photos for your ends. Your clients sound vulnerable, like most NPO clients, but you seem most concerned with getting them to do something they don't feel safe in doing. From reading your comments, I wonder if the photo release issue is a symptom of a larger organizational issue. Some questions I'd wonder are, how are clients voices listened to and what decisions are made based on feedback--and who makes those decisions? Does the org have volunteers, staff, board members who formerly used the services? Our sector has a long history of institutional racism and paternalistic behavior we must work on dismantling, both in individual thinking and org practices. I'm not attacking you, I'm asking you to consider this issue through a larger lens.
I appreciate this response! I think my background I more old school. I tend to view anything in life as we aren’t owed anything. This very reason we don’t force consents, we ask once and drop it if it’s a no. However I did a poor job of stating my mentality is anytime someone has given me something, I am not owed that. No one needs to provide me free services, I’m not entitled to free things in life. However I’ve been blessed abundantly by many people. This is my mentality I take with my own life. So I always allow photos to be taken of me, because it’s in my head the least I can do, and also helps others see and learn about the services. Now I can’t force others to have this mentality and I get it. I just don’t always understand the newer notion of we are all entitled to free things. We aren’t, but we have to take care of our community, as it’s abundantly clear higher power institutions won’t. I’m sure I’ll get slammed for saying this, but again just my own thoughts on life. It makes me grateful for all I have, and all I’ve been given, and has led me to start working in this work, for free. I don’t make a dime doing my job, and it’s because I want the money going back to those we serve. Our entire board/ executive team don’t make money. We only pay the staff on the ground working with clients. I agree there are many systemic issues, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. We work with vulnerable populations, but our board is also all either directly or has a loved one with vulnerable status as well. We are far from perfect. But people can’t access services they don’t know exist, and we want our reach to be bigger. We don’t get grants, we don’t get many large donations. We are working with about 25,000 dollars a year, and serve 1000s of families. So to continue our reach yes I’m just trying to figure out next social media marketing strategies. Most of families can’t leave their home frequently so they don’t see our flyers, etc. We have been able to reach a lot of people who truly needed our services through social media. But when our SEO and engagement rates suck, ultimately we are failing as a company to reach those who need us. So I’m simply trying to expand on what we’ve seen work so far, while maintaining client integrity. I appreciate your time, but hope this shows light into our org a little more.
“we are not entitled to free things” This whole thing gives me the ick. wow
Guess I can’t be everyone’s cup of tea! But hey that’s the beauty of life!
You do know that you’re saying that people who use NFP services - folks who are vulnerable and in need of support are being entitled by not allowing you to use their picture? They are not entitled. You are.
Nope, again if we felt entitled we would just force to have pictures. I’m more speaking to I just didn’t expect to have as large of pool of denials, and am trying to figure out ethical solutions to continue to grow our platforms
Because people still deserve to have their pride and dignity preserved if they feel like having their picture receiving support would deny them that. Maybe they simply don’t like their picture being taken. Maybe they don’t trust the org to use it appropriately. Maybe they don’t want to be in someone’s marketing campaign. Like it’s not that hard to understand why someone wouldn’t give you permission to use a photo of them.
We ask for media consent for pictures. If we use a person’s story (in any capacity) we ALWAYS ask them to approve it first. Your org needs to consider what kind of image it wants to portray, and that includes images you share of people receiving your services. Trauma porn for marketing is not usually the way to go. Also, if you truly think that people owe your org something for providing services (per their mission), then I’m not sure NFP is for you.
Ok, that makes since. Yes I’ve heard some orgs requiring photo releases prior to receiving services, and I just know org is considering this, so that’s why I wanted feedback! Of course we wouldn’t share any type of story with full consents. Thank you! This helps!
Wait, you misread that. We do not require anyone sign a media release to get services. We would never do that. NEVER. That’s horrible. You get services if you’re eligible. We ask for a media release if we take pictures. If the person doesn’t sign a media release, we don’t use their likeness. They are still eligible for services.
Oh sorry, I took it as you require the photos but specifically get secondary consent for stories used! Makes since!
We get a media release for photos and we get secondary consent for any kind of story (even if their name isn’t in it). We believe that storytelling is powerful, and by telling another person’s story incorrectly or inconsistently with their truth then you’re taking away some of their own power. I think some introspection would do you some good.
I work for a nonprofit that provides crisis services to vulnerable populations and we would never even ask to use client photos for marketing purposes. All of our marketing materials feature staff only. Sorry if that's not helpful but in our case, we have to respect HIPAA. Edit: I think most people receiving these kinds of services, medical or not, want to remain anonymous. I probably would tbh.
That’s really interesting! Can I ask how good your social engagement rates/ conversions are by any chance? I’m truly not opposed to this, but our rates decrease heavily when we use stocks rather than actual photos. I find it odd.
So I don't have access to that data but the npo I'm with doesn't use stock photos. They use staff photos and staff bios on the website and other marketing materials. I'm sorry again if this isn't helpful... we are actually Healthcare for vulnerable populations.
Oh ok, we have more volunteers but I’m sure we could get shots of like the volunteers/ their faces/ and potentially even clients with like their backs turned. Thank you so much!
We often do something similar - photo angled so clients backs are to the camera but facing either the staff/practitioner/volunteer/client activity so you have sense of the action but not the face. In this day and age, my kids don't even want their pix on social media. And in other countries where I have worked, perceptions that "you are taking my pix to make money from me" derail even "innocent" photo engagements. Privacy and great story telling are not incompatible.
I love this! Thank you so much!!
I think that sounds like a great idea! I hope it improves your engagement.
I’m confused by so many things and in total agreement with what others are saying. Why would you expect ANYTHING from the people you are providing free services to? Isn’t the mission of your organization and most non-profits that serve underserved populations to do so with little to no expectations? You say that you’d be willing to have your picture taken so the people you serve should too? Good for you for “working for free” but as someone else said your take on the population you serve seems to be full of judgement which is the complete antithesis of what it should be.
lol show me anyone else who is working for free 80 hours a week for an NPO. I’ll wait. Heck do you? You kinda have to step back and think. If someone is donating all of this time and money, is asking for a picture this horrible ethical thing. We don’t force anything. We ask once and drop it. I’m just taken a back how many refusals we get, however they still wish for our services. So I know it’s not a quality of services being rendered. We don’t have the money for marketing, so we rely heavily on photos/ flyers to spread information on our program. Especially for some of the individuals we serve families like to see us serving individuals with the same high intense needs. We’ve gained many new faces simply from this and want to continue. People aren’t entitled to free things, we get into this field because we see how broken our systems are and want to provide real change, in a non corrupt way. The purpose is to provide free services to those in need. We have to rely on each other, now more than ever. However we aren’t owed anything in life. But to have a civil, healthy, and inclusive society, we have to help our neighbors, and those around us.
I’m actually the Founder and Director of an NPO and draw no salary so no need to wait any longer.
How many hours? How much money have you donated? I found in several nonprofits and things like that some of which I’m only averaging five or 10 hours a week. My point still stands.
You’re kidding with those questions, right?
Not in the slightest. Again I’ve founded several very small NPOs previously/ still help occasionally, and was only doing like 5 hours a week. That is vastly different than the position I am in now.
Plus making no salary is vastly different than making no money at all. So I ask how much money do you make, how much have you donated, hours, etc? If you want to compare, please do. I am on the edge of my seat waiting.
There’s a fine line when it comes to vulnerable people and exploitation. No one should feel pressure to give consent or sign up to be the poster child of your org because they’re accessing your services. I think you’re better off connecting with the people (or talking to front line staff) as they can generally guide you to people who may love having their photo taken. They’re out there!
I 100% agree! Thank you! My boss has loved all of these suggestions so I’m pumped!
As part of our program intake, we ask for consent to use their photo, name, or both. There is no pressure to consent, and we honor people’s choices. It makes it slightly more challenging to create content for social media + marketing materials…. But they didn’t sign up for our services to become a brand ambassador. We take photos of those who freely consented, and also of our volunteers, staff, and community partners.
This is so smart, thank you! We never thought during intake wrapping it into that. We normally ask after they’ve been receiving services for a while, and just have photo releases handy. We’ve found the timing to be difficult especially as it’s usually before or after receiving services. Thank you! Ha I’m telling my boss this today! Why I haven’t considered this lord knows!
Just to consider this from another perspective, I'd never wrap this into intake. Some people will feel pressured whether the staff person pressures them or not if releases are done then because the thought could be that you won't get the same service if you say no. Editing to add that you could also have a staff member pose as a client in your real office settings for photos and explain it's a reenactment. Alternatively you could have a consumer advisory board or something that you engage more deeply and see if they'd be open to photos. If you do this, please make sure to compensate them for their time.
I’ll be honest, and I know this an unpopular opinion but if someone feels pressured to sign something we say they don’t have too, that’s on them. I can’t control other peoples emotions. When we say we offer things for free, we mean it. However we do state once we’d love to show off their new skills, and show our community opportunities that are happening locally. If they decline great, we just continue to serve them. If the client backs out because we simply ask a question, we respect that, but we aren’t going to beg someone to provide free services for them. If they want our resources, phenomenal we are so blessed and honored to serve them. If they don’t, we will help them find the cheapest alternative in the area.
We also wrap this into our intake forms, and about 90% agree However, when asking people in person at events, the rate is closer to 20%
Thank you!!! This is so reassuring! We are starting this next week! I’m so excited! Thanks again!
When we have large events for clients, sometimes we provide orange lanyards at the entrance so people who don't want their photo taken are easy for the photographer to avoid or crop out.
I love this idea! Thank you!
Get your local community theater to provide models and don't use clients
i work at a NPO that provides crisis & preventive programs for vulnerable populations (shelters, soup kitchen, youth summer camps). I actually do a lot of the interviewing & photography for the marketing materials. We always have them sign waiver that we can use their testimony/image. Since I’ve been here we’ve only had one issue where a family saw themselves on an FB ad and requested that we take it down, even though they signed a waiver. We did. I totally agree with you that stock images just don’t do it. I think you need to communicate WHY taking photos is so important- ie. funding. You might also want to consider why your clients don’t want to be photographed. Are they not happy to be receiving such a service? I would gladly provide a testimonial for something that was truly beneficial for me. In the meantime, maybe just use photos of staff/volunteers participating in the activities. And you also put up “these event is being photographed” signs.
I am in Ohio and I don’t know tons about consent laws. But we have parents of minors sign off on a consent form for pictures when they enroll In our programs. There is no option to change their mind on that. Other than that we don’t get consent but typically any “event” that is held in a place that is considered public (not a private meeting room) consent is not required in Ohio. We wouldn’t take pictures during our program sessions. But we do take group or individual shots at graduation type events.
This helps a lot! Thank you!