Magazine wants to use my work

[SBCmetroguy]

I received the following email today and would like to know how I should proceed. Any advice?



Here's the email:



I am writing to request permission to print your photo of the Confederate monument at the Shreveport courthouse in UDC Magazine. UDC is a non-profit genealogical organization headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. The image would accompany an historical article in the April 2007 issue with a press run of approximately 7,500.

If you agree, please provide your name as you would like it to appear in the credit and a street address where you can receive copies. Please reply by email to (email address withheld.)

Thank you very much for your time. Please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions or require further information.



(Name, phone number, and address withheld.)


My question is, should I expect to receive any compensation, even if I just think it would be nice to see my work in print whether I was compensated or not?


Anyone with experience in this, please advise.


Thanks!


Brian

[BradT0517]

I would try and get some money out of this except they said they are a non-profit organization so it is hard to tell.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by BradT0517

I would try and get some money out of this except they said they are a non-profit organization so it is hard to tell.

My dilemma exactly! Being non-profit, I wasn't sure. Do I just consider myself proud to have been asked, and allow them to use the photo? Do they still profit off their advertising? I'm at a loss.

[chakalakasp]

Originally Posted by SBCmetroguy

My dilemma exactly! Being non-profit, I wasn't sure. Do I just consider myself proud to have been asked, and allow them to use the photo? Do they still profit off their advertising? I'm at a loss.

Any way you can offer it as a "donation" for the fair market value of the photo? Then write it off on taxes? I'm not an accountant, so I don't know, but maybe someone here will.

[MJPhotos24]

well most non-profit companies have money in the budget for things like this, but if they do it is a whole different thing. Personally I'd ask if they offer compensation in any way (even if not that great, $10-20 even). 7,500 print run and looking at there site and objectives, just make a judgement decision on it. You know it's not for profit, so it's going back to there "cause" so read the objectives and make a gut decision on it.

[Croasdail]

I would do what you feel comfortable with. You will get plenty that say never ever ever give a photo away for free. They feel you are taking money away from a paid photographer. Maybe you are, maybe you are not. You will find others that say if you didn't shoot it for money, you don't need the money, it's a nice gesture to do. I do both. I have a working relationship with some customers that pay very nicely. I also do free work for foster and adoption candidates where I donate my time and expense. It's one of those things where I want the kids to have good photos in their folders. I may be wrong for doing it for free, I may be killing some other photographers income ( I don't think I am), but I feel good about it. Choose what will make you feel the best at the end of the day - either way.

[BradT0517]

I would let them use it just as long as you dont give them full rights to the photo.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by BradT0517

I would let them use it just as long as you dont give them full rights to the photo.

Thanks for the reply, Brad. I never give up the rights to any of my work, and I'll certainly make sure they're aware of that.

[jamesdean007]

I agree with Brad - oh and CONGRATULATIONS!

[SBCmetroguy]

Thanks, jamesdean007. Even though this is a very limited-distribution magazine, I am still extremely proud. I am in the process of drafting an email to the publisher right now.

[transcend]

Tax receipts, i do this with non profits all the time, we both win.

[ssim]

Did you do any digging around on who UDC is. Well I did. The are the United Daughters of Confederacy. They have scholarships available and the magazine that they want you to give your image for free they charge their membership. They may very well be registered as a non-profit organization but they are not the kind that seem to help any people in need. They have some rather odd requirements to be able to join them.

Based on what I know about them, I would charge them full tilt for it. If it were say a non-profit that helped people in need then I might take a different approach.

[SBCmetroguy]

I wouldn't have known where to start. I know nothing about non-profits, except that the name implies that they don't make a profit.

Either way, I sent the email off 2 hours ago, so it's done now. No big deal, you live and learn.

[ssim]

Originally Posted by SBCmetroguy

I wouldn't have known where to start. I know nothing about non-profits, except that the name implies that they don't make a profit.

Either way, I sent the email off 2 hours ago, so it's done now. No big deal, you live and learn.

For your future reference.

Always try to get to know who you are dealing with. They don't always portray themselves in the way they really are. In this case I simply googled UDC and there were alot of results of varying types. Given that the email talked about confederate it took me clicking on two links to find the right one as in this one they were talking about UDC Magazine. Then you just read their website to try and glean as much information about them as possible. I tried hard but no where in their website could I find that they were a registered non-profit organization. They may very well be one but I couldn't find it. There is not much that google can not find.

You say you don't know much about non-profit organizations. When you are dealing with them or the ABC widget company you have to make it your business to find out as much as you can about who you are potentially about to do business with. There are lots of non-profit organizations out there that operate like and have revenues of large multi-national corporations. Oprah Winfrey runs some non-profit organizations, I would not consider in the slightest giving them anything for nothing.

You say it is done, am I to assume that you gave it to them? Just curious.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by ssim

For your future reference.

Always try to get to know who you are dealing with. They don't always portray themselves in the way they really are. In this case I simply googled UDC and there were alot of results of varying types. Given that the email talked about confederate it took me clicking on two links to find the right one as in this one they were talking about UDC Magazine. Then you just read their website to try and glean as much information about them as possible. I tried hard but no where in their website could I find that they were a registered non-profit organization. They may very well be one but I couldn't find it. There is not much that google can not find.

You say you don't know much about non-profit organizations. When you are dealing with them or the ABC widget company you have to make it your business to find out as much as you can about who you are potentially about to do business with. There are lots of non-profit organizations out there that operate like and have revenues of large multi-national corporations. Oprah Winfrey runs some non-profit organizations, I would not consider in the slightest giving them anything for nothing.

You say it is done, am I to assume that you gave it to them? Just curious.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I already granted them permission to use it, only with the stipulation that they do provide credit to the rightful owner (myself.) Of course they mentioned in the beginning that was their intention.

So yeah, I let them use it for free. I think I got ahead of myself, but it's okay this time. At least I know better next time.