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Can 'charity shows' be a scam sometimes?

C

CrashCarlisle

Sep 13, 2011
251
4
#1
From time to time, my band plays a 'charity' fundraiser...which of course means we work for free. Okay. It's still rock n' roll....

Last night, we played a breast cancer awareness fundraiser at The Bone in Deep Ellum (Dallas). However...there was NOTHING there promoting the charity. No silent auction. No raffle tickets. No donation box. Not one mention of it by anybody who wasn't in one of the bands playing the event.

This smells rotten....while we had fun and I'm still glad we played as it was a great show, the idea of us being scammed to play for free does not make me happy.

Has anyone else run into this?
 
#2
That does sound odd. Does this bar have any past history of scamming bands? Can you contact the breast cancer charity to find out if this is legit?

A few years ago, a local bar held open mike on Thursday evenings. They charged admission, including the musicians, and the place was packed. They were raking it in! The money was supposed to help support music in schools. I have no idea if any $$ went to school music programs or not. Most people don't bother to check up on this sort of thing so it would be easy for a bar to get away with it.
 
#5
jmattbassplaya said:
Honestly, any time you're playing for free you're being scammed. People who work charity events almost always receive some sort of compensation.
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Rockmusician said:
+1

When I have done charity events, I have always received free rooms, food, drinks, etc.
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I think the important question is: are other people working the event (servers, cooks, cleaners, etc.) being compensated? If they are, then so should the band.
 
#6
Depends on the show. We do a fair amount of benefits for both education and sustainable farming in Ghana...and they're pretty home-spun events. Luckily, we know the people involved in the benefits and we have a level of transparency. In these cases, we donate our time with that understanding.

It doesn't hurt that our singer and a variety of other players we work with are from Africa, and heavily involved in bettering their homeland. Some nights we will book shows as 'benefit' nights (our own impetus) and other than it being a regular club show, any band take and/or donations goes to the cause. Last year we sent about 3 thousand dollars worth of school supplies to a specific village in the bush...entirely on us doing a benefit or two... to a place where they're building a school (slowly) but kids walk to class and bring their own chairs because they don't have any at the school.
 
#7
Who was your contact to play the show? If there was no fund raiser, whomever got the gig should pay the band your regular fee.

How would money be raised if there was no promotion.

The club's calendar indicates nothing about a fund raiser.

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Friday Sept. 16th
Ladies Night
A Lady in every band!
Bands include
Nevermind The Darkness
Bone Band Pages
Bad Reputation
Kimberly Sutton Band
Uncle Crow
and
Oridium
 
#8
Best bet, ask them if the organization is a registered 501C (Tax Exempt Status). Then you just need a letter from the charity like a receipt for your services and you can deduct it if you itemize your taxes. How useful that is depends on if you run the bands books like a business. You really should if you are not.

Just a mention, some organization, like churches, are not required to formally file for 501c status. You can get more info on this at irs.gov. Yeah I work for accountants on financial software.

Ken
 
#10
There are lots of untrustworthy people out there doing things like this. There are also many non-profits that cannot be trusted. I organize many events and know who to stay away from in my area. If my band plays for a fundraiser, we get paid and I provide legal contracts to whomever is running the event for their non-profit status audits and records so they can show where the money went. I know some non-profits that the money goes to the people running the organization for their personal use and not where it should go. Others want a hand out but will not provide any people or support for the event.

I am currently working on a possible fundraiser for a well known local organization and I personally know that the money goes to the right place. I am doing everything to make sure that all parties are involved and that everybody gets paid for their work.
 
#11
Always ask which charitable organization is involved, then contact them to determine if the fundraiser is legit. If the venue or sponsor hems & haws or is otherwise vague, walk away. It's that simple.

OTOH, I've done fundraisers for the medical bills and burial costs of a waitress's (@ a favorite venue) infant son. In these types of situations, I don't ask too many questions.

Riis
 
#12
devilock76 said:
Best bet, ask them if the organization is a registered 501C (Tax Exempt Status)
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This

If they're legit, then most likely they're formally registered with the IRS as a charity - most often as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and should be able to give you a written receipt for whatever donation you chose to make (including cash value of "services in kind") to clearly document it

This is exactly how the one Foundation I occasionally play for does business and their tax status is noted conspicuously on their website

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We've had other Benefits for various causes around my local area during the past couple of years that are far less open about where the money goes and I've gotten pretty wary about one or two that just don't pass the smell test IMHO
 

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