As a creative director, I struggle – as do most in our industry – in balancing the hours it takes to make solid design work and the ability to secure the budgets to do it. To add insult to injury, you have smaller agencies over-promising and starting pricing wars until you’re pulled into a game of cat and mouse. But, imagine when your competition says they will do the work you do for free? What then?

Working exclusively on social good projects has made our number one competition “pro bono” work: work that larger agencies do for free to get good publicity and allow their employees the occasional passion project. So, it makes standing behind products and budgets a very important space for us. But, over the years, we’ve seen these types of projects hurt more organizations than they help. Why? For a lot of reasons, but mainly these:

1. Pro bono often means “when we have time”
2. There is a huge difference between work that affords you “pro bono” opportunities and the work people need “pro bono”
3. Short-term solutions aren’t good for long-term growth

We’ve seen this with software solutions as well. Businesses offer non-profit discounts and waive fees all together only to leave non-profits stuck in large scale systems without any training or ability to navigate the complexities of the systems they were given. So what have we seen as the best solution? For those of you looking to hire an agency, consider paying for your work rather than finding a pro bono partner. In the end, you will find a group that is committed and has your best interests in mind. And, if you are an agency or a creative, try the following the next time you feel pinched to cut your costs:

1. Be responsible for efficiency, then stand behind your work and what it costs.
2. Get good enough that your work shows itself better than the less expensive competition.
3. Build a process that is consistent at producing good results and stick to it. Your ability to deliver well every time is one of your biggest assets.