“Free” to Consult

A freelance consultant’s guide to pro bono work that works for you

Sharing your time and talents can be envigorating! But it can also be draining and frustrating.

I’ll be honest: I’m writing this from a bitter place. The last pro bono project I took on is still haunting me, both as a general bad decision and bad experience, and also because today, 10 days after close-out, I am still receiving troubling emails and texts from the client. How did this happen?

Over the past few years, I’ve read a constant stream of articles and posts about how freelancers should not work for free, how our time is valuable and others should recognize (read: pay) that value, how giving our services away could even damage the respect and market rates for our respective professions. I completely agree that our work and our professions are valuable and our time should be compensated. Plus, we all have bills to pay, right?

And yet, as long as we can first ensure that we’re making enough to pay the bills, freelance consulting work gives us the opportunity to decide what to do with our time, who to support and how. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I chose this work because I love it and I believe in it. I see the value of what I do for the client and for those the client serves, the ripple effect of my work on a bigger group and a greater cause. Why wouldn’t I do more of it, especially if it means sharing my love and talents with those who could benefit from them, who even truly and completely value them but simply don’t have the budget for them?

I work in organizational learning, an area that gets slashed or omitted from organizations’ budgets like music class at an under-funded public school: fundamental to so much of the successes we’re striving for, but always first on the chopping block because the link, while powerful and pervasive, is invisible to the naked eye.

Working for free can be freeing. It can give you a way to connect with a cause or a client that might not otherwise come onto your professional path. But, if not considered and structured carefully, working for free can feel more like a trap, an ungrateful weight on your time and your generous heart that not only makes you want out, but makes you want to never even consider going back in.

How, then, can you make sure that the pro bono work you engage in is freeing and fulfilling? Fresh out of an experience of what not to do, let me offer some insights on what to try:

1. Be clear on your goals

Your goals don’t need to be self-serving, nor do they need to be completely altruistic. Despite what we may read about working for free in return for “exposure” to new clients, a sponsorship title, publication credits, this may not be possible in certain situations, or it simply may not be what is most valuable for you. Maybe you do a lot of your work alone and you miss working with a dynamic team, or you’ve been learning a new skill and you want to practice it, or you need to explore a new field or collaborate with a potential mentor. Or maybe, as remote and intercontinental work is becoming the norm for many of us, you simply want to connect more with the physical community around you.

Whatever your goals are, make sure that you are as clear and complete as possible in identifying and naming them, and confirm that they are reasonably attainable in the pro bono situation. Write them down, post them somewhere visible, and whenever the work seems too much or too bland to be doing for free, check in on these goals and make sure that you are intentionally working toward them. Just as important, take the time to communicate them clearly and completely to your client so their team is also aware of and ready to help you meet these goals.

2. Estimate and limit the time you will commit

In order to keep paying those bills, you need to fit the pro bono work into time that you have free — or can free up. This means that understanding the amount of time needed and sticking to it is the only way to avoid an undue burden on your schedule and other engagements. There is a real danger of “escalation of commitment”, which could lock you into a failing effort and expanding time commitment as the project advances. Plus, your reputation is still at stake, so you won’t — or at least, you shouldn’t — take lightly a decision to leave a task unfinished, submit a low-quality product, or even walk out on the project.

Map out an evidence-backed estimate of the time you will need to commit to the project, breaking it down by task or deliverable just as you would for a paying client. Cap the number of hours at what represents a reasonable and feasible commitment for you, cutting elements where necessary. Discuss this break-down with your pro bono client, flesh out any misunderstandings about tasks and deliverables, be clear about setting a firm limit to your time, and explain any cuts that you’ve made. Be sure that they are aware of all links between others’ work and yours; if their work is late or subpar, it will compromise your committed time and product quality.

3. Plan ahead, and be choosy

I grew up in a household where charitable giving was a pre-planned and logical process. My parents would estimate the amount they were able to contribute for the year, they would research organizations that worked on causes that were important to them, and then they would decide how much and when to give to each of the organizations that made the cut. This didn’t stop them from buying Girl Scout cookies or dropping something into the Salvation Army bucket, or even from giving up a personal expense in order to support a new charity or a punctual cause. It DID stop them from making impulsive decisions about their giving, that would decrease the funds available to more worthwhile or important causes that came later to their door, mailbox, or inbox.

With pro bono work, you may not know what types of interesting opportunities will come up in the year, and it may be harder to estimate how much time you’ll have to give and when — although it would still be good to target a general timeframe and number of hours or days. Planning ahead might look more like setting guidelines and goals for your pro bono work that year, and then using these guidelines and goals both to seek out opportunities and to evaluate those that come to you. You can avoid using up your time and goodwill on work that is not a great match, saying no to these opportunities with a clear head and conscience, knowing that your rational self has thought through what is best for you and those you serve. You can also proactively reach out to organizations and initiatives that might need and benefit from your support, and have a good chance of meeting your guidelines and goals.

*** If you haven’t had anyone contact you about pro bono work and don’t know where to start looking, consider signing up for skilled volunteering platforms such as Taproot or Catchafire.

4. Take time to learn and reflect

Pro bono work has the potential to be an enjoyable, fulfilling, value-adding delight! I’ve experienced that potential that a few times and horribly failed other times. Still, by taking the time to think about what contributed to my joy and success and what hindered it, I can learn to be clearer on defining and respecting my goals, my time, and my choices.

This recent bitter pro bono experience won’t deter me. It will inform and improve me! And here’s hoping that it does at least a little of the same for you.