630-484-2336 ben@bedo.org

Coaching for a Cause – Guidelines on how to do this yourself.

Here are some tips, suggestions, and guidelines to follow.

Don’t handle the money.
It’s all on the client’s end.  They give the gift.  They get the tax write off.

You set your own terms and rate of exchange.
Here are some options to consider:

$1= 1 minute of coaching, $60 = an hour of coaching.

$2= 1 minute of coaching, $120 = an hour of coaching.

$5= 1 minute of coaching, $300 = an hour of your coaching.

One complimentary session per donation.  (donate to more charities for more sessions.)  You can request the maximum and minimum donation amount accepted.  (for example, you might not want to give a full hour session for each $5 donation that they make.

Every time a donation is given, please contact me and let me know the amount and the terms of the offer so I can track the overall amount of money generated as well as the time given.

FAQ:

Q: Can I write off my time as a donation for taxes?
A: I checked with my tax guy, and unfortunately the answer is “NO”, you cannot write off and deduct your time.   This will truly be a complete and unattached donation that you will be giving, with no direct reward or advantage… other than the gift of giving.

Q: Do I have to give away as many hours as you?
A: Absolutely no.  I recommend you determine how many hours you are willing to donate, and the amount will be different for every coach participating.  If you’re only comfortable giving away 10 hours in a 2 month period, that’s fine.  If you’re feeling very generous and want to donate 100 hours and spread it out throughout the year, that’s your call.
I do request that you keep the boundaries clear and established.  (It’s just good all around.)

Q: Do I have to give away the same amount of minutes to dollars?
A: Again, you get to design your rate of exchange.  The easiest to track is simply offer the same minutes to dollars.  in other words, if they donate $30 minutes, then they would get a 30-minute session.  If they donate $240 then they would get four 60-minute sessions.

Q: How do I set up handing the money?
A: You don’t.  If they send you the money, then you are responsible of forwarding it to the various charities and the more people that get involved in the financial transaction part of it, the more messy it becomes.  Plus, then you would get the tax benefit for charitable donations and they wouldn’t.  And one of the points of this is to encourage others to make that donation by the end of the year so that everyone wins.

Q: Do I have to keep to the same timeline and end the donation period by Dec 31?
A: Again, you get to set your own terms. The same goes for how long you want to honor the donated coaching sessions.  I keep it only for the first two months of the year so that it doesn’t linger and then get forgotten.  The other point on this is to help people get into action in their own lives, so giving an expiration date helps them stay committed.  Of course, any modifications or exceptions are up to you.

Q: What happens after we are done?
A: That’s up to you. You can certainly check to see if they want to continue working with you. You could ask if they want to be on your mailing list. Or they may even know other people who would love to donate for some coaching.