It's agreeable that most people want to do good, but our good-will can often lead to something monstrously evil.

Let's be honest, nobody likes Pro-Bono work. Everyone feels like they should do it, as if it's a standard of our humanity, but rarely does it turn out well. Giving the gift of professional work often comes wrapped in lowered expectations, inadequate processes, and complete with a bow of hidden resentment. What starts out as good turns into the "project from hell".

Most pro-bono projects go something like this…

A heart wrenching story from a friend who needs some help is heard. It leads to a reaction and a compelling reason to get involved (after all you're not evil), even though work is busy and hesitation is present since the last experience was quite dreadful. "But this time is different", you think. "It will be easy, they just need a _______, that won't take long". So the project starts strong. Since this is pro-bono a few steps in the normal process are skipped, corners are cut to make it more efficient, and some better than average work is presented with fan fare.

The organization is very thankful but hesitant to some of the ideas. The navigating of egos and prodding of courage begins. Eventually, the back and forth wears down all momentum and motivation in the project and it goes from "good deed" to "good grief". A co-worker blurts, "Did they forget we are doing this for FREE?". The project falls to the back of the line so paying clients can be serviced first (after all this is a business). Tension builds on both sides and the project unspokenly dwindles to a slow and painful death with a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Raving fans are turned to bitter beneficiaries telling others about the good will but more notably the frustrating experience.

Oh, the high cost of giving.

So, Should we just stop giving? Absolutely not! Perhaps we can design a system that makes giving fun and rewarding again?

Enter our story for creating our "On The House" campaign. We wanted to create a system that allows us to be proactive and take one client through our normal process without the diluted treatment. In order to do this, we can only choose one. That's the cost. Several no's for one big yes.

A true gift is proactive not reactive. The best part about figuring out a system that works is that it rejuvenates the giving process by being intentional. It allows it to be what it is suppose to be, good. Most importantly, it could mean significant work for your team and significant results for the client, and that is a gift.

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