For not wanting to donate to this charity anymore now?

[AintNobodyGonnaStopMyShine]

So there's a charity close to my heart (animal, local)

They were looking for ways to raise money. Asking for auction items. As a hobby I make items like tote bags as gifts.

I offered to make some logo items for their online auction.

I made a very relevant logo with the charity name.

I sent them a photo and the woman replied with thanks then said that something was wrong with the writing.

I edited it and sent it her.

She then said something was wrong with the logo, I changed it to work with what she said.
She then said she didn't think it worked and could I change the image to 'xyz' and also add something (like a heart)

All these changes take time. And the way they're made each colour adds a whole other dimension and time to make.

All of these 'suggestions' came with no please or thankyou.

I feel really annoyed tbh. I want to help the animals by raising money but people donate things like old scarfs and used dvds to the auction, so I felt this was a really nice item to donate. And multiple of them too.

I was just showing her what I came up with. I wasn't asking for a critique. It wasn't a design session for a logo for them. Each change takes time.

I was supplying the making materials, the items they went on, the time to make them and also paying to post them.

I just feel a bit put out and the fun has gone now :(

I don't want to let them down but I feel awkward now, do I just make the changes and suck it up?

This might be a bit compounded as I've been thinking alot lately about how people often take advantage of the fact I like to help or find it hard to assert myself.

@FKATondelayo- totally understand and have been there. However when it comes to local animal charities and people who set them up, ..just a whole new level of crazy. Happy to foster, tame kittens and rehome. Some of the fund raising that goes on for vets bills for animals who have always been feral, must hate every moment of being trapped whilst fundraising goes on for whatever obscure illness (usually a few thousand)- just let them be pain free!

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I very much do get this - and why a charity can’t just accept anything purely out of gratitude. Of course they can say no to attempts to redesign their logo or use non-branded assets.

However, what you are missing, @MrsBennetsPoorNerves and @PurpleBananaSmoothie, is that the charity DIDN’T say no to this. They said yes. OP made it clear what the limitations of her offer were; namely that she couldn’t replicate their logo but could produce an outline version or similar. All the charity had to do if they didn’t want this was to say “Thank you very much, but we only sell merchandise featuring our official logo.” OP could then have opted to make a financial donation or made some other offer of help had she wished to do so.

But they didn’t. They said they were happy for the OP to produce these designs - but then kept changing the goalposts. They could have said at the start “We’ll need a certain kind of lettering; these are our guidelines.” They could have asked exactly what sort of imagery the OP had in mind and agreed on an idea, rather than continually saying “Ooh, actually can we have the cat in a hat/up a tree/sitting on a crescent moon?” But they didn’t - and now OP is understandably sick of it.

OP - I would contact them and say “I think there has been some misunderstanding here around what I am in a position to offer. I have offered to voluntarily produce items for you to sell for fundraising purposes and made my limitations clear. I am not a design agency working on a paid commission. If you are still interested in one of the designs I have already produced based on our initial agreement, I am happy to produce this. Otherwise I think it best if take this no further.”

@AintNobodyGonnaStopMyShine I would take the advice that @WomanStanleyWoman2 has posted above. It's sensible and thank goodness they came along before Mrs Bennet shredded my nerves with their replies 😂😂😂

@WomanStanleyWoman2 no, the charity have said they are looking for donations for their raffle. OP admits they usually get old scarves as donations. OP has taken it on herself to make this merchandise and told them she can’t do their full logo, she can do a simplified version. The small charity wanting to keep supporters and recognise OP’s generous offer has said yes. OP has then designed a simplified version of their logo with the charity’s name. The charity have every right to be happy with that logo.

OP has been very misguided in her attempts, it was a nice gesture but the charity do not have to take something that does not represent them and they are not happy with. OP could have offered a financial donation and not offered to do a simplified version of their logo and merchandise if she didn’t want the back and forth.

OP has taken it on herself to make this merchandise and told them she can’t do their full logo, she can do a simplified version. The small charity wanting to keep supporters and recognise OP’s generous offer has said yes. OP has then designed a simplified version of their logo with the charity’s name. The charity have every right to be happy with that logo.

But this is precisely my point. The OP told the charity what she could offer. If a simplified version wasn’t acceptable, all they had to do was politely decline.

OP has been very misguided in her attempts, it was a nice gesture but the charity do not have to take something that does not represent them and they are not happy with.

Which is why they should have declined when OP made it clear she couldn’t deliver items based on their official logo.

OP could have offered a financial donation and not offered to do a simplified version of their logo and merchandise if she didn’t want the back and forth.

She could have offered this, but she didn’t. The charity responded to the offer she did make. There was no reason that response couldn’t have been “That’s very kind, but no thank you - we only sell items featuring our official logo”.

Small animal charities need all the help they can get. It seems a shame that this one annoying person is the gatekeeper for the charity. Can you bypass her? Find a different person to speak to? Or just do plain tote bags. It's a shame that you stop your support just because of this idiot.

A company has its own logo. Branding is really important to a company's identity.

Most companies have strict branding guidelines that have to be followed!

You can't just introduce another one!

No OP I think they’re being really cheeky actually. Either gratefully accept your kind offer, or decline if it’s not for you. You’re a small business offering to do a lovely thing. Tell them you won’t bother now.

Stop making amendments- just say 'this is my final design. Let me know if you want me to order the items with it or not.'

Stop going back and forth.

Also consider whether she has authority to make these decisions. She's just the volunteer running the admin facebook page. Speak to their fundraising person or someone who has authority. They might not be happy that she's being demanding and abrupt to willing donors.

The thing is, we don't know exactly how the conversation played out. Maybe the charity understood the OP's offer slightly differently from how she did, and they believed that they would have significant input into the final design before signing it off. Indeed, it seems odd that they would have allowed her to use their name in any other circumstances. The OP, on the other hand, thought that they had given permission to use their name and that she had a fairly free reign to do what she thought best with little more than a cursory approval from the organisation.

Obviously, the communication has gone wrong somewhere, and it's hard to tell from the information here where the responsibility for that lies. What does seem clear is that the OP was doing her best to help, and the charity doesn't seem to have made her feel valued or appreciated for her efforts, so while I think they are absolutely within their rights to veto any designs that don't fit with their brand, I think it's evident that they could have handled the whole situation more effectively.

Why didn't you just approach the charity, offer your services and ask them to send you their preferred logo? Wouldn't that have made more sense?

I'd suggest you say you'll just make them without the logo and leave it at that (or just say you can't do it now as it has taken up more time that you realised). It sounds very rude, but also they probably can't really accept an inaccurate logo potentially (but totally agree she sounds rude and ungrateful!)

This.

They never realise that it's not actually about 'them'. The charity always suffers as a consequence.

Animal rescue can be a hard and heartbreaking world and think it can result in extremely practical and sometimes brusque volunteers where the social
skills with humans aren’t always… advanced.

You can't just design a new logo for an organisation! Even small charities need to be careful of their branding, no only for publicity but also for governance purposes, people need to know who they're donating to. Having multiple logos looks cheap and makes the charity look fake.

Also, no offense, but a bunch of homemade gifts wouldn't get me to donate. I'd want alcohol, vouchers, experiences, cash prizes.

You seem to have the mentality that anything is better than nothing, that they should be grateful for anything you're donating. Unfortunately that's not the case. They'd probably prefer not to be spending so much time guiding your designs. Perhaps a £20 gift voucher would be better received.

Unfortunately you seem to be in communication with someone who is a demanding fusspot. In your position I’d step back too. What you offer will never be quite right for her. That doesn’t mean that the charity as a whole is unsound.

Some of these comments! Surely what OP is rightly complaining about is the fact that the charity staff are being rude and demanding, with no pleases or thank yous? Fine if what OP is producing is not what they want, they can of course say that, but they can still be polite and act grateful that OP was trying to do a nice thing. And she was clearly not trying to design and force a new logo on them!

OP, ignore them and move on, they are not worth bothering with. It’s a fact of life that people can be very rude and ‘entitled’ - just give your stuff to people who will actually appreciate it.

I think you need to tell the organisation that your sorry but you are no longer able to provide the items as it become too time consuming and complex.
You had kindly offered some items with a design that was could be easily manufactured but the charity have imposed design changes that now make it unrealistic.

It’s normal ime for charities to be rude and demanding.
My dsis has spent years working for different charities. Different because eventually everyone falls out, the paid management are very demanding of unpaid workers and my dsis hates conflict so moves to another charity where it all happens again.
I give money to a local children’s hospice and that’s me done.

They are not accepting your offer, they are making themselves a bespoke version to sell (?). You are right to step back. When kind offers become a chore, it is no longer worth it. At least you tried!

You seem to have the mentality that anything is better than nothing, that they should be grateful for anything you're donating. Unfortunately that's not the case. They'd probably prefer not to be spending so much time guiding your designs.

If only there had been a way to prevent this. A word the charity could have used to convey the fact that this wouldn’t work for them. It wouldn’t have to be a particularly long word; even two letters would have done. Maybe an “O” and an “N”, but not necessarily in that order…