Nonprofits Turn to Web Sites to Solicit Marketing Designs and Save Money

When it came time to create the brochure for its annual fund-raising drive this year, the United Way of the Alberta Capital Region, in Edmonton, saved hundreds of dollars by turning to the Web.

Instead of working with a local graphic artist or trying to rough out a design on its own, the organization listed the project on Crowdspring, a Web site that brings together graphic artists from around the world to compete on design projects.

The United Way posted a description of what it wanted, along with text and photographs for the artists to use. Less than two weeks later, the United Way had 46 brochure possibilities from which to choose. And because the Web site lets customers name their own price—$700 in this case—the United Way saved a good chunk of money it would have spent if it had worked directly with a designer.

“It was probably about a third to a half of what we would pay,” says David Wighton, the group’s vice president of marketing.

Dozens of Ideas

Like the Edmonton United Way, a growing number of charities are turning to sources like Crowdspring for design projects, such as a logo or other marketing materials. They are attracted by the promise of both cost savings and getting to choose from dozens of finished products, instead of the three or four that a single graphic designer might offer.

Crowdspring is the largest of the new sites, but other companies are jumping into the market, including 99designs,LogoDesigns.com, Talenthouse, and others.

The more time a nonprofit group devotes to figuring out what it wants and crafting a project description that states those objectives clearly, the more likely it is to get the design it wants from such sites, says Glenn Garvin, director of mission fulfillment at Royal Family Kids’ Camps, in Santa Ana, Calif., which serves abused and neglected children.

“An artist is not going to be able to put together a concept out of nothing,” he says.

Tweaking Designs

Most of the sites allow customers to rate submissions and offer written suggestions, which help all of the artists tailor their work. Mr. Garvin and others who have used the sites say that the more feedback customers provide, the more submissions they receive.

And in some cases, the back-and-forth doesn’t end when the winner is chosen.

When Royal Family Kids’ Camps used Crowdspring for a logo project in August, officials at the group selected their favorite design, but asked the artist to incorporate a typeface that they liked from one of the other submissions.

The organization also thought about all the different ways it uses its logo and how the designs would look in different formats: silk-screened, etched on glass, and the like. The group had to ask the artist to thicken one of the lines in the final design because it was too thin to embroider on the shirts the nonprofit provides for camp volunteers.

A group of Seattle volunteers that raises money for Room to Read, a charity that builds school libraries and sends books to children in developing countries, recently turned to Crowdspring to create a logo for a forthcoming fund-raising event.

To drum up more submissions for the Room to Read call for submissions, Natalie D. Lumpkin, the Seattle chapter leader, browsed designers’ profiles on Crowdspring, and invited artists whose work she liked to participate in the project.

The chapter’s $200 logo project drew 66 entries.

Not surprisingly, the efforts to get graphic artists to compete for business online are controversial in the design world. Artists worry that they will undermine the pay scale for all designers, and they point out that for every designer who wins a project, dozens of others will not be paid for the work they did.

Ms. Lumpkin argues that the process gives artists who participate a chance to practice their craft, and that they are free to reuse unsuccessful work for other projects.

“A lot of what we got may not have even been original for us,” she notes.

Creating a ‘Twibbon’

Several groups have used the sites to commission artwork to use on social networks.

The United Way of the Alberta Capital Region just wrapped up a contest to name the Web site mascot—a cheery little red bird wearing a United Way T-shirt—it had designed in June.

This spring the Skin Cancer Foundation used Crowdspring to put out a call for an icon it could use to call attention to the disease.

The New York charity purchased three icons, and then used Twitter and Facebook to encourage its supporters to pick the winner.

More than 1,200 people voted, selecting a design that features a bright yellow sun and navy-blue ribbon. The organization featured the new icon in its material for Skin Cancer Awareness Month, which takes place in May.

The group also uses it as a Twibbon—a tiny image that people can add in the corner of their profile pictures on Facebook, Twitter, or other social-networking sites.

The organization was impressed by the creativity and thought that went into the 237 entries it received, says Erin Mulvey Stoeber, the group’s director of communications.

“We had fun with it,” she says. “It was interesting for us to see people’s interpretations.”

Seeking Design Expertise Online: Tips From the Experts

• Be as clear as possible in the project description
• Don’t skimp. Projects that are priced too low will attract fewer and less-talented designers.
• Give artists detailed feedback about their submissions.
• Consider how the images will be used and the different sizes that will be required.