I’ve even done work for non-profits that I really admired and took far too much abuse.

I get those “Exposure” calls all the time, amazingly, from other established agencies who want interactive because they don’t have the skills in-house and don’t feel web people are “worth more than minimum wage”; and I always politely decline and highlight the fact that we are professionals whom for which this is our career and livelihood.

We learned a long time ago “if-come” work is a scam; and unless someone is willing to pay money for a project it’s not worth anything to them and move on and don’t waste your time.

My answer to some of the “pro bono” stuff taking up too much of your time is to fill out a contract valuing the time, and including the hours involved in the work, and then specifically saying “in lieu of payment” and saying we consider that a donation.

That way the number of hours and scope of work are clearly defined, as is the “additional hours” rate. We still end up doing the extra work, but at least people know the value of what we’re giving them for free and they appreciate it a bit more.

It’s part of a larger trend, where creatives work as sharecroppers on sites where they receive little, but those owning the sites (like Bebo, Facebook, etc) receive much.

As a copywriter with 23 years of experience, I’m continually amazed by the number of emails I receive pitching “free” work in return for wholly nebulous returns – as if I owed somebody the content they need to make money.

Doing work for non-monetary compensation (free tuition is monetary compensation, BTW) almost never passes the sniff test, and I’d suggest creatives pass on that kind of work unless their heart is in the job (advocacy, etc).

Even then, you have to be careful; I’ve been involved in a handful of advocacy battles the past few years, and in most of the cases, I looked around the room at my “colleagues” in the battle, and all – save me – were being paid.