[Kimberly Dow]

I have donated to charities, but usually in the form of designing a painting specific to their theme and auctioning it off. I did just donate my first portrait - I have not started it yet. From what I was told though the buyer wants to upgrade and add other people, so I am looking forward to it.

One thing that maybe sounds weird, but has helped me is joining the Chamber of Commerce. I get to leave brochures at their office and they send out mass faxes at anytime I want for advertising. The faxes cannot show photos, but it has gotten the business owners in the community to know I am there and contact numbers. It has been well-worth the $55 a year price. Plus, all the charities go through the Chamber so they call me often (too often) for donations. Plus, I actually had my membership paid for by one of the charities I did a poster for. They were a faith-based charity and I would not take payment so they did that instead.