Photo and Video Waivers for Nonprofit Events
Nonprofits commonly use photographs or videos from events for promotional purposes. This includes social media posts, future brochures, and photo galleries on their website. These can all be great uses of photos, but anytime an organization photographs attendees and donors at events, you need to be mindful of privacy issues that can arise. If the photos will be used for marketing of any sort now or in the future, you need to include a photo waiver and an opportunity for participants to opt out.
Why it matters
While taking and using photos may seem routine and innocent to your organization, people may have a variety of reasons they don’t want their photo used for publicity. This may be as simple as a donor who wants their gift to remain fully anonymous to situations where a person doesn’t want it used for safety reasons.
For donors who wish to remain anonymous, an accidental use of their photo may result in loss of future donations and a reputation of disregarding a donor’s wish in that regard. This can be true whether a formal waiver was signed or not signed. A donor who has casually mentioned or expected you to know they wish to remain anonymous may still be offended even if they never gave formal notice that they didn’t want to be photographed.
For minors, seeking parental permission for photos is critical. Many parents have chosen to keep their children’s likeness off the internet entirely. Whether their reasons are related to a custody issue, general privacy, or concerns about their child’s photo being used by someone else, it’s imperative that nonprofits not use photos of minors for publicity purposes unless they have parental consent.
Ultimately, these scenarios boil down to protecting the privacy of your donors, participants, or others who are at your events. Name, image, and likeness use are all hot button issues. While Oklahoma does not currently have any privacy laws specific to these situations, lawmakers have made attempts to enact them in the past, and they may become a reality in the future.
“Waivers alert attendees to the possibility of photos being taken, the possible future use of the photo, and options for opting out of the process.”
Requesting waivers from all attendees
For all these reasons, any event should include a photo waiver for all attendees. Waivers alert attendees to the possibility of photos being taken, the possible future use of the photo, and options for opting out of the process.
When creating the waiver, specific types of future uses should be called out. For example. The waiver should indicate that photos may be used for marketing on social media, websites, print materials, or other marketing channels. Knowing all the possible uses gives the event attendee a better understanding of what they are agreeing to.
There are two common times to obtain photo releases. For ticketed events, many organizations build it into the ticket buying process and ask the ticket buyer to sign the waiver prior to checkout. A second option to consider is making it part of the check-in process for the event.
Providing a choice to opt out
Most people attending your events will not opt out of photos, but it is important that there be a process in place for those who choose to do so. As mentioned above, there are many reasons why a person may choose to opt out of photo use. Whether it be anonymity of a gift, a preference to stay off social media entirely, or a domestic violence or custody situation, it’s important to respect the wishes of those who opt out.
Part of offering an opt out includes having a process in place to ensure that they will not be photographed or that their photo will not be retained for use. While you may think you will remember, in the future you might not, or one photo might slip by among many. For these reasons, consider your process in advance.
While no process is perfect, having one laid out and being mindful of it is crucial to respecting those who have opted out. If you have a small event where all attendees are known, this may be as simple as sitting down after an event and deleting pictures or just avoiding photographing that person altogether. A larger event creates a bigger challenge, but some organizations have found success with obtaining a photo of the persons who are opting out for the purposes of identifying them in other photos. Another option may include pre-printed name tags with a signal to photographers and videographers to avoid catching them in a photograph.
Signage at an event can also cut down on confusion and alert attendees to potential use of photos. Photo booths have become popular at events, and some automatically send links of the pictures to a person’s phone. These links are easily posted to social media and often tag the organization automatically. If this is the case, signage around the booth can alert users to the possibility and make them aware that tagging the organization may be considered consent to use the picture in the future.
Taking and using photos from events can be a wonderful marketing resource for your organization, but photo waivers and an opt out process should always be used to protect the privacy of your donors and attendees.
