Anyone who runs a small business knows it can take long hours and sometimes uncomfortable levels of personal investment to make a small business run. At Cultivate, we feel your pain. When we leave work we are tired – even if we just sit and click all day long. Even though commercial artists all dream about the projects they will create some day in their free time; when night falls, it’s often pretty enticing to get oneself as far away from anything work-related as possible.

However, after work creative indulgence is also absolutely necessary. It’s good for the mind, it’s good for the eye and it’s good for the soul. It’s good to make something for yourself. And, it’s good to make something for others. Over the coming month, the Cultivate Blog will be featuring the work of Cultivate employees created for others. A mini-festival of pro bono projects created during our free time. Well, mostly during our free time. Who doesn’t sneak a little personal work into their day?

Like many creative professionals, we have a love/hate relationship with pro bono work requests. Better cause. Less Budget. More creative freedom. Less Time. Even so, love usually wins, especially when pro bono doesn’t mean helping our moms design a picture poster for the next family reunion. Love you mom! The reality of the non-profit world is often miniscule amounts of marketing cheddar and I think I can speak for everyone at Cultivate when I say that we appreciate a non-profit with the resolve to make some great creative materials anyway.

Please enjoy our tantalizing tour of what happens when a Cultivate employee puts down the fork, remote, book, or child and goes pro bono.

First up – Project FOCUS.