How to Price Your Time When the Money Isn't Yours

Most people freeze when asked to put a number on their own time. It feels boastful, or arbitrary, or just deeply awkward, like being asked to read your own performance review out loud. So they lowball, or stall, or pick a number designed mostly to avoid seeming full of themselves.

Here the math is different in a way that quietly takes the pressure off. The money isn't going to you. Every dollar goes to a nonprofit you chose. So the question stops being 'what am I worth,' which is impossible to answer without cringing, and becomes 'how do I set a number that does the most good.' That's a much easier question, and a more motivating one.

You're pricing impact, not ego

Once the fee belongs to a cause, a higher number isn't a statement about your importance. It's simply more funding per conversation for something you believe in. The whole story you tell yourself about pricing changes. Reaching for a confident number isn't bragging anymore. It's the difference between funding a little of your cause and funding more of it.

A practical way to land on a figure

If you want a starting point rather than a philosophy:

• Begin near what your kind of expertise would reasonably command in the open market.
• Decide how accessible you want to be. A lower rate means more people can afford to book you.
• Weigh reach against impact: many sessions at a modest price, or fewer at a higher one. Both are valid.
• Pick a clean, round number you can say without flinching. You can always change it.

Underpricing isn't humble here. It's a cost.

When the money was yours, lowballing felt modest. When the money goes to a nonprofit, every dollar you shave off the price is a dollar the cause doesn't get. The modesty stops being a personal virtue and starts being something the organization quietly pays for. People who seek out an experienced person have already decided the guidance is valuable. You can honor that by charging a rate that reflects it.

And none of it is permanent. Try a number, sit with how it feels, adjust. The only real goal is to convert the experience you've already accumulated into the most good for a cause you care about. That's a strange and pleasant thing to optimize for.