Using photos, music and fonts legally: copyright for small charities

This guide is for anyone at a small charity who makes flyers, newsletters, social media posts, slide decks or event playlists. It's easy to grab a photo from a search engine or play a popular song at a fundraiser without thinking about who owns it. Most of the time nothing happens, but a demand letter for an unlicensed photo can cost a small charity real money, and being a charity isn't a defense. After reading, you'll know where to find images you can use, what common licenses allow, the limits of "fair use," the rules for music at events and fonts, and how to make sure your charity owns what volunteers create.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you get a demand letter, don't ignore it and don't pay straight away: ask a lawyer.

The basics

The U.S. Copyright Office says copyright protects "original works of authorship," including "poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture." Its Copyright Basics circular also lists "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works," which covers photos and drawings. A work is protected "the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form." Registration is voluntary, so a work doesn't need to be registered to be protected: almost every photo, song, video and piece of writing you find online belongs to someone.

Copyright doesn't protect "facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation," but it may protect the way they're expressed.

Images you can use

From safest to riskiest:

1. Your own photos, taken by staff or volunteers who have agreed in writing that the charity can use them (see "Owning what volunteers make" below), with consent from the people in them. Our photo consent form covers the people.
2. U.S. government works. The law says "copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government." Many federal agencies share photos and graphics you can use. Check the credit line, because a government site may also host work it doesn't own.
3. Public domain works whose copyright has expired or been waived. Check the source says so clearly.
4. Creative Commons and other free licenses (see below), used exactly as the license says.
5. Stock images you've licensed, within the license terms. Keep a copy of the license with the file.
6. Anything else (a search engine result, another organization's website, a news photo) needs the owner's permission.

Creative Commons licenses

Creative Commons is a nonprofit that publishes standard licenses creators can attach to their work. The main elements are:

Using a CC image is easy if you follow the rules: credit the creator, link to the license, and say if you changed it. Whether a charity's fundraising use counts as "noncommercial" isn't always clear-cut, so for appeals and paid materials, prefer images licensed CC BY, CC BY-SA or CC0.

Fair use: narrower than people think

Fair use lets people use copyrighted work without permission in some situations, such as commentary, criticism, teaching or news reporting. The Copyright Office lists four factors courts weigh:

1. the "purpose and character of the use," including whether it's commercial or "for nonprofit educational purposes"
2. the "nature of the copyrighted work"
3. the "amount and substantiality of the portion used"
4. the "effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work"

The Office says courts "are more likely to find that nonprofit educational and noncommercial uses are fair," but "this does not mean, however, that all nonprofit education and noncommercial uses are fair." Courts decide "on a case-by-case basis," and "there is no formula" for how much you can use. Putting someone's photo on your flyer to make it look nice is unlikely to be fair use just because you're a charity. When in doubt, ask permission or choose another image.

Music at events

Playing music in public is a "performance," and songwriters have rights over that. Section 110(4) of the Copyright Act exempts some in-person performances of nondramatic music (songs, not musicals or plays) when:

• there's no commercial purpose, the performance isn't transmitted, and no performer, promoter or organizer is paid for it, and
• either there's "no direct or indirect admission charge," or the proceeds, after reasonable costs, "are used exclusively for educational, religious, or charitable purposes."

If you charge admission, the copyright owner can object in writing at least seven days before the event. The exemption doesn't cover streaming or broadcasting the event, paid performers, or dramatic works. Some venues already hold music licenses; ask them. For anything outside the exemption, you'll need a license from the rights holders or the organizations that license public performances.

Fonts

Copyright Office regulations say "typeface as typeface" isn't protected by copyright. But the font files you install usually come with a license that says where you can use them (for example, in print but not embedded on a website). Use fonts that came with your software or that are licensed for free use, and keep a note of the license. Our brand basics guide covers choosing fonts.

Owning what volunteers make

The Copyright Office says "the copyright in a work initially belongs to the author(s) who created that work," not the organization that asked for it. A work made by an employee as part of their regular duties is a "work made for hire" that belongs to the employer; that rule is about employees, so don't rely on it for volunteers. So a volunteer who designs your logo or takes your event photos probably owns them unless you agree otherwise in writing. Our legal basics guide explains the "work made for hire" rules. A short written agreement, signed before the work starts, should say either that the volunteer transfers copyright to the charity or gives it a broad, permanent license to use the work. Keep the signed copy with the files.

Your checklist

• We only use images we made, licensed, or that are public domain or under a license we follow
• We keep a record of where each image came from and its license
• We credit Creative Commons images correctly and avoid NC images for fundraising materials
• We don't rely on fair use for decoration
• We check music use at events, and ask venues about their licenses
• Our fonts are licensed for how we use them
• Volunteers and freelancers sign a short agreement giving us rights to what they create
• We have written consent from people shown in our photos and stories