Sometimes, we get so caught up in being frugal that we forget to give back a bit. Giving to causes you believe in is important, and unfortunately, often gets cut out of the frugal budget as an unnecessary expense. For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to post each Saturday in support of a frugal cause, that is, a worthy cause that provides something important that is free for anyone to use. This week, my frugal cause the Creative Commons.
The Creative Commons develops and promotes the Creative Commons licenses to provide a legally-sound method for writers, artists, and other creators to make their work available for free for others to use and build upon. Unlike releasing a work into the public domain, which allows unrestricted use of the work, the Creative Commons licenses allow creators to retain their rights to the work and control the manner in which they are used.
My personal use of CC licensed works is primarily photographs, especially those I use here on Wisebread. If you have need of photographs, CC licensed works are a goldmine, because you can find tens of thousands of outstanding photographs to use, entirely free. (Just be sure to attribute them, and to follow any other conditions specified in the license.) The Creative Commons has a search engine that will help you find CC licensed media on Google, Yahoo!, Flickr, and other services.
If you value free services (free as in beer, indeed, but also free as in speech), then drop by the Creative Commons and become a Creative Commoner or pick up something neat from the CC Store.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Creative Commons in any way, I’m simply a grateful Creative Commoner.