In most states in the U.S., nursing homes are required by law to provide entertainment. They have a budget for this, and the residents are charged enough that there is money available.
When you provide your services for free in these instances, you are only helping the owners of the nursing home, not the residents, as intended.
Also, this hurts those who work the NH circuits. You know, the ones that have the talent, equipment, experience and commitment to do a really good job. The fee charged in many cases barely pays enough to make it profitable anyway.
Let's say you do an hour show at a nursing home for $100. That sounds pretty good, right? Only you have to drive there, unload, set up, perform, load back up, drive back home (don't forget to buy gasoline). That can take from one to several hours. Then you deduct a portion for other expenses, such as insurance, replacing worn or damaged gear, tires for the car, cleaning or laundry, etc. Then you pay income tax on that hundred bucks. Not sure what is left, but you'd BETTER do a bunch of them if you want to make a living!
In fact, it might well be better economically to do 'em for free and deduct your usual rate (not the cut rate) from taxes as a charitable donation, providing you have other income from which to take the deductions. EXCEPT, nursing homes are not charities, they are for-profit businesses. CHARGE 'EM MORE, and don't do them free.
If you want to do free stuff, got to hospitals, veteran's homes, charity fund-raisers and similar venues. There are lots of those around that do not have budgets or even plans for entertaining the patients.
Please excuse the rant, and remember that the circumstances I described may not apply in your location. But they do in mine.
DonM