We consider a dusty clump in two cases of spherical and cylindrical symmetry to investigate the effect of temperature and density gradients on the observed flux density. Conversely, we evaluate how the presence of these gradients affects the calculation of the clump mass from the observed flux. We provide approximate expressions relating flux density and mass in the optically thick and thin limits and in the Rayleigh-Jeans regime, and we discuss the reliability of these expressions by comparing them to the outcome of a numerical code. Finally, we present the application of our calculations to three examples taken from the literature, which shows how the correction introduced after taking into account temperature and density gradients may affect our conclusions on the stability of the clumps.