Click to Enlarge Rather than partnering with an already existing NGO, many photographers create their own, which they target to a specific cause such as empowering poor communities through photography. The biggest reason is economic: When you get your 501(c)(3) status through an umbrella organization, you have to give them anywhere from 6 to 13 percent of the funds you raise. And the government considers those funds taxable income. When you create your own not-for-profit, you keep all the money you raise -- and it's tax-free. The process of starting an NGO can be long and costly, but many lawyers will donate time if they're sympathetic to the NGO's mission.
Collaborating with an NGO often brings credibility to a personal project that otherwise might slip by potential funding sources. "Working with an NGO will usually help you get grants," says Amy Yenkin, director of the Open Society Institute's Documentary Photography Project -- the group that funded Daniel Morel's Haitian exhibitions. A collaboration between photographer and NGO can also create a kind of gravity that attracts further collaborators, often from the business or private sector.
When Steven Katzman, author of the 2005 book The Face of Forgiveness (powerHouse), began a personal project shooting portraits in a neglected African-American community in Sarasota, Florida, an NGO took notice and contacted a local governmental agency. Funding from the city and county followed. Local banks stepped in, and the Chamber of Commerce began soliciting donations. Then Katzman, a teacher at Ringling School of Art and Design, contacted Bogen Imaging. "When I told Bogen I was doing this project, they gave me equipment at a substantial discount. When I told them students would be involved, they gave me two of everything free."
Phil Borges has found generosity within the photo industry: Getty Images donates office space to Borges's NGO Bridges to Understanding, while Hewlett Packard has printed an entire UN exhibition of his work for free.
For many photographers, the impetus to do personal work grew out of their frustration with the paradigm shift in the print industry that has quantitatively and qualitatively reduced their editorial options. As photographers are finding alternative means of funding the work they want to do, they're experiencing a new sense of creative -- and ethical -- liberation. Moreover, many of them are making a living at it. As Phil Borges says, "There's a magic to doing work you believe in." Maybe that's what's in the air.
New grants new solutions
For the past 15 years, the Open Society Institute and Soros Foundations Network (OSI) has supported socially conscious documentary photographers with its evolving grants and exhibitions. Its latest conception, the Documentary Photography Project, bestows yearly grants on photographers to help fund distribution strategies designed to impact the communities they photograph.
"We're interested in funding photographers who have made a deep commitment to the community they work in," says Amy Yenkin, who has directed the project since its 2003 inception. "They have started early, thinking how they want people to engage with and react to their work."
Eric Gottesman's project for the NGO Hope for Children is a prime example. His OSI grant helped him display his images of AIDS-stricken Ethiopians in open-air exhibits around their country. Gottesman set up his displays near community hubs such as a market or a water reservoir, and held coffee or tea ceremonies to put people at ease. By incorporating his understanding of Ethiopian culture into his distribution strategy, Gottesman drew about 4,000 viewers and encouraged discussion about an epidemic that is still taboo in much of the country.
Distribution grant applicants must also be supported by an organization besides OSI, such as an NGO or a publisher. In its research, the OSI discovered that photographers working with such partners were more likely to effect tangible changes than those working alone.
For instance, Marcus Bleasdale's photos were presented in conjunction with the Human Rights Watch report The Curse of Gold to illustrate the human cost of natural-resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Together they triggered reforms, including convincing one multinational gold company to halt the purchase of "tainted gold."
The OSI hopes these grants inspire new distribution models to beef up outlets for social-documentary photo projects. Yenkin plans to post case studies from completed projects, including interviews with photographers, analyses, and suggestions for improvements. Visit soros.org/initiatives/photography.
-Miki Johnson
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