WELCOME TO SHEDDING LIGHT

I believe this will prove to be a useful forum and I am happy to be writing the first post in the Shedding Light Blog. While most of you reading this already know the gist of our new organization, but for those new to the idea, the following is lifted from our organizing document.

Shedding Light, Inc. is a nonprofit imaging and design agency whose mission is to provide the highest quality yet affordable media to nonprofit organizations around the world whose ability to compete for funds would be enhanced by modern marketing and technology solutions.

Shedding Light is an idea born in the humble village of Vrindavan, India. Two American photographers, Erik Boker and Brian Harmon visited The Guild of Service, a multi-dimensional service organization working on behalf of disadvantaged people throughout India. After making contact with Dr. Mohini Giri, a widely respected Nobel Prize nominee and executive director of Guild of Service, Erik and Brian spent several days taking photos for use in an upcoming fundraising initiative.

The unfortunate Catch-22 of the nonprofit industry lies in the fact that with usually only enough money for day to day execution of their work, nonprofits have no way to effectively market themselves in order to raise more funds. The National Strategy for Nonprofit Technology released a report in which they described the increasing problem of a digital divide between nonprofit organizations and the technology that is driving the private sector and continued with the following:

…[that] most nonprofits are hesitant to use technology and are ill-informed about the impact it could have on their work, that funders are reluctant to invest in efforts that seem unrelated to program delivery, and that technology assistance providers are ill-equipped to provide the kind and scale of support necessary to transform the nonprofit sector’s use of technology. Also, research indicates that there are disparities in nonprofits’ access to and use of technology – namely, that many nonprofits in low-income communities and in communities of color are underserved with respect to technology acquisition and use.

-A Blue Print for Infusing Technology into the Nonprofit Sector

Shedding Light aims to address this dilemma by providing professional photographic services to nonprofits around the world. Shedding Light is organized exclusively for charitable purposes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code. Starting in January 2008, Erik Boker and Brian Harmon will offer local nonprofits reduced rate photography and design services and provide access to existing stock photography for specific use in fundraising efforts. It is our commitment to work towards an organization that can help not only the worthy projects in America, but those in countries whose lack of infrastructures make the operation and promotion of nonprofits even more daunting.

In the coming weeks, we will move quickly to solidify the gains we made in our launch exhibition of May 4 and work to diversify both our work (by moving slowly into video) and our connections.

I hope everyone will pass the word and keep checking in on what we're up to. And as always, there are too many nonprofits around the world that need this kind of help, so please let us know if you are aware of one in your area that is in particular need of multi media services to strengthen fund raising ability.