OUR PROCESS

The Emergency Fund supports experienced photographers with a commitment to documenting social issues, working long-term, and engaging with an issue over time. Projects address critical global issues that have not received the attention they deserve, or budding crises that are still over the horizon. Photographers retain the copyright to their work and distribute it widely: through traditional and new media, in collaboration with nonprofits or NGOs, and on the Emergency Fund website.

Each year, a diverse group of photography professionals nominate 100 professional photographers to submit proposals. An independent Editorial Board selects 10 to 20 photographers—based on the strength of their proposals and the importance of the issues they propose to address—to support.


Our partners

Open Society Foundations Kickstarter
Humanity United Photoshelter


2012 Nominators

  • Mark Murrmann– Photo Editor, Mother Jones
  • Michael Goldfarb – Media Relations Manager, MSF
  • Andrei Polikanov – Picture Editor, Russian Reporter
  • Mary Ann Golan – Independent Photo Editor
  • Alexa Dilworth – Publishing Director/Editor, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
  • Yumi Goto – Photo Consultant
  • James Estrin – Lens Blog Editor/Photographer, New York Times
  • Dalia Khamissy – Photographer
  • Arianna Rinaldo – Freelance Photo Consultant and Director of OjodePez magazine
  • David Alan Harvey – Magnum Foundation Board Member
  • Steve McCurry – Magnum Foundation Board Member
  • Jim Goldberg – Magnum Foundation Board Member
  • Alex Webb – Magnum Foundation Board Member

2012 Selection Committee

  • Bob Dannin – former Editorial Director of Magnum Photos, and Professor of History at Suffolk University
  • Philip Gourevitch – Contributing Writer for New Yorker and former Editor of Paris Review
  • Marc Kusnetz – former Senior Producer of NBC News and Consultant for Human Rights First