Blue Earth sponsors photographic projects whose goal is to educate the public about endangered cultures, threatened environments, or current topics of social concern. We are primarily interested in work that is educational and informational in nature, and will consider proposals of any geographic scope, involving the photographic medium (we do not sponsor motion picture projects). Our contract sponsors the project for two years.

We accept project proposals twice a year. Our next deadlines will be January 20th, 2011 and July 20th, 2011. Materials must be received by the deadline in our offices. We announce recipients approximately two months later.

Blue Earth offers fiscal accountability to the projects we accept for sponsorship. As a non-profit organization with 501(c)3 status, Blue Earth is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions from private foundations, individuals, or other entities.

Along with this fiscal accountability, we also offer other services. When you join our community, we offer free access to our grant-writer, mentorship throughout the life of your sponsorship, use of our office wall space to showcase some work, use of our mailing lists, help with PR and marketing, and more.

Submission Tips

Projects Should…

• Meet the Blue Earth mission
• Explain the educational component of their project
• Show very high writing quality, along with high quality photography
• Propose an achievable project in scope, cost, and degree
• Be innovative; not derivative of existing or past Blue Earth projects
• Include a budget that reflects the realities of life, includes living/working expenses, and is thorough

Projects Should Not…

• Seek funding from Blue Earth
• Be a means to acquire new photographic equipment
• Have connections with more appropriate 501(c)3 organizations
• Be pseudo-scientific in nature

Application Process

Only electronic applications will be accepted and only at the email address below. Documents should be in PDF, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel format. Jpegs should be accessible for download by our office. Please see the FAQ for suggestions on free services for converting documents to PDF and for sending large image files.

Applications should include the following information. Incomplete submissions will not be considered. The narrative may be combined into one document or broken into separate documents; in either case, each section listed below must be included in your application and must be clearly labeled as such.

All documents must be named lastname_firstname_letter.pdf, lastname_firstname_resume.pdf, etc.

• Brief letter (3 pages or less) describing the proposed project and your previous work
• Your resume including physical address, phone number, and email. Submissions that do not include contact information will not be considered.
• Detailed schedule
• Proposed budget
• A list of sources you plan to approach for funding
• Three references with complete contact information
• 20 images of recent work, preferably the same work as your proposed project
  • images must be between 800 and 3,000 pixels per side
  • must be in jpeg format
  • must be named/numbered lastname_firstname_01.jpg, lastname_firstname_02.jpg, lastname_firstname_03.jpg, etc.
  • must include a Description in the metadata (in IPTC, Description is stored as Caption)
  • should have your copyright attached to the file
• Submission fee ($60 for non-members, $30 for members), check or money order payable to Blue Earth. You may also pay the fee online via our donation form - just enter the appropriate amount at the time of submission.

Please address all submissions to:

Bart J. Cannon
Program Manager, Blue Earth
submissions10@blueearth.org
(206) 725-4913

For general mail, please use our contact form.

Considerations Before Applying

Before sending in your proposal, please make sure you understand that Blue Earth 501(c)3 sponsorship is a tax status that can be used to approach U.S. companies, foundations, and private individuals for tax-deductible donations. Ordinarily, this tax status will not be useful in seeking funding from sources outside the United States.

The photographer is primarily responsible for developing funding requests for the project in collaboration with the grant-writer we provide. There will be a substantial amount of work required on your part. All requests for funds under the organization’s name are subject to Blue Earth approval and are made on behalf of Blue Earth, which will administer the funds and, after deducting a 5% administration fee, distribute those funds to the project as it progresses. This information will be covered in detail once the project is accepted.

Accepted project photographers are required to sign a sponsorship contract and report to Blue Earth on a regular basis. The project photographer is required to use the photographer's best efforts to obtain public exhibitions and/or lectures each year of the project in order to further the Blue Earth mission of educating the public about the project.

Blue Earth seeks a diverse project portfolio and subsequently, not all worthy projects can be accepted. Blue Earth may or may not be able to provide an applicant feedback from the selection panel about their project proposal seeking sponsorship. The selection panel and project portfolio varies somewhat each review round and applicants are encouraged to apply when eligible. If your project falls within our mission statement, we can review your project again in a subsequent submission round.

Please contact us if you have any questions. In addition, we have prepared a short list of frequently asked questions, including topics that relate to project submissions.