Interview with Kevin Miyazaki on collect.give

Kevin Miyazaki is an photographer and educator based in Milwaukee, WI. In addition to be in a great photographer, innovative educator and all-around charming fellow (see his about page on his website), now he has added philanthropist to the resume. His new website, collect.give, has raised over $6000 for worthwhile charities chosen by the featured artists. Here he answers a few questions about the new, growing charitable venture.

Brea Souders, Wasp Comb, 2007, 8x8" image on 9x9" paper, Digital c-print, $40
Benefiting Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL)

What is collect.give? What is the mission? collect.give is a place for people to collect limited edition photographs, with the additional benefit of giving to worthwhile causes. It's a place for photographers to donate fairly substantial amounts to causes they believe in. Most photographers pledge to donate between $750-1000 to their causes, more than many of us could afford to do on our own.

Melissa Kaseman, Hanging Snowflake, 8×8" image on 8.5×11" paper, Digital c-print, $50
Benefiting Inglis House in Philadelphia

Who are the founding of collect.give and when and why did it start? I founded collect.give this past December, after thinking about the concept for quite some time. This particular type of charity-based online photography gallery didn't exist, but is built on the success of sites like 20x200, as well as web technology for structure and marketing: PayPal, WordPress, FaceBook and Twitter.

Dave Jordano, Room Detail #2, Canute AFB, Rantoul, IL, 2007,
9x12" image on 11x14" paper, Archival inkjet print, $50
Benefiting The Ace of Cups Coffee House in Cairo, Illinois

Is it a not-for-profit or simply a facilitator for photographers to donate to their favorite charity? If so, how did you start this process? We're simply a facilitator, without non-profit status. It is an intentionally grassroots structure, in that it allows the photographer to give of their art, time and materials in a direct way. Once the viewer clicks "buy now," the photographer does all the work. But the collect.give website can reach a much wider viewership than any of us singularly. In the first four months, we've had over 18,000 visits to the site.


You do not take solicitations from photographers, but how do you select the photographers? I invite the photographs to participate, and that's the really fun part for me. The photographers are all people whose work I admire, some of whom I already know, and others not. I love to view photography online, so am continuously looking for photographers who I think would fit well in the mix. I just recently invited a photographer whose work I'd known, but was reminded of again through his inclusion in the PDN 30.

Kelly Shimoda, Before lunch: Flaccanicco, Italy,
8x12" image on 11x14" paper, Digital C-print, $45
Benefiting Start Small. Think Big., Inc

Do you have suggestions about which print a photographer will use, the edition size or price or is this all done by the photographer? It's completely up to the photographers, but they'll sometimes ask my opinion.


Where are all the photos printed? The choice of media is a personal one, and so photographers are choosing their own methods. Some are making archival inkjet prints and others are having digital c-prints made at a lab. The decision is up to the photographer, so I assume at some point, we may have a photographer wanting to offer silver prints as well.

Dalton Rooney, Palermo, Sicily, 2008,
7.5×7.5" image on 8.5×11" paper, Archival inkjet print, $40
Benefiting MillionTreesNYC

I know that you state that the photographers have selected the organizations, but has collect.give received solicitations from charities asking to be included? We haven't, and that's ok. When photographers are invited, they usually know exactly who they'd like to donate to, so we're not in need of other ways of finding good causes.


Have the donation print sales been successful? How much money have you raised for charities so far? How is this money donated? Yes! In the first four months, we've raised over $6300. Photographers are free to donate the money collected as they wish - small bits as it's raised, or as one lump sum at the end.


What do you see as the future of this website/organization? We're gaining steam, with lots of new visitors to the site each day. To be honest, I'd just like to continue on this path and structure. One of the nice things about the site is that it highlights all these different causes. Many people visit the site without buying a print, but if they've been inspired by the organizations they've read about, we've already done some good.