LOS ANGELES, CA.- Today, the Lucie Foundation will launch a new online crowdfunding platform exclusively for photography-based projects. Fotofund is the non-profit’s latest endeavor to attract unique and exciting photography projects that will propel the medium forward as well as foster their mission to support, honor, and cultivate photographic talent. Reaching a global audience of both seasoned and emerging photographers, Fotofund will support a diverse roster of photography-based projects from traditional to non-traditional approaches of the medium. Tapping into the Lucie Foundation’s vast network of photographers and loyal advocates of their mission, eager photographers are creating early campaigns and backers are quickly taking notice.

Just days before it is scheduled to launch, Fotofund already houses nearly a dozen campaigns with subjects as diverse as the artists themselves. From Patricia Dinu’s personal quest to return to the American Southwest and “journey inside the soul of the landscape” to complete her “most important career project” - The Desert of Souls to The Forgotten Americans, a series of portraits to be published documenting abandoned American children in the Philippines by EnricoDungca, and Delphine Diallo’s quest to publish her book of “visionary” New York Portraits, Fotofund is already staged to be one of the most exciting, new photography crowdfunding websites available.

“The diversity of global talent already showcasing on Fotofund and the exposure it offers for photographers is truly worth celebrating,” remarked Hossein Farmani, Founder and Chairman of the Lucie Foundation. “Expect to see even more inspiring projects from today’s visionary minds as the site continues to build momentum. The possibilities are fantastically endless.”

Additional campaigns already gaining visibility include the Dan Wynn Archive, Iran, Saudade, a “pursuit of melancholia”, Love Has to be Reinvented, focusing on the balance between human suffering and happiness, archiving Jerry Stoll’s photography, a mission to create an official archive of Stoll’s work from the California Jazz era, Synchronicity, a sociology study through photography by Egor Rogalev, Scrublands, a documentary project showcasing men and women who live away from cities throughout Europe, and You Build it Up, You Wreck it Down,a personal interpretation of the music and lyrics of Tom Waits.

Fotofund’s functionality is quite simple and generally follows the outline of other seasoned crowdfunding websites, however, it boasts a few distinguishing factors. While only supporting photography-based projects, Fotofund also offers two models for funding: a flexible funding model where the project creator receives all donations whether or not their full funding goals are met or alternatively, they can select to only receive funding if the full amount of their goal is reached. These options allow additional flexibility and incentives for each photographer.

With its two-fold mission to provide financial backing to photographic projects through online contributions and to support photography worldwide by bringing photographers’ visions to life, Fotofund is set to provide a highly visible platform for exceptional global talent and passionate photographers that might have otherwise gone unseen.