Built from six years of real campaigns
CoPhoto started with a problem nearly every photographer knows: being asked to give, with no way to turn that generosity into clients.
The trouble with donated sessions
Almost every photographer gets asked to donate: a silent auction package for the school gala, an afternoon of free portraits at a fundraiser, a gift card for the raffle basket.
It's good work, and it rarely leads anywhere. The winning bidder may never book. When they do, you have no relationship with them, no way to follow up, and no idea who else in that room wanted what you offer.
How it grew
2020
The events disappeared
When COVID hit, every one of our partner nonprofits lost the galas and auctions they depended on. So we tried something new: an online portal each nonprofit could promote to its own donors, offering as many portrait sessions as their community wanted instead of a single auction package.
Our first campaigns
It worked
The first campaign sold 20 sessions. The next sold 30. Because every donor gave through our site, we could follow up with each family and make sure they actually booked. For the first time, a donated session became the start of a real client relationship.
We knew we were on to something.
Six years of testing
We refined every step
We tested how campaigns launch, what donors receive, how families book and how sessions turn into orders, and kept what worked. We tried tool after tool to keep operations simple, and worked through the tax rules for gifts that come with a benefit, so every donor receipt shows the value of the session the way the IRS expects.
As we grew
We built what didn’t exist
More campaigns meant more photographers, editors and client managers, and the scheduling, database and CRM to hold it all together. Nothing on the market was built for donors who become portrait clients, so we built our own.
What came next
We grew what worked
We added exclusive upgrade locations, like stadium portrait sessions, that donors could choose for a one-of-a-kind experience. We structured friendly competitions between chapters of large organizations, pushing campaigns further than any one group could go alone.
Six figures
raised in donations for nonprofits
Hundreds
of portrait sessions every year
2020
the year our first campaign launched
Now it's yours
CoPhoto is everything we built and learned, packaged for your studio: the systems, the compliance, and the answers to a million questions we've already been asked. It gives you a proven way to bring new families straight to your calendar while you serve your community.
Use our proven sales flow
Start with the exact process we run: the nonprofit consult script, the campaign timeline, the promo kit and the ordering appointment training.
Or bring your own
Already have a sales process you love? Keep your gallery, your ordering appointment and your tools, and set CoPhoto up around the way you work.
We're the team behind Vacanva's portrait fundraisers, founded by Ashley Siegert in 2020.
Ashley SiegertFounder
Run your first portrait fundraiser
Founding spots are limited to 50 studios, with 3 months free and a rate that stays locked for as long as you stay.