Focus for Humanity (FFH) is a US based non profit foundation that supports amateur and professional photographers throughout the world to focus their work on telling cultural and humanitarian stories.

Through a series of grants and awards it helps these photographers to perfect their craft by funding not only fully expensed photographic assignments to work with underfunded NGOs, but also grants to help people become full-time photographers or to improve their craft by subsidizing attendance on photographic workshops and providing mentoring schemes with leading humanitarian and travel photographers.

The first of those grants – the Annual Foundation Scholarship – is designed to support a keen photographer or semi-pro wishing to make a life and living in photography. The scholarship includes grants of up to $5,000 for equipment and up to $10,000 for projects, travel and subsistence expenses over the year of tenure, making a total grant of up to $15,000. Applications open on 1st July 2010, but you cam use the intervening period to register, prepare and upload your images and prepare your proposal.

Our Advisory Council – who will also judge the applications – reads like a who’s who of the best in Humanitarian, Cultural and World photography, and we will be announcing some exciting new additions to this illustrious group in the near future. But to David duChemin, Gavin Gough, Matt Brandon, Karl Grobl, Jeffrey Chapman, Edoardo Agresti and Mario Mattei – thank you for your support, advice and faith in our vision.

We are running the whole foundation as a virtual organization, exploiting the best and latest of social media, technology and ideas to allow us to function whilst living 8 time zones apart. What this does give us is geographical reach, if nothing else!

We could not have launched without some amazing support and good fortune – and it would be invidious to name some and not others. You know who you are , so thank you. Our developer walked out on us after a month, so I have put the website together myself. If you think it is brilliant let me know. If not, stay silent! It was a challenging journey and I am grateful to several of you for your help.

OK, so now I want all of you reading this to lend us your support. It is a very simple 3 stage request.

Step 1 – Blog, tweet, Facebook about the launch, the amazing grants on offer, the power and depth of the Advisory Council etc.

Step 2. Encourage your friend to follow us, sign-up on facebook and to register one the website

Step 3 –Pledge . Just $10: the equivalent of two large and over-priced lattes; or $25: the cost of a night at the movies or $60: the price of a tank of gas – unless you live in the UK where this is about the price of a pint of milk! – or some other amount.

We are am aiming to raise $60,000 in the remainder of this year, so that is only a couple of thousand of you forgoing a night at the movies, knowing that in so doing you will be helping humanity.

Please browse the site, spread the word, pledge to your hearts content. And don’t hesitate to get in touch via twitter, facebook or the Focus For Humanity Website if you want to be more involved.