It’s refreshing when a company’s values run deeper than its desire for profit.
Why Portraits For Good started “doing good”
As the company’s name suggests, Portraits For Good aims to sell great art from artists. Then, the business donates 10 percent of proceeds from the sale to a charity of the buyer’s choosing.
Alix Greenberg, Portraits For Good’s founder and a New York artist, started her business in December 2015. Greenberg was inspired to start Portraits For Good after pondering a simple, but important point. Artists typically support important causes, but don’t always know how to directly impact the causes that truly matter to them.
The company has since partnered with several artists who create original art and limited edition prints that showcase their unique artistic style. “Since this is a fine art venture, I carefully acquire artists who have a strong aesthetic style and on their social media presence,” Greenberg says.
“The site is curated and as I grow the business, I plan on bringing on one to two artists a day, then more! I want to make sure the site is showcasing the best.”
Currently, the business is working with Melissa Brice, Denton Burrows, Alyssa DePaola, Joey Feldman, Harley Langberg, and Mike Natter. Greenberg provides art, too.
How it works
Portraits aggregates its artists through a platform that helps sell their work to charitably minded individuals. And because the artists are charitably minded themselves, the site typically organically attracts artists.
If a customer doesn’t see an original piece of art they like, that person also can choose to work one-on-one with an artist to commission a piece.
The customer and the artist work out the piece’s details and the work begins. The artist mails the artwork framed and ready to hang to the customer.
Charities and communities benefit
Greenberg began choosing the non-profits that her company helps via a natural process — she simply chose her favorite charities. “[But] as I brought artists on, and more customers purchased, they also had ideas of charities to add,” she explains.
“I am happy to add non-profits locally and abroad as long as they are benefiting [all of] us for good.”
Since launching the site, the business has helped support many organizations, including CodePurple Now, JDRF, Doctors Without Borders, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and ASPCA.
Greenberg also believes that art benefits communities in myriad ways.
For example, art is psychologically beneficial for artists and viewers. It also also can help enrich communities and culture, says Greenberg. “Giving back is just the icing on the cake.”
This post was updated on August 30, 2017 to reflect that Portraits For Good is not a non-profit.
Related on EcoSalon
This Artist is Making Memorable Street Murals [Video]
Animal Rights Activism Meets Street Art in the ‘Vegan Club’
Birds or Art? [Video]