Snap, Save, and Give! At Picateers, Digital Photos Get Saved for Free, Make Money for K-12 Schools

Business Wire, Dec 5, 2007

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Picateers, Inc. (www.picateers.com), the socially-conscious online portrait company that gives back 25-50% of revenues to K-12 schools and other non-profit organizations, today announced its free, unlimited digital photo storage and online sharing services.

Picateers' new storage services are guaranteed free for 10 years to users who sign in at least once a year. And, unlike most photo sites, Picateers allows its users to download the original files at any time.

"We don't want to hold our members' photos hostage by either preventing them from downloading what they've uploaded or by requiring annual purchases to guarantee storage," said Larry Jacobs, CEO of Picateers, Inc. "We don't need to because at Picateers, our members regularly buy prints and other photo products. When they do, they know that they're also helping raise much needed funds for their children's schools."

Digital cameras have made it easier for parents to chronicle school-related events throughout the year. Their challenge has been organizing and sharing these pictures with other parents. Picateers' new online photo service includes Web 2.0 group collaboration tools that make it easy for parents to quickly create and distribute shared group albums with friends and family.

The parents of the students at Lexington Elementary School in Los Gatos, California were among the first to test Picateers' services. During the company's pilot program last year, they began uploading and sharing the pictures they took during field trips and other activities to the Picateers site. "It was a great idea, and at the end of the year, we discovered an added benefit. Because of Picateers' organizational tools, putting the yearbook together was suddenly painless," said Linda Fagan, president of the school's parent teacher organization. "For me personally, putting together my children's personal memory books has also been dramatically simplified. Picateers gives me the tools, and 25% of the purchase price goes to my children's respective schools."

Picateers gives 25% of prints and photo merchandise sales to member-designated schools, while school sponsored portrait fundraiser programs generate 50% cash back. With U.S. households spending $4.9 billion on portraits in 2006, according to the Photo Marketing Association, and Infotrends projecting prints and photo merchandise to grow to $1 billion in 2011, Picateers' cash-back program can mean millions of dollars to support local schools.

"Our school has already raised over $2000 with Picateers this year," said Fagan.

About Picateers

Founded by parents who wanted to help their children's schools raise money, Picateers is an innovative online portrait company that enables schools, athletic teams, and children's organizations to turn school and activity related photos into fundraisers - from fall and spring portraits to snapshots taken throughout the school year.

Funded by Norwest Venture Partners and angel investors, the company is headquartered in San Mateo, California.