Frequently Asked Questions

If we still haven’t answered your questions,
please email info@artlifting.com and we’ll be in touch.

How do you find your artists?

ArtLifting works with individuals who participate in shelter or disability center art programs across the U.S. There are thousands of existing art groups in shelters and disability centers. Our first point of contact is most often the art director who oversees the artists in these programs. This helps us ensure that we are helping individuals who are committed to improving their situations and finding stable employment and housing.

How do I become an artist?

If you are interested in becoming an artist with ArtLifting, you can apply here. Once you've submitted an application, we can determine if you are a good fit for ArtLifting. Please be patient in this process, as we are frequently backlogged with requests to add new artists.

 

How do you pay your artists?

We pay our artists each month by check, direct deposit, or PayPal. If our artists do not have a mailing address, we can send their payment to the shelter in whose art program they participate.

 

How do you calculate artist payments?

Artists earn 55% of the profit. Profit is revenue minus costs of sale. The average costs per sale is calculated at a blended rate of 35%. This rate includes printing, scanning, storing and insuring artwork. For example, if an artwork sells for $1000, the costs are $350 and the artist earns $357.50 (55% of $650).

 

How does ArtLifting’s artist commission compare to other companies?

ArtLifting: 35.75% of sales price for mounted canvas prints

Society 6: average of 10% of sales price on mounted canvas prints

Minted: 10% of sales price for art prints

 

How do you choose your pricing?

We built our model to ensure that we can scale our impact and serve our artists and customers. When deciding pricing, we thought about it from our two stakeholders’ perspectives:

 

  • Customers - competitive pricing for high quality products
  • Artists - maximize their earnings while ensuring the model is financially sustainable

 

We are proud to be building a scalable and impactful business.  

 

Are you a non-profit?

No. ArtLifting is a benefit corporation, not a 501(c)3. Benefit corporations “have a corporate purpose to create a material positive impact on society and the environment; and are required to consider the impact of their decisions not only on shareholders but also on workers, community, and the environment.” Many companies that are well-known for bringing about positive social or environmental impact are benefit corporations such as Patagonia, Etsy, and Warby Parker.

 

Why aren’t you a non-profit?

Our co-founder Liz Powers worked for nonprofits for eight years before creating ArtLifting. The average nonprofit spends 75% of their time fundraising. Liz found this to be frustrating and stifling given the impact she wanted to make. Being a for-profit social enterprise allows us to focus on sustainably growing our business and our impact. Further, our artists do not want to be treated as charity cases, but as human beings with dignity. We manage the sale of their artwork in the same way as any professional art gallery would manage the sale of the work of artists it represents. Please refer to this blog post to learn more about why we are structured as a benefit corporation.


Scroll To Top