How to become an Education Partner on Unsplash

We started Unsplash for Education as a program to bring rich educational content to students and teachers in our community. Since then, we’ve worked with dozens of organizations from institutions like New York Public Library, Europeana, Library of Congress and more to bring visibility to their archives.

If your organization is interested in connecting with new audiences on Unsplash by sharing your archives, here’s everything you need to know.

What is Unsplash?
Unsplash is the largest platform for freely sharing photos in the world. With more than 60 million image downloads and 10 billion views every month, it’s larger than Flickr, Getty, and Shutterstock combined.

What are the key benefits of contributing a selection of our images to Unsplash?
By uploading images to Unsplash, you’ll be connected to a new audience of over 300 million people ready to engage with your archive. From University students creating presentations to graphic designers creating websites, your images will be used hundreds of thousands of times over the next 60 days — bringing a new life to your archival images. Unsplash’s library is included in 1000+ of the world’s top creative and educational applications including Google, Medium, Adobe, and Instructure — allowing millions of more users to create with Unsplash images.

In addition to the exposure and brand recognition, your organization will be associated with supporting the open-source photography movement and the creative community.

What is the process of starting an official account on Unsplash?
Our editorial team makes the process simple from the get-go. Before you get started, we will give you advice on what content gets the most exposure on the platform, and work with you to set up targeted keywords for your uploads.

How does the process work?

• Upload your photos and include identifying information in the description
• Set up targeted keywords for each upload to expand the image’s reach by distributing the content under similar search terms.
• Receive monthly stats on your image views and downloads, as well as any applicable advice on how to improve your account’s performance.

How will your profile be promoted?

• Unsplash will promote your images within target searches to increase awareness and create associations across tens of millions of users around the world.
• Your collection will be featured in an announcement to the wider community through social as well.
• Your images will be featured in our specific Education collections so that students and teachers can quickly access your content.

What does our organization need to do before uploading our images/archives to Unsplash?

• Your collection must be digitized (scans/photographs of the collection)
• Images uploaded to Unsplash must have accurate and reliable descriptions in terms of what the image/piece is depicting.
• Ensure that your digital images do not have any restrictions and ensure your collection complies with the Unsplash License and Unsplash Terms.

Are there any restrictions in terms of what we can upload to Unsplash?

• Accurate description of archival image including [content description].[location].[original medium].[date].
• Photos meet the minimum size requirement of 5 megapixels. For a standard landscape orientation photo, 5 megapixels is at least 2500 by 2000 pixels in size.
• Unsplash Photo standards.We don’t accept unclear photos, photos containing excess noise, ‘spotting’ (marks made by water or dirt on the lens at the time the photo was taken), selfies, or shots taken on extreme angles.

Are there any content preferences in terms of what we should upload?Your organization can upload any high quality and accurate digitized works. In terms of what Unsplash is currently looking for:

• Art (paintings, sculpture, collage, etc.)
• Music ( photos of instruments, sheet music, performance images)
• Historical Events
• Historical Figures
• Natural History
• Medical or Science
• Current Events & Politics
• People, culture, and diversity

Are there any restrictions in terms of content we cannot upload?

• Photos promote violence/contain violent imagery.
• Photos contain nudity.
• Photos are over-edited.

What is the Unsplash license?
All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.

More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.

What is the difference between the CC0 license and the Unsplash license?The Unsplash License is in the same spirit as the CC-0 License — the difference being that the Unsplash License does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.

To summarize, the Unsplash License and the CC0 License:

• Are both sublicensable and non-revocable
• Both allow users to use photos for free, for personal and commercial purposes
• Both don’t require attribution

If the images are in the public domain, would they remain in the public domain if they are shared on Unsplash?

The images would remain in the public domain — being on Unsplash won’t change the license of the photos. The profile on Unsplash can also confirm that the photos are in the public domain. To explain further, a more restrictive license can’t override a less restrictive license — i.e. if an image from the public domain is shared on Instagram, it doesn’t make the image no longer in the public domain.

How can our organization’s images be used exactly? Are there any restrictions?
As photos are free to use for both commercial and noncommercial purposes — people can simply use the images however they’d like. The ways in which your collection may used could include: school presentations, art inspiration, social media posts, marketing content, etc.

They cannot however, upload your images to a similar or competing service to Unsplash. They also cannot sell your images without first updating, modifying, or otherwise incorporating new creative elements into the photos (i.e., selling unaltered copies of the photos). This includes selling the photos as prints or printed on physical goods.

What happens if we want to delete the images on our account?
If you delete your collection from your account and no longer wish to use Unsplash — no Unsplash user will be able to access or download your images on the platform. However, the Unsplash License is irrevocable, so copies of the photo that were downloaded before deletion may still be used for free.

What other partners have joined Unsplash?
The partners that have their archives are from the largest organizations in the world including Library of Congress, Europeana, New York Public Library, NOOA Photo Library and more.

Do I need to be an institution or organization to become an education partner?
Not necessarily, if you are from a company, school or charity that has educational content, you can also apply to become an education partner.

Interested in learning more- email partnerships@unsplash.com or sign up here: Unsplash Education Partner Form.