Case Study: HIAS (global refugee-protection nonprofit) achieves real-time global photo distribution — sharing refugee stories worldwide in under an hour — with PhotoShelter for Brands

How a Real-Time Photography Workflow Helped HIAS Tell Refugees’ Stories Worldwide in Less Than an Hour

HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, faced a sudden communications challenge when a Syrian mother and her two young daughters were blocked from entering the U.S. after a new travel ban, then later cleared to travel — creating a high-stakes opportunity to share a powerful reunion story quickly with the public and press.

HIAS Senior Director of Communications Bill Swersey captured the reunion, edited photos in a taxi and uploaded them via his phone hotspot into Libris’s visual media library within an hour, adding captions and metadata for reporters. The team posted an image to social, shared a passworded gallery with media outlets, and the photos went viral and were picked up by Reuters and major publications worldwide, driving broad engagement and humanizing refugees for a global audience.

HIAS

Bill Swersey

President