US Foundations

Funding Documentaries

The Brainerd Foundation
www.brainerd.org
Paul Brainerd created a foundation with a dual mandate: to safeguard the region's environment and build broad citizen support for environmental protection. The Brainerd Foundation understands the importance of funding organizations that provide long-standing leadership and vision to conservation issues; it also seeks new groups and innovative strategies to advance an ethic that cherishes the community and the land. It is a foundation that supports firstly causes, and secondly supports communications, promotion and fundraising programs to increase the awareness of an issue.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation
www.aecf.org
The Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) has worked to build better futures for disadvantaged children and their families in the United States. The primary mission of the Foundation is to foster public policies, human service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today's vulnerable children and families. This web site lists all films the foundation has supported with a dedicated page on each: Overview/Synopsis, About the Campaign, Campaign Activity, Tools and Resources.

Making Connections Media Outreach Initiative: (Annie E Casey)
www.aecf.org
This offers an excellent example of outreach and what will be expected from grant recipients here in Australia. Recipients will need to think through their outreach/marketing distribution strategies, list local/national organizations to link with, list potential community screenings and discussions, prepare a study guide strategy and prepare a media strategy.

Legacy:
www.aecf.org
(see all films listed on the left side of the web page)

Creative Capital Foundation
www.creative-capital.org
Creative Capital, a New York City-based nonprofit organization, acts as a catalyst for the development of adventurous and imaginative ideas by supporting artists who pursue innovation in form and/or content in the performing and visual arts, film and video, and in emerging fields. They are committed to working in partnership with the artists whom they fund, providing advisory services and professional development assistance along with multi-faceted financial aid and promotional support throughout the life of each Creative Capital project. Film case study: http://www.creative-capital.org/about/reports/studies/dubowski.html
http://www.creative-capital.org/about/reports/studies/troyano.html
Gets all of the grant recipients together for a weekend retreat: http://www.creative-capital.org/programs/retreats.html
They provide an example of a sample contract: http://creative-capital.org/application/contract.html

Just Media - The Denver Foundation
www.denverfoundation.org
The Denver Foundation is a community foundation in Denver Colorado USA. Community foundations are charitable organizations created through gifts from thousands of people who care about a particular geographic area. Anyone can contribute any amount of money to a community foundation, which invests these gifts for growth and income. A community foundation then uses that income to make grants that strengthen their community. The Just Media Fund is a supporting organization of The Denver Foundation. The Fund seeks to support innovative media projects that give voice to traditionally underrepresented and disenfranchised members of the Denver Colorado community.

Fleishhacker Foundation
www.fleishhackerfoundation.org
A good example of a small foundation making small grants to film and video makers, for completion.

Ford Foundation - Media Program
www.fordfound.org
The Ford Foundation is an independent nonprofit grant-making organization. This foundation make grants in all 50 U.S. states and in many countries around the world. The media program seeks to strengthen the arts and media as important contributors to the communities and societies in which they function.

The Knights Brothers 21st Century News Challenge
www.knightfdn.org
In 2006 the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation launched the Knight Brothers 21st Century News Challenge, investing as much as $5 million in its first year in community news projects that best use the digital world to connect people to the real world. The News Challenge is looking to fund new ideas, prototypes, products and leadership initiatives that use innovative news methods to help citizens better connect within their communities.

LEF Foundation
www.lef-foundation.org
LEF is committed to providing support for provocative and innovative projects. LEF seeks to identify and promote creative ventures and to sponsor work that challenges its audience with new ways of perceiving the world.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
www.macfound.org
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. Through the support it provides, the Foundation fosters the development of knowledge, nurtures individual creativity, helps strengthen institutions, helps improve public policy, and provides information to the public, primarily through support for public interest media. The Foundation makes grants through four programs and by making program-related investments. One of these programs is the General Program, which supports public interest media, including public radio and the production of independent documentary film. Grants are made to arts and cultural institutions in the Chicago area and for special initiatives, currently including intellectual property rights in a digital environment.

New York Foundation for the Arts
www.nyfa.org
NYFA stands out as a leader in serving the philanthropic community. By matching donor interest and values with creative people and projects, NYFA gives artists and the organizations that serve them the opportunity to realize their dreams. And, as an advocate for the arts, they play a pivotal role in engaging and educating the public about the visual, performing, literary, and media arts.

The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media
www.fex.org
Named to honor the life and work of Paul Robeson, the legendary performer and human rights activist, the Fund supports media activism and grassroots organizing by providing funding to independent video, film and radio projects. The Fund raises money every year to make grants to projects that creatively address timely social and political issues. True to Paul Robeson's spirit, the Fund engages in cutting-edge, risk-taking grant making by investing in emerging media makers and launching new projects.

Sierra Club
www.sierraclub.org
The Sierra Club's theme remains unchanged: "To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth, to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources, to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment, and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives."

The Skoll Foundation
www.skollfoundation.org
The Skoll Foundation invests in social entrepreneurs through its flagship award program, the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. These three-year awards support the continuation, replication or extension of programs that have proved successful in addressing a broad array of critical social issues: tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, economic and social equity, institutional responsibility, and peace and security.

Surdna Foundation
www.surdna.org
Surdna Foundation offers significant grants in the arts. A good and informative web site. Good set up of past grants with web sites attached. Significant number of studies commissioned and available for free on their web site. Surdna supports youth programs in film through their Effective Citizenry Program and their Arts program: http://www.surdna.org/programs/citizenry.html http://www.surdna.org/grants/arts.html

The Turner Foundation
www.turnerfoundation.org
Founded in 1990 by Ted Turner, Turner Foundation, Inc. (the "Foundation") is a private, independent family foundation committed to preventing damage to the natural systems - water, air, and land - on which all life depends. The Foundation makes grants in the areas of the environment and population and focuses on four main components: Safeguarding Habitat; Growing the Movement; Creating Solutions for Sustainable Living Healthy Planet; Healthy Communities.