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Funding Social Media

Social documentaries are funded by individuals with creative strategies including partnering, and by organizations and foundations that know the power of media. They also depend on public resources including public television and arts and humanities council funds. Below you can find some approaches to the struggle to fund social documentary and links to get you started.

Publications

Documentaries on a Mission: How Nonprofits Are Making Movies for Public Engagement[PDF]

Read about how the Sierra Club, The American Civil Liberties Union and local environmental groups use documentaries for high-impact and action

In the Battle for Reality: Social Documentaries in the U.S.[PDF]

What difference can a documentary make? This fact-filled report by Center co-director Pat Aufderheide, with many case studies of successful strategic use of social documentaries, answers that question. Funded by the Ford Foundation.

Articles

Collaborative strategies for social action filmmakers

By Pat Aufderheide

Far from hindering a filmmaker, collaboration with groups with similar agendas may be the best bet for filmmakers looking to make a project happen.

The Current State of the International Marketplace for Documentary Films[PDF]

By Diana Holtzberg and Jan Rofekamp

“This report focuses on the international marketplace for documentaries from the perspective of who buys and who sells them.”

Media For Social Change: Partnerships

By Pat Aufderheide

An in-depth look at the benefits to filmmakers and funders who form collaborative partnerships in pursuit of their goals.

Making Your Media Matter 2010

Making Your Media Matter is a conference for established and aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders and students looking to learn and share cutting-edge practices for making their media matter.