Frequently Asked Questions

Perspective Films is a co-production initiative operating under Perspective Fund that pairs grant funding with hands-on executive producing for a small number of documentary projects each year. Where the Documentary Film Support program provides philanthropic grants that filmmakers use to make their work, Perspective Films offers ongoing creative and strategic partnership alongside funding across the full arc of a film's development, production, distribution, and impact.

Both programs share a submission pipeline, filmmakers submit one LOI to be considered across both. Projects are considered for one program or the other, not both. For more information, visit the Perspective Films page.

Documentary Film Support grants typically range from $25,000 to $150,000 per project. We approach the funding possibilities for each grant based on the project's unique needs, stage, and potential for impact. Grants may support production and post-production, impact strategy and campaigns, impact-driven distribution, or film participant compensation. Projects funded in production or post-production may be considered for renewed support in impact stages as the film progresses.

We do not have requirements for project budget minimums or maximums and welcome projects at a range of production scales, from lean independent productions to larger co-productions. A very small or very large production budget does not disqualify a project from consideration, what matters is whether the project's financing plan is realistic and the grant can make a meaningful difference to its trajectory.

Filmmakers who submit an LOI will receive a response within six months, either a declination or an invitation to submit further materials. For inquiries that advance, there are a series of conversations between the project team and the relevant program officer before an invitation to apply for a grant may be extended. 

Perspective Fund does not require co-production credits or film rights. For projects that receive grants of $150,000 or above in aggregate funding, we may request an "in association with" credit as a way of aligning the visibility of your project with our funding strategy. This is evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the size of the overall budget and the nature of the partnership, and we approach it with flexibility. Perspective Fund does not assume editorial oversight or control of any project we support. As a private foundation, we do conduct standard grant monitoring and fiscal oversight as part of our due diligence responsibilities, but these processes have no bearing on creative or editorial decisions, which remain entirely with the filmmaking team.

We prioritize projects with a producer attached. A producer with meaningful decision-making authority is important to our ability to evaluate a project's feasibility and engage meaningfully with the team. If your project does not yet have a producer in place, please note this in your LOI and describe your process for identifying one.

Our primary focus is feature-length and short-form documentary films and their accompanying impact campaigns. We also support organizations focused on the documentary and narrative change ecosystem.

For short-form documentaries and episodic or series projects, impact campaign funding for fully financed projects with distribution in place is more likely to advance in consideration than production funding requests. We encourage filmmakers working in these formats to review our funding criteria carefully before submitting.

Our primary focus is nonfiction documentary work. We do not typically fund narrative fiction films, podcasts, or hybrid formats, though we evaluate each inquiry on its own merits.