How We Make Grants
Perspective Fund makes grants with the aim of strengthening connections between the documentary sector and the broader social justice ecosystem. Over the past decade, we have supported more than 150 films, 50 organizations, and directed over $40 million into documentary storytelling and related initiatives, including Crip Camp, Through the Night, No Other Land, and Disclosure.
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To accelerate the production and post-production of documentary projects that engage complex social, cultural, or political issues and have the potential to expand public understanding, shape culture, or drive systems change.
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To support the planning and implementation of a film's social impact strategy, including audience identification, partner cultivation, screening programs, discussion resources, and broader public engagement campaigns.
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To strengthen distribution strategies that are in service of a film's social change goals. This includes campaigns that leverage commercial distribution deals to maximize issue visibility and audience reach, as well as filmmaker-directed distribution efforts that ensure films reach intended audiences directly: through community screenings, movement partnerships, institutional engagement, and targeted public outreach.
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To recognize and compensate the irreplaceable knowledge, trust, and lived experience that documentary participants bring to the work, and to support their ongoing contributions from production through release. We believe meaningful participant compensation can be both an ethical commitment and a practice that strengthens the work itself.
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Unrestricted support towards the ongoing work and mission of strategic organizations who are focused on amplifying impact-focused films and the documentary impact field.
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To catalyze specific programs or initiatives that are focused on amplifying impact-focused films and the documentary impact field.