Grants & Awards

Fiscal Sponsors

Fiscal Sponsorship is a fundraising tool that serves as an alternative to a filmmaker establishing her own 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation. It allows a filmmaker’s non-commercial project to apply for funding from organizations requiring that the recipient have nonprofit status.

Arts Engine - As fiscal sponsor, Arts Engine, Inc., serves as the nonprofit tax-exempt umbrella organization that accepts and administers contributions made to a filmmaker’s project. Arts Engine has served as fiscal sponsor for such outstanding films as The Trials of Darryl Hunt by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist’s Favela Rising, and God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Christopher Dillon Quinn and Tommy Walker.

Austin Film Society – AFS Filmmaker members can submit their projects for fiscal sponsorship. Fiscal sponsorship is not appropriate for all projects. In order to qualify, the projects must be noncommercial in nature and the filmmaker may not also raise funds by soliciting investors.

Documentary Educational Resources – Documentary Educational Resources is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1968 and incorporated in 1971 for the purpose of producing and distributing cross-cultural documentary film for educational use. DER produces, distributes and promotes quality ethnographic, documentary and non-fiction films from around the world. If you are interested in world cultures, anthropology, film studies, international communication, documentary film, the arts, immigration issues and human rights, DER can offer financial guidance and act as a fiscal sponsor for your project.

Film Forum – The Moving Image, Inc., d/b/a Film Forum provides fiscal sponsorship to filmmakers in support of their projects. Fiscal sponsorship is granted on a project basis and is not meant to serve as a conduit for general operating support for an individual. The Moving Image, Inc. does not sponsor any applications for public funds (such as National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, or State Councils on the Humanities, etc). Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Fractured Atlas – Fractured Atlas’s fiscal sponsorship program is open and accessible to artists and arts organizations nationwide and in every discipline. We won’t judge your work’s artistic quality or merit; that’s for others to decide. Our job is to give you the tools you need to raise the money to make it happen. Fractured Atlas’s fiscal sponsorship program offers many benefits that other fiscal sponsors simply don’t have the resources or infrastructure to provide.

Hartley Film Foundation – The Hartley Film Foundation provides support through seed grants for documentaries that the Foundation fiscally sponsors. The Foundation does not provide production, finishing or outreach grants. Hartley awards grants for documentaries in the areas of world religions and spirituality. In conjunction with its grants, Hartley also provides filmmakers with fiscal sponsorship services and in return the fiscal sponsees agree to pay Hartley a small percentage of any net profits derived from the film project.

IFP – The IFP Fiscal Sponsorship Program unlocks a world of benefits and “know-how” to help get your movie made and distributed. To be considered, your project must be considered a “non-commercial” work (able to be financed by personal funds, donations, grants, corporate sponsorship, in-kind donations, etc. but NOT by offering investment for profit) and should fall into any of the following categories: 1. Documentary films, other works of nonfiction, experimental films 2. Films (any length) produced by first-time filmmakers (or students) 3. Fiction works with proposed budgets that can realistically be raised in a non-commercial manner (see above).

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) – NYFA is one of the country’s most respected not-for-profit arts organizations.  Fiscal Sponsorship is just one portion of the multi-faceted services they provide to artists. No funds need to be raised to be accepted into the program.  NYFA is looking for artists and organizations they can believe in and work with over time. Applications are normally reviewed four times a year, and the review process takes approximately eight weeks.

San Francisco Film Society – The San Francisco Film Society’s fiscal sponsorship program is designed to help you step-by-step through the process of getting your film funded, made and seen. At the Film Society we want to ensure that you and your project are likely candidates for funding, and we work with you until your proposal is ready. Sometimes this means many proposal drafts before we accept you for Fiscal Sponsorship, but it will be worth it in the long run. In addition to the one-on-one care the fiscal sponsorship team brings to each project, the Film Society has a full suite of professional-development workshops and classes.

Women Make Movies – Women Make Movies’s Fiscal Sponsorship program is the largest component of the Production Assistance Program, and is designed for women filmmakers who are actively fundraising for their film or video project and need 501(c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt status. As your fiscal sponsor, Women Make Movies acts a non-profit tax-exempt umbrella organization that accepts and administers contributions made to your project. Fiscal Sponsorship with WMM is not a guarantee of Distribution. If your project fits our mission (specifically, it is about women or women’s issues), you may certainly submit your film for Distribution consideration at the appropriate time.