Film Grants

Areas of film grantmaking

Grants for films are directed to a range of purposes, including production or distribution of a film, nonprofit film organizations and funding individual filmmakers. Charitable giving also supports nonprofits such as film preservation organizations or film festivals where small and independent films can gain audiences and distribution opportunities. Fellowships and residencies, where filmmakers can hone their craft and develop new projects, comprise another focus of film philanthropy.

The most frequently named priority of foundations that make grants for film is documentary films, especially social-justice-oriented films, IP has found. Narrative change is a growing area of grantmaking for film.

Regrantors are key to diversity and equity in film

Regrantors play an important role in this area of philanthropy, especially as a means to support artists from historically underrepresented communities. Despite some progress, people of color and disabled people remain underrepresented as onscreen leads in top English-language theatrical releases; these groups, and all women, are underrepresented in important film jobs behind the camera, as reported in the 2025 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report. It’s a somewhat different story in the streaming sector, where BIPOC and women actors exceed proportionate representation onscreen – though they are still underrepresented as directors and writers, according to UCLA’s diversity report on streaming. Disabled actors are underrepresented in both top theatrical and streaming films.   

As a way of decentralizing their funding and better reaching underrepresented communities, large foundations such as MacArthur have shifted more of their film grants to intermediaries. There are numerous regrantors focused on particular communities, such as the International Women’s Media Foundation; Firelight Media, which supports documentary filmmakers of color; and the Inevitable Foundation, which supports disabled filmmakers. Some well-known film festivals also act as regrantors; for example, the Sundance Institute and Tribeca Film Institute.

In addition to making grants, many regrantors in this field provide accompanying support such as mentorship, networking and professional development opportunities to filmmakers. Regrantors dedicated to increasing diversity and equity in filmmaking increasingly bring that lens to their approach to fundraising and funding, as discussed in an International Documentary Association article about values-based fundraising.

Gaps in film funding

Filmmaking is expensive. The numbers work when it comes to commercial films that bring in billions at the box office, but for films that may be more culturally impactful than commercially successful, filmmakers look to public funding and private philanthropy to fill in the gaps. 

The second Trump administration is creating new gaps in funding for film and filmmakers. Documentary filmmakers are being seriously impacted by the administration’s sweeping cuts to funding for public media, as PBS has been an important platform for independent documentaries for half a century. Films made (or even partially made) outside the United States may face increased costs to be shown in the United States if Trump succeeds in imposing threatened 100% tariffs on foreign-made films. This would have ripple effects for movie theaters in the U.S. and for many who work in movie theaters and film production. 

The rise of AI also threatens to displace many film-industry jobs, both on- and offscreen. This was one of the key issues in major strikes by writers’ and actors’ unions in 2023, along with residuals from streaming. While the strikes addressed the for-profit film industry, the issues at stake in that labor dispute have both direct and knock-on effects on the independent filmmakers, documentarians and issue-based narrative changemakers who seek funding for film from philanthropy. 

It remains difficult for emerging, independent or niche filmmakers to create a sustainable career. With grants to individual artists, philanthropy attempts to help, but much more is needed to provide filmmakers a consistent, livable income.

More funding is also needed for early research and development for films, as reported in our State of American Philanthropy brief.