Meet the 2023 Impact Campaign Fund Grantees

Firelight Media invites our community of Firelight supported filmmakers and impact producers to apply to the Impact Campaign Fund, now in its fifth year. This fund is dedicated to resource audience engagement and impact campaigns led by Firelight Media-supported filmmakers. The size of funds will be in the range of $10k-25K with an anticipated announcement and disbursement in late summer 2024. In addition to funding, grantees will have access to mentorship and impact strategy support towards their impact campaign plans.

Firelight Media is interested in supporting nonfiction filmmakers and impact producers to pursue their dream impact and engagement related projects. 

• We will consider impact projects that address a range of themes and issues.
• We will consider different types of  impact from qualitative to quantitative.
• We will consider impact projects with ambitious or narrowly focused goals.
• We will consider impact projects that are dialogue-based or outcomes-driven.
• We will consider impact projects that are local or national in scope.

We take notice when projects are socially relevant, address or engage underrepresented issues or communities, and are accountable to the communities their films represent. We will not shy away from projects that are smaller in scale, hyperlocal, or with discrete impact objectives.

• Must be for a nonfiction film that is either:
  a) directed by a previously supported Firelight Media filmmaker or b)
  directed by a filmmaker of color working with a previously supported Firelight Media filmmaker or impact producer on the team.
• Funding is only for audience engagement and impact campaigns of documentary films that are finishing (at least fine cut stage) or release phases.
• The film must be far enough along that we can at least see a fine cut by the application due date: Monday, May 6, 2024 - 1:00 PM EST.
• The project activities and focus must include engagements in the U.S.
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Filmmakers are not eligible to receive support through one or any of Firelight Media’s artist programs if:

• The filmmaker is applying with a project that is a student film or related to ongoing coursework.
• The filmmaker is re-applying to a program they previously received support from.
• The filmmaker is contracted with another Firelight Media artist program and has not completed the final deliverables by the time they are selected for this program.
• The filmmaker is employed by Firelight Media, Firelight Films, or PBS as an officer, full-time employee, or is a member of the board of directors.
• The filmmaker does not hold the majority of the intellectual property of the film.

Projects will be selected based on:

• the strength of the story,
• the project’s social relevance and ability to respond to pressing, though longstanding, equity issues (e.g., healthcare, housing, worker protections, safety of imprisoned people, environmental justice),
• the viability of plan proposed, and
• the ethics and accountability of the approach.

Selection Process Timeline:  

April 2024 – Application opens on Monday, April 1, 2024 at 12:00 AM EST.

May 2024 – Application closes on Monday, May 6, 2024 at 1:00 PM EST.

June 2024 – Applications undergo three rounds of review by a selection committee made up of Firelight media staff and external reviewers.

July 2024 – Final selections will be made in July and applicants will be notified of the decisions soon after via the Submittable platform.

August/September 2024 – Contracting begins, and the incoming cohort is invited to attend an online orientation taking place in September with a public announcement planned for September 2024.

Please contact grants@firelightmedia.org for any questions.