Application Process

We consider creative media projects in two funding cycles as outlined below. Projects that wish to be considered for funding must submit a letter of inquiry using the online form as a first step in the application process. From these initial inquiries, smaller pools of applicants are invited to submit a full application. If your project is selected to move to the next step in our application process, we will request additional material such as footage, or other work samples as well as a detailed budget. Applicants will also be asked about their goals for the project and its potential to affect social change. Please note that we do not return DVD's to applicants after the application process has completed.

If you are requesting funding for outreach, you will also be asked for an initial plan that outlines the project's goals and objectives, audience engagement strategies and your plans for assessing the impact of the project. The Fledgling Fund only makes grants to 501(c) 3 organizations. While an initial Letter of Inquiry may be submitted by a film production company or an individual, you will be required to submit documentation from your fiscal sponsor before a grant can be processed. If you are an international applicant, you must have a U.S.-based fiscal sponsor.

Funding Cycles

Spring/Summer Cycle


Funding cycle opens online: January 18th, 2010
Deadline for Initial Letter of Inquiry: March 18th, 2010
* Please note that after this date the online Letter of Inquiry form will not be available until the next funding cycle opens
Applicants Notified as to Request Status: April 9th, 2010
Materials Due by Invited Applicants: April 30th, 2010
Applicants Notified as to Outcome of their Request: June 11th, 2010

Fall/Winter Cycle


Funding Cycle Opens Online: August 23rd, 2010
Deadline for Initial Letter of Inquiry: October 1st, 2010
* Please note that after this date the online Letter of Inquiry form will not be available until the next funding cycle opens
Applicants Notified as to Request Status: November 5th, 2010
Materials Due by Invited Applicants: November 19th, 2010
Applicants Notified as to Outcome of their Request: January 18th, 2011



Types of Funding

The primary focus of The Fledgling Fund's creative media initiative is outreach and community engagement. We are interested in supporting film and other media projects that engage key audiences in efforts to affect positive social change.  In recent application cycles, the average grant size for The Fledgling Fund has been approximately $30,000.  Our grants typically fall into three broad categories:

  • Outreach and Community Engagement: These grants support the development and/or implementation of strategic community engagement initiatives for feature and short form films. Films should be at least at a rough cut stage to be considered for this type of funding.
  • Grants for Films: Generally these grants support late-stage post production costs. Films should be timely, have strong outreach potential, have completed production, and have a rough cut to be considered.
  • Innovative Creative Media: These grants support the use of emerging technology to engage new audiences around important social issues.

Our existing portfolio of projects will give you a better understanding of the types of projects that we have funded. We also strongly encourage you to review our key issue areas below, which provide more information on our areas of interest.

If you are requesting support for outreach or film completion, we recommend that you have a phone consultation with Working Films. These phone consultations are offered as a service to filmmakers at no charge. They can be scheduled by accessing the Working Films website, and filling out the short online questionnaire. Be sure to indicate that you heard about Working Films via The Fledgling Fund. Your consultation with Working Films typically will take place within 4 weeks of your submission and can occur either before or after you submit your letter of inquiry. While you are under no pressure to identify a role for Working Films in your project since we work with other organizations as well, we do encourage you to incorporate the ideas from your discussion and consultation with them into your project description. Working Films is a key partner on a number of Fledgling projects; however, they are not involved in final funding decisions for The Fledgling Fund.

Key Issue Areas

  • Environmental Justice: Given the urgency of action to rescue our environment, we are interested in creative media projects that highlight the impact of environmental policy decisions as well as corporate and personal behavior on our communities and our world. In particular, we are interested in projects that inspire individuals to make environmentally responsible and sustainable decisions in their daily lives and hold themselves and corporations accountable for the impact they have on their communities. We believe that comprehensive individual, corporate, national and international actions are the only way we can begin to build a sustainable future and that those actions must begin now. We hope that the creative media projects we support will inspire people to individual and collection action and engagement in efforts to ensure that our environment is a top priority.
  • Girls' Empowerment and Women's Leadership: With an unwavering belief in the potential and strength of women and girls to change the world, we look for projects that demonstrate this capacity, highlight their unique challenges and inspire the world to cheer them on. We are particularly interested in projects that are effective educational tools for vulnerable young girls, social service providers, advocates and other stakeholders. We celebrate the work past generations have done to improve the status of women and we are committed to making sure that girls and women around the world are empowered and have an equal voice. We believe that creative media can make connections and create important dialogue among girls, women, and men and help inspire the world to hear their voices.
  • Health: We look for film and other media projects that help to inspire dialogue and action around America's and the world's most pressing health challenges: access to care and preventive services, nutrition and obesity, improving public health, HIV/AIDS and other deadly pandemics, the complexity of global health delivery, and the challenge of making informed decisions about medical care in an era of rapidly changing technology. We believe that through compelling narratives creative media can raise awareness about the issues, demonstrate innovative solutions and ultimately help shape policy, opinions and actions around health and health care.
  • Mental Health, Disability and Homelessness: We look for creative media projects that highlight issues faced by those living with physical and mental disabilities and their struggle to live independent and productive lives. We recognize that there is a pervasive misunderstanding of the mentally ill and others with disabilities and that creative media has a unique ability to put a human face on these sensitive issues. We have a particular interest in projects that contribute to the public's understanding of the root causes of, and possible solutions for, homelessness among those suffering from mental and physical disabilities.
  • Migration and Immigration: We are interested in the narratives of immigrants and the complex issues surrounding migration and immigration in the United States. We look for films and other media projects that have the potential to inform the larger national discussion and give this critical public policy issue a human face. We hope that we will see a more humane and sustainable immigration system in America within the next decade by helping to expose the myths and facts that surround the issue.
  • Systemic Poverty: We believe that film and other creative media projects can play important roles in illuminating the consequences of systemic poverty on vulnerable populations and showcasing innovative solutions. We recognize that so many human injustices relate directly to pervasive and cyclical poverty and that a sustainable solution has yet to surface. We also recognize that many people still do not understand the depth, breadth and complexity of the poverty challenge and that the voices of those living in poverty are often the most important tools for rallying the world around this problem. Therefore, we look for creative media projects that have a strong potential ability to bring a broader awareness of systemic poverty and its consequences and encourage compassionate and evidenced based solutions to it. We are optimistic about the creative responses that are emerging around the world and hope that creative media can help inspire an exponential growth in the support of this work.
  • War and its Aftermath: We support a limited number of projects that call attention to the human cost of ongoing wars and their effects on children, families and veterans. In particular, we have an interest in projects that reveal the consequences of U.S. policies related to the War on Terror. We believe that as a result of the recent devastation associated with U.S. policies and presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, our country is ready to reevaluate its policies. We hope that the creative media projects we support will help inspire policies that focus on building more peaceful and just solutions to complex international issues.
  • U.S. Justice System: With an interest in both prevention and reform, we look for projects that help elevate the national dialogue around our justice system. We hope that the creative media projects we support will help inform the public about the policy decisions that have led our country to be the world leader in incarceration. We are especially interested in racism, sexism, disenfranchisement, and the collateral consequences after release that are pervasive within the system. In addition, we look for projects that demonstrate replicable solutions because we believe that there is a way to have a more humane and rehabilitative system.
  • Innovative Media: In addition to issue specific projects, we consider projects that test innovative media strategies for social change. We are particularly interested in those projects that have the potential to add to our understanding of how emerging web-based technology and short-form video can be used to engage audiences and move them to action.
  • Special Projects: Occasionally, The Fledgling Fund provides support for projects that fall outside of the topic areas listed above. While we are proud to support these projects, they do not represent high priority topics for The Fledgling Fund. Instead, they are unique projects where we believe our funding can play a strategic and timely role in addressing an entrenched social problem that may fall outside of our pre-defined categories.