· Public charity
Berkeley Film Foundation
The Berkeley FILM Foundation is a 501(c)(3) grant and educational program for independent filmmakers with a mission to nurture, sustain and preserve the thriving local film community while attracting the next generation of filmmakers.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2020.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
The 5 grants below total $126,500 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $265,500 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $139,000 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.
By grant size · FY2020
- Under $10k1 grant · $8k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $49k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $70k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Independent Documentary | $70,000 |
| Kilgust & Cohen LLC | $25,000 |
| Freedom Bound Center | $12,000 |
| Swell Cinema | $12,000 |
| International Documentary | $7,500 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 39% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. A nonprofit film and arts center located in Seattle, Northwest Film Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events,…
SF IndieFest presents important independent narrative, documentary, and short films from around the world.
Docs in progress is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which gives individuals the tools to tell stories through documentary film to educate, inspire, and transform the way people view their world.
Field of Vision is a filmmaker and artist driven organization that commissions, creates and supports original nonfiction films about developing and ongoing stories around the globe. Field of Vision supports work that uses innovative and…
A national non-profit media arts organization, american documentary strives to make essential documentaries accessible as a catalyst for public discourse. we collaborate with passionate filmmakers to amplify their voices, nuture the…
Recognizing the power of film to inspire, Working Films positions documentaries to increase civic engagement and shift culture at the local, state, and national level.
The Jewish Film Institute champions bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story for audiences everywhere. Through its exhibition and artist development programs, JFI celebrates the spirit of film, inquiry,…
Reel Earth Films promotes wildlife conservation by creating films that nurture the human connection to nature, spread awareness about life-threatening challenges facing species worldwide, and advance environmental activism and research.
To present independent films from around the world to deepen audiences' understanding of culture, tolerance, and common humanity.
Advocate for gender equality in the film industry.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Center for Independent Documentary Inc and the most unlike its peers is Arc of Justice Productions Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
8 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 8 of the 13 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds THE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC ↗
- Who funds ARC OF JUSTICE PRODUCTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds THE FREEDOM BOUND CENTER ↗
- Who funds SWELL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WILD PROJECTS ↗
- Who funds San Francisco Film Society ↗
- Who funds ROSIE THE RIVETER TRUST ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Berkeley Film Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
- The Center for Independent Documentary Inc — 6% of income from government
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Berkeley Film Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Berkeley Film Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.