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Catapult Film Fund at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Catapult Film Fund

Catapult Film Fund provides development funding to help story-driven and cinematicdocumentary films get off the ground.

$525k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$3.7MEnvironment$106kEducation$45kInternational$35kCommunity Improvement$25kHealth$15k
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k14 grants · $325k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $193k
$25,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$638k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Film Independent$75,000
Women Make Movies$67,500
Utah Film Center$50,000
Camera News Inc$35,000
Walking Iris Media$35,000
The Filmmaker Fund$27,500
The Ctr for Indy Documentary$25,000
Realize Impact$25,000
Women Make Movies$25,000
International Documentary Ass$25,000
Redford Center$25,000
Cinema Tropical$25,000
The Ctr for Indy Documentary$25,000
Film Forum$15,000
From The Heart Productions$15,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY23–25, $45k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 44% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%Realize Impact: $25k → 10%Sima Studios: $20k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
IL
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
MO
VA
NC
LA
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.8M · 25 repeat orgs$671k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +86% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

25 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
27

Total granted

$3.8M
$549k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+86%
0%

Still filing today

92%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $123k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalPhilanthropyHuman ServicesEnvironmentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $810k · revenue +4%
  • WM
    WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $675k · revenue +82%
  • THE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $360k · revenue +125%

Funded once

  • SF
    San Francisco Film Society
    one grant, 2019 · $50k · revenue -9%
  • PP
    PRINCIPE PRODUCTIONS INC
    one grant, 2019 · $35k · revenue -88%
  • KE
    KARTEMQUIN EDUCATIONAL FILMS
    one grant, 2020 · $34k · revenue -63%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Independent Film Alliance F/K/a Stage 18
—
2
American Documentary Inc

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…

Arts & Culture
3
Dc Dox

Dc dox is a major international film festival in the nation's capital dedicated to promoting documentary film as a leading art form, championing new voices and innovations in non-fiction storytelling, and using film as a catalyst to engage…

—
4
San Francisco Independent Film Festival

SF IndieFest presents important independent narrative, documentary, and short films from around the world.

Arts & Culture
5
Breaking Through the Lens

Advocate for gender equality in the film industry.

Arts & Culture
6
Centre Film Festival
Arts & Culture
7
Art of Brooklyn Festival

The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is an annual event that brings Brooklyns celebrated film and media makers together with their peers across the country and around the world. AoBFF is a filmmaker-focused event, platform and showcase for…

Arts & Culture
8
WorkingFilms Inc

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.

Arts & Culture
9
Cinespeak
Arts & Culture
10
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles

Devoted to a greater appreciation of indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, supporting emerging filmmakers, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the indian diaspora.

Arts & Culture
11
Dc Independent Film Festival

The DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) showcases and supports local and international filmmakers and their work across the genres of fiction, animation, experimental and documentary through screening, discussion, professional…

Arts & Culture
12
Baltimore Filmmakers Collective Inc
Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Center for Independent Documentary Inc; the most unlike its peers is Virginia Commonwealth Universi. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

53 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 53 of the 57 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/53
Grantees still filing
31/53
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC: $810,450 · Arts & CultureINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INCWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $675,000 · Arts & CultureWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INCTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $360,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INCTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $225,000 · Arts & CultureTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INCWALKING IRIS MEDIA: $220,000 · Arts & CultureWALKING IRIS MEDIAUNIONDOCS INC: $172,300 · Arts & CultureFILM INDEPENDENT: $165,000 · Arts & CultureUTAH FILM CENTER: $145,000 · Arts & Culture+25 more: $760,952 · Arts & Culture+25 moreIndependent Filmmaker Project Midwest: $120,000 · OtherIndependent …INCITE PRODUCTIONS INC: $60,000 · OtherINCITE PRODU…San Francisco Film Society: $50,000 · OtherSan Francisc…NEW ORLEANS VIDEO ACCESS CENTER INC: $48,000 · OtherNEW ORLEANS …KARTEMQUIN EDUCATIONAL FILMS: $33,700 · OtherKARTEMQUIN E…HOMELANDS RESEARCH GROUP: $25,000 · OtherDream of Grape Gardens: $25,000 · OtherSTORYLINE INC: $20,000 · OtherRealize Impact: $25,000 · OtherSIMA STUDIOS: $20,000 · OtherVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: $20,000 · Other+3 more: $35,000 · Other+3 moreREDFORD CENTER INC: $130,900 · EnvironmentMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $80,000 · HealthTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $25,000 · EducationAntenna: $25,000 · EducationAUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $20,000 · EducationInvestigative Studios Inc: $10,000 · EducationDOC SOCIETY INC: $45,000 · PhilanthropyTHE FILMMAKER FUND: $27,500 · PhilanthropyPRINCIPE PRODUCTIONS INC: $35,000 · InternationalLINK GLOBAL: $35,000 · International
Arts & Culture$3,533,702Other$481,700Environment$130,900Health$80,000Education$80,000Philanthropy$72,500International$70,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC: $810,450 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $675,000 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $360,000 over 6y, 1.3% of budgetTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $225,000 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetWALKING IRIS MEDIA: $220,000 over 6y, 7.0% of budgetUNIONDOCS INC: $172,300 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetFILM INDEPENDENT: $165,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $145,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetREDFORD CENTER INC: $130,900 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetIndependent Filmmaker Project Midwest: $120,000 over 2y, 92% of budgetDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $115,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $80,000 over 4y, 40% of budgetFrom The Heart Productions: $60,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetAFTERIMAGE PUBLIC MEDIA: $52,340 over 3y, 14% of budgetSan Francisco Film Society: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNEW ORLEANS VIDEO ACCESS CENTER INC: $48,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetDOC SOCIETY INC: $45,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetSWELL FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetMETEOR FILMS INC: $40,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetFILM FORUM INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetLEVEL GROUND: $35,000 over 2y, 9.3% of budgetPRINCIPE PRODUCTIONS INC: $35,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetCAMERA NEWS INC: $35,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetLINK GLOBAL: $35,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMAYSLES INSTITUTE INC: $35,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetKARTEMQUIN EDUCATIONAL FILMS: $33,700 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRAGTAG FILM SOCIETY: $33,612 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSOUTHERN DOCUMENTARY FUND: $30,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetThe Bay Area Video Coalition Incorporated: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCINEMA TROPICAL INC: $25,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budgetHOMELANDS RESEARCH GROUP: $25,000 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetVIDEO VERACITY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetINDEPENDENT FEATURE PROJECT INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSIMA STUDIOS: $20,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetAUBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBROWN GIRLS DOC MAFIA INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA: $20,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetThe Free History Project Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetSATELLITE COLLECTIVE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetTALLGRASS EDUCATIONAL FILMS CO JOSEPH WINSTON: $15,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVirginia Commonwealth Universi: $15,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetLoteria Film & Arts Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetMISSION FILMS: $10,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetPACIFIC ARTS MOVEMENT: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetInvestigative Studios Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetHUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION LTD: $10,000 over 1y, 60% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Chicken & Egg Films I…Perspective Media Ini…The Ford FoundationThe San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…Harnisch Family Found…Sundance InstituteCalifornia HumanitiesThe Denovo InitiativeCinereach LtdInmaat FoundationThe Rogovy Foundation
Chicken & Egg Films IncNY32.6× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Chicken & Egg Films Inc · Perspective Media Initiatives Inc · The Ford Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Harnisch Family Foundation · Sundance Institute · California Humanities · The Denovo Initiative · Cinereach Ltd · Inmaat Foundation · The Rogovy Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Catapult Film Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Catapult Film Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Documentary Educational Resources Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Catapult Film Fund?

Find your warmest path to Catapult Film Fund 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.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 57 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Catapult Film’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home