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The Better Angels Society Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Better Angels Society Inc

The better angels society supports outstanding american history documentaries to inspire lifelong learning, promote civic engagement, and encourage civil discourse.the organization advances this mission by raising funds to support individual documentary films focused on u.s.

$9.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$8.6M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$90MScience & Tech$25k
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 9 grants below total $9,131,941, the rows itemized in this filing. The $9,516,941 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $385,000 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $9k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $98k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $393k
  • $250k+1 grant · $8.6M
$40,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$20M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC$8,632,443
LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION$188,000
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$139,500
WNET$65,100
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY$40,000
CENTRAL PARK FILM PROJECT INC$32,500
ADAMS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$15,000
DCDOX$10,000
HINDSIGHT FILM FESTIVAL$9,398
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 6% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE REEL BLUES FEST INC: $25k → 8%WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $280k → 16%INSIDE OUT MEDIA: $25k → 10%MONIKER LLC: $25k → 10%RAY LEW DOC LLC: $25k → 14%SHOES IN THE BED PRODUCTIONS LLC: $25k → 17%STORY CENTER FILMS LLC: $50k → 14%THE GARDYN LLC: $25k → 5%LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION: $188k → 11%TALL GRASS EDUCATIONAL FILMS INC: $25k → 14%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $11.3M → 7%NATIONAL HISTORY DAY: $70k → 11%WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $267k → 16%CHOI SOO LEE DOCUMENTARY LLC: $50k → 14%SKIFF MOUNTAIN FILMS: $763k → 17%STORY CENTER FILMS LLC: $25k → 14%LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION: $68k → 11%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $11.1M → 7%NATIONAL HISTORY DAY: $40k → 11%WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $140k → 16%CENTRAL PARK FILM PROJECT INC: $173k → 17%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $10.9M → 7%NATIONAL HISTORY DAY: $40k → 11%WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $122k → 16%SKIFF MOUNTAIN FILMS: $720k → 17%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $400k → 14%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $10.9M → 7%WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $97k → 16%CENTRAL PARK FILM PROJECT INC: $33k → 17%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $200k → 14%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $9.1M → 7%SKIFF MOUNTAIN FILMS: $216k → 17%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $200k → 14%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $8.6M → 7%JEZEBEL PRODUCTIONS: $25k → 17%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $200k → 14%PBS FOUNDATION: $307k → 7%SKIFF MOUNTAIN FILMS: $127k → 17%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $8.2M → 7%PBS FOUNDATION: $66k → 7%WNET: $281k → 17%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $7.1M → 7%WNET: $184k → 17%PBS FOUNDATION: $58k → 7%WNET: $121k → 17%GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $6.3M → 7%WNET: $65k → 17%SKIFF MOUNTAIN FILMS: $150k → 17%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

IL
NY
MA
PA
CA
UT
VA
MD
DC
GA
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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$89M · 11 repeat orgs$616k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
18

Total granted

$89M
$596k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
+19%

Still filing today

73%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationOther
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

  • GW
    GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $83M · revenue +56%
  • WGBH Educational Foundation
    5× · 2021–2025 · $905k · revenue +1%
  • PBS FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2024 · $431k · revenue +400%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $150k
  • SC
    STORY CENTER FILMS LLC
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • CS
    CHOL SOO LEE DOCUMENTARY LLC
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
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
The Filmmaker Fund
Philanthropy
2
Independent Film Alliance F/K/a Stage 18
—
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
Centre Film Festival
Arts & Culture
5
Block Island Film Festival
Arts & Culture
6
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
7
Hollywood Foreign Press Association Charitable Trust
Philanthropy
8
National Center for Jewish Filminc

The national center for jewish film is a unique, independent nonprofit motion picture archive, distributor, resource center and exhibitor. ncjf's ongoing mission is the collection, preservation and exhibition of films with artistic and…

Arts & Culture
9
Berkshire International Film Festival Corp

The berkshire international film festival (biff) is for filmmakers and film lovers alike to be entertained, educated and inspired. biff seeks to celebrate independent film and to recognize and pay tribute to accomplished artists on both…

Education
10
Main Street Media Center

Production of public interest film and TV projects. These are narrative and documentary films produced to support innovative emerging artists and films that contribute to matters of public debate and cultural conversation.

Arts & Culture
11
National Film Preservation Foundation

The NFPF is a nonprofit organization established in the District of Columbia resulting from an Act of Congress in order to preserve and make publicly accessible our nations film heritage. The NFPF works with archives to preserve American…

Arts & Culture
12
Prx Inc

To lead changes that expand public media as a trusted source of knowledge, information, and inspiration for all.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Middleburg Film Festival; the most unlike its peers is The Reel Blues Fest Inc. 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

15 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. 15 of the 31 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
11/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $83,470,301 · Arts & CultureGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC+10 more: $2,136,146 · Arts & CultureSKIFF MOUNTAIN FILMS: $1,826,044 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $1,000,000 · OtherCENTRAL PARK FILM PROJECT INC: $205,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $150,000 · Other+14 more: $370,608 · OtherLINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION: $256,000 · EducationNational History Day Inc: $210,000 · Education
Arts & Culture$85,606,447Other$3,552,152Education$466,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $83,470,301 over 9y, 10.0% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation: $904,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetWNET: $650,350 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetPBS FOUNDATION: $431,046 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetLINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION: $256,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetNational History Day Inc: $210,000 over 6y, 2.7% of budgetMIDDLEBURG FILM FESTIVAL: $30,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetTALLGRASS EDUCATIONAL FILMS CO JOSEPH WINSTON: $25,000 over 1y, 31% of budgetTHE ADAMS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetInside Out Media: $25,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetThe Ciesla Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetTHE REEL BLUES FEST INC: $25,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetJEZEBEL PRODUCTIONS INC: $25,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetPHILADELPHIA FILM SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

  • Who funds GREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds WGBH Educational Foundation ↗
  • Who funds WNET ↗
  • Who funds PBS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds National History Day Inc ↗
  • Who funds MIDDLEBURG FILM FESTIVAL ↗
  • Who funds TALLGRASS EDUCATIONAL FILMS CO JOSEPH WINSTON ↗
  • Who funds THE ADAMS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds Inside Out Media ↗
  • Who funds The Ciesla Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE REEL BLUES FEST INC ↗
  • Who funds JEZEBEL PRODUCTIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA FILM SOCIETY ↗

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.

Greater Washington Co…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Greater Washington Community FoundationDC12.1× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Washington Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 The Better Angels Society Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Better Angels Society Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 13%
  • National History Day Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report 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.

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 31 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

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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