Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media

Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM) is a membership association of grantmakers, formally recognized as an affinity group of the Council on Foundations. GFEM's mission is to advance the field of media arts and public interest media funding. GFEM curates information and programs for grantmakers who fund media content, infrastructure, and policy, and for philanthropists who employ media to further their program goals.

GFEM membership is open to foundations, government grantmakers, philanthropists, and not-for-profit organizations whose primary activity is grantmaking (e.g. re-granting organizations).

History

GFEM has been active as an organization since 1984, but its activities date back to 1968 with the first Council on Foundations film festival. GFEM hired its first paid staff in 2006 and became its own not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization in 2008. The organization has three full-time staff members who operate from offices in Baltimore, Maryland, and Oakland, California.

Programs and activities

GFEM website and e-communications – the website http://gfem.org and the GFEM Update, a monthly e-newsletter, offer news, upcoming events, and other resources to grantmakers.

GFEM Media Database – http://media.gfem.org – the GFEM Media Database is a searchable database of media projects-in-progress. It is a hub where funders can find media-related projects that fit their funding priorities and, once completed, can serve as a tool for their NGO grantees. The range of projects include arts and culture, journalism, economics, environment, health, human development, human rights, information, children and youth, media, peace, conflict, and politics. There is no fee to use the service.

Media Policy Working Group (MPWG) – the program focuses attention on the governmental and corporate policies that shape the media environment. Conference calls feature presentations by media policy advocates in order to keep philanthropists up to date on issues such as broadband deployment, public media, and the state of journalism.

Grantmaker Briefings & Conference Sessions – briefings and conference sessions present issues in the field, illustrate model projects, and put forward thinking about the nature of media. In May 2008, GFEM staged a philanthropy and media summit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. In June 2009, GFEM collaborated with Media Democracy Fund on a convening, Media Grantmaking—The State (and Future) of the Field, held at the Open Society Institute in New York.

GFEM funder delegations– GFEM staff host groups of funders at conferences and film festivals. Examples of GFEM funder delegations: 2008, National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis, 2009, South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, TX; Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC; and the NetSquared Conference in San Jose, CA.

Foundation and affinity group support services – GFEM offers services to foundations, funder affinity groups and private donors. Examples of services include a curating service providing filmographies of media content for funders to use in support of their program areas, consultations with funders to develop and implement media grants and to identify filmmakers that would best illustrate their program’s issue, and tools and workshops such as half- or full-day presentations for foundations or affinity groups on funding or using media content, media technology, and infrastructure, or on media policy issues.

Screenings and daalogues – screenings and dialogues highlight media projects and include the Council on Foundations’ Film and Video Festival, which GFEM co-sponsors. An example of this type of event is the screening of Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, held at the Newseum in May 2008. Screenings associated with the Council on Foundations’ Film & Video Festival take place at the Council on Foundations' three national conferences each year. Additional screenings and dialogs are programmed in conjunction with partnering foundations and affinity groups.

Publications – GFEM produces and co-produces publications on media funding such as Investing in Youth Media: A Guide for Grantmakers (produced with the Open Society Institute); Why Fund Media (co-published with the Council on Foundations), which features examples of a range of media projects, how they were funded, and how they furthered the program priorities of the grantmakers involved; and The Funders’ Guide to Media Policy. GFEM also provides support to publish and disseminate resources and tools produced by its members.

Research projects – GFEM undertakes research projects related to the media funding field. In 2006, GFEM published Democracy, Social Justice and Media Reform: A Baseline Study of the Emerging Field of Media Policy. In 2009, GFEM commissioned Intelligent Television to design the GFEM Funding Tracker Survey to provide data about trends in media funding.

External links

• Official website
• http://media.gfem.org
• http://fundfilm.org
• http://cof.org Council on Foundations