The Focus for 2024:
Visions of a Climate Just Future
The Doc Society Climate Story Fund is seeking to support compelling storytelling and impact strategies from around that world that can help audiences envision the just transition, and activate them to make these visions a reality.
We will prioritize applicants that creatively explore how communities today are experimenting with new pathways for a more safe and just future for all; how responsive governments and civil society are counteracting the efforts of a fossil fuel industry determined to slow down the radical transformation of our livelihoods; and how leaders are steadfastly navigating complexity as they remain committed to repairing past harms.
We are eager for stories that showcase how climate action can lead to abundance. How systems are being redesigned to be more inclusive, creating more opportunities without leaving anyone behind.
Not stories that are overloaded in technical language and facts. Rather stories that deeply resonate with a universal love for place, love for community, and love for future generations.
In three years, the Doc Society Climate Story Fund has awarded $3.3M to 33 stories that move us closer to a more climate just and biodiverse future.
We believe investing in culture is a solution to address the climate emergency. We aren’t looking for the one silver bullet story that will work for everyone, rather we believe we need a multitude of stories “as diverse as the ecosystems we seek to save” (props to filmmaker Michael Premo for coining this phrase).
The Doc Society Climate Story Fund provides up to $150,000 grants to support the completion of production of creative nonfiction projects, and for impact pilots for completed creative nonfiction and fiction projects.
Current grantees represent multiple geographies, spanning from Latin America to Sub Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia. Some grantees are reaching their target audiences on public service broadcasters such as the BBC, POV, via digital platforms like Spotify and YouTube, or even messaging applications like WhatsApp. Others are being picked up by streamers including Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. All projects have signed or are negotiating distribution deals that align with impact goals and potential to engage critical audiences in each context where they are being released.
Learn more about our grantees and their impact here.
Helpful Links
Fund Guidelines
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Application Questions
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FAQs
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Webinar Recording
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The call for applications is now closed. You can view your application and contact the Climate Story Fund about it here.
The 2024 Call for Applications:
Visions of a Climate Just Future
This year the Fund will support 6-8 projects with grants ranging between $50,000 to $100,000 per project. We are looking for creative nonfiction projects including long form, shorts or episodic documentaries as well as podcasts and radio documentaries, that can complete production with support from the Climate Story Fund. The Fund also supports completed creative nonfiction and fiction projects of any medium looking to implement strategic impact activities to engage audiences who are not typically included in the climate conversation.
The selection process will give preference to:
- stories that help audiences envision the just transition
- climate stories centering the most affected, the unengaged and the underrepresented, and puts them at the center of the story
- storytellers working in and from those communities, sharing narratives that resonate deeply with new and unengaged audiences, bringing them into critical conversations around climate justice
- projects that embody inclusion and diversity across team and subject matter
- projects that exercise responsible practices when engaging story participants and communities
The Fund can support:
- Applicants and projects from all over the world
- Both new and established artists
- Creative nonfiction projects, including long form, shorts or episodic documentaries as well as podcasts and radio documentaries in production
- Completed creative nonfiction and fiction projects of any medium looking to implement an impact pilot
- Applicants who agree to attend the required virtual Impact Lab programming
The Fund cannot support:
- Stories looking for development funding or in the pre-production stage
- Fiction stories looking for production funding
- Purely historical, biographies or student projects
- Branded or organizational communication content
Timeline:
| 8 January 2024 | Call for applications opens |
| 24 January 2024 | Call for applications webinar |
| 7 February 2024 | Call for applications closes at 11:59 PM PST |
| 29 April-3 May 2024 | Shortlisted applicants will be contacted to supply rough cuts (if ready) |
| 20-23 May 2024 | Zoom interviews for shortlisted applicants |
| 10-14 June 2024 | Selected grantees will be notified |
| 17-21 June 2024 | Unsuccessful candidates will be notified |
| 5, 12, 19, 26 September 2024 | Virtual Impact Lab |
Application Requirements:
- Applications must be submitted online via the Doc Society applications portal here
- All projects must be climate themed with an intention to implement impact activities
- We don’t need you to be an impact expert but open to the idea
- To qualify for production funding, projects must complete production within a year from being awarded the grant
- To qualify for impact funding, projects must implement an impact pilot within a year from being awarded the grant
- Grant requests may be up to $100,000 US dollars
- All sample materials in languages other than English must have English subtitles
- Sample materials should not be changed throughout the evaluation period
- Budgets must be submitted in US dollars
- All grantees must attend a virtual Impact Lab to connect with impact producers and climate experts, to help develop impact strategies and to craft impact pilots that are built upon existing expertise and advocacy efforts to engage their intended audiences.
To bear in mind:
- Both localized stories serving local communities, or projects suited to a global audience are welcomed
- We are happy to receive applications from Producers, Directors, Lead Creatives or Impact Producers on the project
- The Climate Story Fund application form is part of the Non-Fiction Core Application Project, an initiative by international documentary funders to reduce the burden on storytellers/artists/filmmakers by providing the same application form across funders. Guidance can be found at https://www.documentary.org/core-application
- The application is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. You can submit your application in any of those languages.
- If you would like to work on the application questions offline, you can download the application form in the preview documents module.
- Doc Society has created the Impact Field Guide as a useful resource for building impact campaigns. Other resources to consider are Doc Society’s Green Protocol, the COVID-19 protocol and the Safe and Secure protocol
- Our production grant funding is recoupable on a pro-rata pari passu basis. This means that where our funding is recouped, it is to be recycled to go directly toward the project's impact campaign. This does not apply to impact campaign funding which is non-recoupable
If you have a question, you can:
- Read our FAQs which aim to address questions asked regularly by applicants
- Listen to our webinar here
- For outstanding questions, email us at climate@docsociety.org
(please note there may be at least a 3 day delay)
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