Beyond the Impact Report

Commissioned by Perspective Fund, this report from the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University (CSMI) looks back at 10 years of social impact documentary filmmaking and their impact campaigns to ask what are the key practices, standards and learnings from the field that need to be uplifted. The report also tracks pervasive challenges and how practitioners are rising to meet them. By analyzing the impact campaigns and findings of 50 documentaries, the report distills what is needed from industry stakeholders in this moment of significant change in the field.

The report is organized around three main questions about what success for impact campaigns looks like, what are the elements that make a campaign successful and what barriers exist to keep a campaign from reaching its goals. It features eight insight sections that cover co-creation, coalition building, defining success, funding and more, which each provide unique examples of what is working right now, and what the field needs to break through to the next level of success.

Use This Guide To:

1. Understand what roles funders play in catalyzing and hindering certain elements of an impact campaign
2. Review feedback from field practitioners about the funder’s role in the sector
3. Create a framework for evaluating impact campaign grantees based on field metrics for success

Suggested Content:

1. Impact Field Guide & Toolkit
2. Global Impact Producers Alliance
3. The Filmmaker-Participant Relationship Unpacked

Featured Members:
Perspective Fund

Source: Center for Media & Social Impact at American University and Perspective Fund