The Fledgling Fund offers insights on funding virtual reality

Editor's note: Earlier this month, Media Impact Funders brought funders together at Philanthropy New York with organizers and presenters from the first VR for Change summit to explore how immersive platforms offer new ways to engage and mobilize users around social issues. Because this is a new and quickly evolving medium, attendees had many questions. The lively conversation ranged across definitions of new technologies, ways to match funders’ goals to VR productions, emerging research on impact, and the costs of supporting such projects as platforms continue to roll out. Diana Barrett of the Fledgling Fund has thought through many of these questions in her own practice. In this post adapted from a piece published in the online publication Immerse, she shares what she’s learned about the impact of VR, and how Fledgling chooses the projects they support.  Read More

On Thursday, October 1 we hosted our first OVEE screening featuring clips and conversation from Emmy-award winning documentary When I Walk, one of the five powerful films selected for our 2015 Media Impact Festival held in June. Read More

In early September, The Fledgling Fund team released the following open letter in response to ongoing debates about how best to assess media investments: Read More

Documentary films are at the forefront of the climate change debate, conveying powerful stories and images of environmental destruction that help viewers understand what’s at stake far better than most policy debates can. Media Impact Funders, The 11th Hour Project and Philanthropy New York convened a session to help funders learn more about how a trio of high-impact productions—Virunga, Gasland and Gasland Part II—are influencing viewers, shaping media coverage, and moving policymakers to action. MIF Executive Director Vince Stehle moderated the conversation, observing that documentaries have helped to both move viewers to action on environmental issues and to highlight the need for debate. He likened the discussion to a “master class” in different ways to evaluate related outcomes. Check out our live-stream of the event here: The video has some sounds issues, especially in the beginning. Below are timestamps indicating when specific speakers begin their presentations so you can navigate through more easily. Lauren Davis, Program Manager, 11th Hour Project – 12:20 Joanna Natasegara, Impact Producer, Virunga – 37:00 Orlando von Einsiedel, Director, Virunga – 20:10 Diana Barrett, Founder and President, Fledgling Fund – 1:27:20 John Johnson, Founder and Executive Director, Harmony Institute –… Read More