Apply for Sponsorship
If you're interested in applying for fiscal sponsorship, you should submit the following:
- Five copies of the Application Form
- Five copies of your proposal
- Five copies of your budget (Sample Budget)
- Five copies of any printed Optional Materials you include
- Five copies of a Work Sample (see notes below)
- One check for $35, payable to "The Southern Documentary Fund"
762 Ninth St. #574
Durham, NC 27705
The deadline for submitting new projects comes once per quarter: January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15. Materials must be received by 5pm on the deadline date. Late submissions will not be considered.
After your application materials are submitted, a rotating four-person Project Review committee, consisting of two SDF board members and two documentary artists, will meet to consider the project. The committee will then consider whether to recommend the project to the Board of Directors, which will make final decisions. If approved, the Project Director will sign the Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement.
If accepted, SDF applies a 5% administrative fee to all funds received for the project. A 7% fee will be assessed to certain projects whose funding comes from grant sources that require additional reporting from SDF.
Project Selection Criteria
Acceptance of your application is largely based on the following criteria:
- The relevance or merit of the subject matter
- Quality of the proposal
- Experience levels of key personnel
- A well-developed and realistic budget
- Fundraising ability
- The project's relationship to the SDF Mission Statement
- Distribution potential
Proposal Recommendations
Your proposal must give both a description and work plan for the project. Generally, proposals are between 8-10 pages, including the budget (but not including the resumes key personnel). We recommend the following format in anticipation of the requirements of potential funders:
- Title Page: Include a one- or two-sentence description of the project, the length and format of the project, and contact information for the project director(s). The short description should give a clear sense of the subject matter, the point of view, and narrative style of your project.
- Introduction/Background (if appropriate): Provide information about the subject matter addressed in the film/video (generally 2-3 paragraphs). Why is the project needed and how did you become involved with it? Have there been other projects on the same topic? If yes, how is yours different?
- Project Description: Describe the film/video specifically and visually, explaining the approach to the subject, the style, and organization of the material (generally a page and half).
- Audience and Distribution Strategy: Who is your primary audience? Describe them in as much detail as possible. For whom are you making this project? How will you reach them? What venues or distributors will you be approaching and why?
- Fundraising Plan: Include the total costs of the project (and, if applicable, the amount raised or committed to date in the form of contributions, in-kind donations of services or equipment, waived fees, etc.) and the fundraising goal, with a discussion of the strategy and sources for raising funds. How are you going to fund this project? Give specific names of foundations, corporations and agencies that you will be applying to for your project. Specify the amounts you are planning on requesting from these sources and any funds you have already received so that they add up to the total amount of your budget. Are you going to individual donors for solicitations? Are you planning a fundraiser?, etc. If available, please include information on other projects for which you have successfully raised funds. Applications without a thorough fundraising plan will not be considered.
- Project Status and Completion Timeline: Outlinewhat has been accomplished to date, and the stages and approximate lengths of time for each stage leading to completion.
- Key Personnel: Include a paragraph about each of the project's principal production staff (attach resumes and biographies for each). These individuals are usually responsible for the project from beginning to end, such as the Director, Producer, Writer or Editor.
- Project Budget, outlining your income and expenses (Sample Budget).
We suggest a three-column format with the total budget, in-kind, and amount needed. The budget may be arranged either chronologically (pre-production, production, and post-production, and, if appropriate, distribution) or by key areas of expense (e.g. salaries, fees, supplies, equipment rentals, travel, services, office, etc.). In either case, the budget breakdown should include unit pricing, as well as grand totals. It should list expenditures already made on the project and itemize in-kind contributions, whether previously made or anticipated. In most cases, the budget should be no more than 4 pages.
Work Sample
Your application should include a Work Sample ( DVD, printed or digital photographs, text, audio, interactive media, writing, or film), with a 1-2 paragraph explanation of the selection. Indicate when the work was made and the role of the applicant in what is presented. Sorry, but materials cannot be returned, unless you include a self-addressed stamped envelope large enough to accommodate your work. Please DO NOT send original art work. Please limit work sample submissions to 2!
Optional Materials
We strongly encourage you to consider submitting optional materials such as letters of support for your project, personal references (name, relationship to you, and phone number), and especially a sample tape. If you do not have a sample tape of the project for which you are applying, please send a sample of your previous work. If this is your first project of any kind, we will consider a sample tape from members of your principal production team (a director, co-producer, writer, cinematographer, or editor, for example). We also urge you to investigate the video production course offerings at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
SDF reserves the right to request any or all of these additional materials from the applicant.