Fundraising Snapshots
Songs Inside
Songs Inside is the transformative story of a group of women prisoners in a ground-breaking music program that aims to keep vulnerable women from returning to the prison system.
The Songs Inside team took a two-pronged approach to fundraising for the film. They sought small but many donations from a close network of supporters by leveraging personal contacts, whilst at the same time researching and applying for aligned grants and support from foundations. There was a great importance placed on the value of creating a personal connection with potential funders and partners.
I think there was a degree of success on each side, but really, the contacts are probably the best avenue because of that personal connection.
A small launch event with a soft ask was held to existing networks. This led to some direct funds raised, but also created champions for the project that helped it reach out further into new directions.
We weren't expecting people to just suddenly give us lots of money. We got a few donations, but it was more to introduce the project which is a great way to get people invested as well.
The filmmakers approached funders with both a film as well as considerable thought to the impact, and potential for post-release film use.
You obviously can't have an impact campaign without a film, but just having a film on its own is not enough. We want to show that film is going to provide a useful tool for a greater goal.
By having our own page on the Documentary Australia website, donations could be made quite easily and the teaser was on there. It's a good rough reference for our project.
Circle of Silence
(AKA The Age of Living Dangerously)
Circle of Silence follows in the footsteps of now late Shirley Shackleton’s Walkley award winning book of the same name. The film follows Shirley’s search for answers relating to the events surrounding the tragic deaths of five Australian journalists in Balibo, Timor L’este in October 1975, one of whom was her husband Greg Shackleton.
Almost 50 years after the deaths, there is still a groundswell of support to investigate the events further and to uncover the truth.
Filmmakers Stella Zammataro and Luigi Aquisto brought their wealth of experience working in Timor L’este as well as their deep understanding and connections with the case of the ‘Balibo Five’ to make this film a reality. Along the way they fostered a community of supporters passionate about the Timor region and this case, many of whom have been an active part of the film team’s various other projects relating to the Timor region.
Ensuring supporters understand the role they play in the success of the film and its impact has been a critical component to the team’s success in developing this strong network. To achieve this, Luigi credits “newsletters and updates on how past projects, as well as new projects are going”.
Following the film’s release across almost 20 screens nationally, the team are preparing bring the film to Timor L’este in the native language of Tetun. They will then carry out the impact campaign, which looks to fulfil Shirley’s wishes to repatriate the graves of the journalists from Jakarta to be examined, and for the AFP to re-open their investigation of the case.
People are just happy to feel that they're involved, part of the process and an important part of making it real. Keeping that feeling going with potential or existing donors is really very important. It highlights they're seen as being part of the project and critical to its success.
Like My Brother
Like My Brother charts the power and impact of raw, sporting talent upon the lives of four, young Tiwi women and their remote community.
The fundraising success of Like My Brother is thanks to the strong partnership between the original film team and Petrina Dorrington, who joined in a voluntary capacity to assist in raising funds to realise the project. Petrina and Sal, who were personal friends prior to this project have now formed a strong professional partnership that has served them well throughout this journey. Bringing on Petrina allowed Sal to focus on filmmaking while Petrina handled fundraising by leveraging her skills and experience.
They evolved their strategy organically through building relationships and sharing the project. Petrina notes, “It basically started with people that I knew.” From there the fundraising campaign started to gain traction more broadly. However, the strategy really revolved around building and maintaining strong personal relationships with supporters.
Petrina said that the most important assets they found in their fundraising were the engaging teaser and the main participant’s willingness to do publicity.
The team had two major pieces of advice for film fundraising; perseverance to keep going when things aren’t easy and passion for the subject matter. Overall, a picture emerges of the patience, flexibility, and relationship building required in fundraising for the Like My Brother project, along with the passion required to see the long journey through.
KillJoy
The film KillJoy started when director Vincent Lamberti met a psychologist at a filmmaking workshop who knew someone with an important story to tell (Kathryn Joy). The film aims to raise awareness of the lack of support for children whose mothers are killed by domestic homicide, and potentially help create a peer support network for them. There is accompanying research by the University of Melbourne on this issue.
Fundraising for the film has evolved organically through building relationships and sharing the project, rather than having a structured strategy initially. Support has come through small donations from individuals reached through social media.
Assets developed include a one-page synopsis explaining why the story needs to be told, a strong key image, social media presence and a clear verbal pitch. The lead film participant (Kathryn Joy) being willing to do publicity has helped raise awareness.
Documentary Australia has played a crucial role in fundraising through offering an easy way for people to donate and get Deductible Gift Recipient status.
Next steps are to release the film in 2024 with a tailored impact campaign, potentially with an impact producer on board.
