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You are receiving this newsletter because you attended – or expressed interest in attending – the inaugural Brand Foundation Alliance meeting at BrandStorytelling during Sundance, 2019. Since that time, we’ve founded a Steering Committee, set some general membership ideas and held one board meeting and open meet & greet. We’re now launching a e-newsletter (sent no more than once a month), a website and are holding our next board meeting and gathering of the founding members in October. Please click on unsubscribe at the bottom of this email if you don't want to receive this periodic newsletter.
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- About – BFA members meet to discuss best practices, share information on projects and celebrate the best work in the impact media space.
- Mission - Using the power of storytelling, the Brand-Foundation Alliance (BFA) combines the efforts of like-minded funder organizations and corporations to create impactful work that results in positive global change
- History – The Brand/Foundation Alliance began as a small gathering of like-minded foundations and brands who met at the Brand Storytelling Conference during Sundance, 2019. Brian Newman of Sub-Genre and Rick Parkhill of Brand Storytelling convened a small group of their colleagues to discuss the idea of collaborating on the funding or and support of films and new media projects. The group decided to form a steering committee and formal meeting group later in 2019.
Who is on the Steering Committee of the BFA?
Wendy Ettinger, Chicken and Eggs Pictures & Educational Foundation of America
Sandy Herz, Skoll Foundation
Angela Matusik, HP
Cara Mertes, Ford Foundation
Paolo Mottola, REI
Rick Parkhill, BrandStorytelling
Brooks Thomas, Southwest Airlines
Facilitator: Brian Newman, Sub-Genre
Steering committee members meet 2-3 times per year and set policy and best practices for the group.
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On October 21st, the BFA Steering Committee will be hosting a brief reception from 6-8pm at a private home in Gramercy Park, NYC. This reception is open to all persons who attended or wanted to attend the Sundance convening. If you are receiving this email, you are part of that group. Address will be given upon RSVP. RSVP to Benjamin@sub-genre.com to attend.
On October 22nd, the BFA Steering Committee will be attending the Good Pitch, NYC, produced by the DocSociety. Check out this website link for full details, but in brief - Good Pitch is one of the leading pitch contests for social impact films in the world. It takes place in different cities around the world, and the US one is this event in NYC. Six doc teams pitch exciting projects to a panel of experts and a room of potential partners and funders. Many films raise money on the spot, and almost every film goes on to be a success in the doc sphere and in its impact.
If you would like to request accreditation to attend the Good Pitch, please contact US Director of Development and Partnerships, Patricia Finneran and mention you are part of the Brand/Foundation Alliance.
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Report on the Rise of Impact Entertainment - This summer at Elevate, BFA Founding Member Shabnam Mogharabi of Soul Pancake presented a report on the Rise of Impact Entertainment produced in conjunction with Participant, Media, Brand Storytelling and the Harris Poll. And it's great. You can read this summary article that ran in Forbes. The study isn't out in the public yet, but you can request a copy from BrandStorytelling here.
The study indirectly came out of our first meeting at Sundance, where they met, and while it is focused on what brands are thinking about impact entertainment, I think it's of great relevance to this group. Among the findings: "When it comes to investing in and creating impact entertainment, executives are also struggling with a “skills gap.” Sixty-four percent of respondents said finding quality creative partners was a challenge. Fifty-four percent said there was limited understanding of what impact and traditional entertainment really are at their companies, and 53 percent said they lacked the knowledge on how to start an impact entertainment initiative at their company."
This seems like a rich area where Foundations and Brands can collaborate - via the Alliance - to learn more about doing impact right.
Shabnam Mogharabi at Elevate.
BFA Members in the News:
HP won the Tribeca X Award for Episodic for their short doc series The History of Memory. Angela Matusik, HP’s head of brand journalism, is a BFA Steering Committee Member. Read about it in AdWeek.
Rupert Maconick, a founding BFA member, produced 5B, which was funded by Johnson & Johnson, and the film played in competition at the Cannes Film Festivaland then won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions, and sold to Verizon/Ryot for distribution.
REI launched a new print magazine in conjunction with Hearst. It’s called Uncommon Path, and it will be available at REI stores and in newsstands everywhere. They also took this opportunity to begin a partnership with NewsMatch in an effort to strengthen local journalism. This year, the co-op will invest $100,000 in 10 local news organizations. Paolo Mottola is on the Steering Committee of the BFA.
<<Send us your news for inclusion. Email Benjamin@sub-genre.com to be included>>
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BFA will be hosting another gathering during the Brand Storytelling conference at Sundance, in January, 2020. In addition to meeting, we hope to arrange private pitch meetings between guest filmmakers creating impact entertainment, and the BFA membership group. We’ll be working on a shared database of projects, where members can share projects they are funding that may be open to other partnership and support, and we’ll be sending updates on member’s projects. And in a few weeks, we'll be launching the BFA website.
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