Build Impact Into Budgets

You're making a brilliant film and figuring out a really clever and effective impact campaign. You've got commitment from your team. Now it's time to turn to the thorniest issue of them all: how you're going to finance your campaign.

We need to start by acknowledging here that much of what you'll eventually be able to do is going to be reliant on the funds you have available to do it. And that, despite the frankly heroic efforts of filmmakers to bring change to the world, the reality is that many impact campaigns run out of funds well before the team has run out of steam.

Of the filmmakers we surveyed, 90% said raising money for impact campaigns is a major challenge and most said they wanted to learn more about costing out campaigns.

It's not all doom and gloom. As the field continues to prove itself with ever more successful campaigns demonstrated, we are seeing more organisations prepared to fund this type of work. Which, of course, leads to more brilliant impact campaigns. Which leads to more funds being set aside… and so on.

Across the case studies in our Library, you'll see that the budgets ranged from $53,000 to $2.6M. That's not to say that those with comparatively tiny budgets didn't also do an amazing job. You can still do a lot with a little bit of money and a cracking strategy, so don't be put off. It just means that the less money you have, the less time you’ve likely got to spend, and the more important strategy is to ensure you’re using resources effectively - because you have less capacity to experiment and throw things at the wall to see what will stick.

We recommend that filmmakers develop impact plans and corresponding budgets as early-on as possible. The stronger the early visioning, the more traction the funding will have later on. A well-articulated impact plan can even help secure production funding.

This section of the module will hopefully guide you through the process of budgeting to turn your ‘ideal' impact campaign into a real-life entity.

Developing your 'ideal' impact budget

Before we get down to actually putting the figures in the cells, let's take a moment to consider this great advice from Tricia Finneran, an impact producer and president of Story Matters who has worked on the impact distribution of countless films including Bully, How to Survive a Plague and The Revolutionary Optimists. She previously worked with the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and is a member of the Good Pitch team.

'Money, money, money…'

Yes, you can access all kinds of non-financial resources to ensure your movie makes a difference, but you will need some money to make it happen. First up, put together an impact budget to support the outreach and engagement work that is separate from the film production budget.

Why?

Some funders, in particular public broadcasters, prohibit spending on impact-related activities. Other public media funders will simply require separate budgets.

Conversely, some funders such as the Fledgling Fund exclusively fund outreach and engagement work and will want to see the activity broken down.

If you have equity financing in your film, your production budget should only include the cost of delivering the film.

Steps to take:

1. Write down everything you want to do - with estimated costs attached to each item. Don't worry about being realistic; just begin.
2. Ask colleagues for their budgets as a reference. (Hint: tell them to strip out salary specifics and they will likely be happy to help.) While projects vary widely, the core elements are similar. These will encourage you to include expenses you may not have considered.
3. Assess how much time it would take you and your core team to accomplish your plan. What's the best use of your time? Would it be better to hire others to do certain things?
4. What resources do you already have and what can partner organisations offer you for free? For example, would a non-profit partner host a launch event or contribute to a screening guide?
5. Assess the funding landscape. In a best-case scenario, how much could you raise to support your campaign?

The budget will evolve as you assess the time and resources you have on hand, the likelihood of raising funds, and the resources and opportunities that partnerships will bring to your campaign.

To help you get started, here's a rewritable budget that will help prompt your thinking. It is set up to a maximum of £250,000 but can be scaled up or down depending on how much financial and in-kind support you are able to secure.

Some impact campaign funding categories that you’ll likely need to account for include:

• Campaign personnel: from strategy development and campaign oversight, including the filmmakers’ involvement, to impact assessment and reporting
• Administrative expenses: from travel and shipping costs to legal and accounting support
• Ancillary content: from building a website and discussion materials to creating video modules or subtitled versions of the film
• Event costs: from DVD replication and honoraria for their participation to catering, promotion and other materials for specific events or gatherings
• Covering screening licenses for certain partners (so they can make the film available to communities who can’t afford them without giving their films away for free)

Think about preparing a few different versions of your budget based on different scenarios. This gives you a way to think big (and prepare for the worst!) without tempting fate.

Remember, as with everything in this process, budgeting is not something you do once and leave to one side. You'll need to constantly revisit your budget in the light of the campaign's organic development - including dropping things that aren't working for you, and upweighting the elements that are doing well.

Pro tip: don't forget to build in compensation for time and effort, whether it's for yourself, to hire the people to execute the impact plan, or both. Often, this is the last thing filmmakers will include - but funders want to know you will actually have the capacity to do the work funded by those other line items!

Pro tip: don't forget to build in compensation for time and effort, whether it's for yourself, to hire the people to execute the impact plan, or both. Often, this is the last thing filmmakers will include - but funders want to know you will actually have the capacity to do the work funded by those other line items!

Wrap your head around fiscal Sponsorship: your campaign has a social or environmental change goal and may meet the requirement of a non-profit. That means you can access philanthropic support that was not available to your production! (In the U.S., if you are applying for foundation funds and are not a non-profit, you will need a fiscal sponsor such as Women Makes Movies, Fractured Atlas, or theInternational Documentary Association or the in order to accept certain philanthropic funds.

Been there, done that: some 'watch outs' from filmmakers:

'For people who are not familiar with the costs of running an impact campaign, it can be surprising when filmmakers keep raising money for a film that is 'already finished.' Having an open, honest and early conversation with your film crew, protagonists, and partnering organisations about the need to continue fundraising after the film is released will serve you well when you are successful and the money starts coming in'

'In the initial stage of the campaign, we had some valuable strategic and policy advice from one of our funders, who ended up introducing us to other consultants who eventually became part of our campaign team'

'Don't forget to budget for things like additional printing costs. Things like badges and other campaign collateral can catch you out'

'Ensure there is budget in the impact work for subjects' travel, hotel, food at festivals, the theatrical run & screening tour'