Through a series of convenings, workshops, consultancies, and a slate of 10 documentaries, the Stories of Change partnership is creating new story-based opportunities for leading social entrepreneurs and outstanding documentary filmmakers to collaborate and accelerate progress on key global issues. The five-year partnership believes that powerful storytellers and innovative changemakers can benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration.

Over the course of the Stories of Change partnership, development and production grants of over $1.2million were awarded to support the creation of feature-length independent documentary films that examine social entrepreneurship as an innovative approach to the central challenges of our time. In addition to funding the films, Stories of Change supports convenings of leaders in both documentary film and social entrepreneurship at key gatherings globally including the Skoll World Forum and the Sundance Film Festival.

The Stories of Change Impact Lab is an immersive five-day prototyping Lab to extend the film’s story into the community through digital strategies. It is offered to invited social entrepreneurs and filmmakers as part of the Stories of Change partnership, and produced by Tomorrow Partners with the Sundance Institute.

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund encourages the diverse exchange of ideas by artists as a critical pathway to developing an open society, and celebrates documentary as an increasingly important global art form and a critical cultural practice in the 21st century. Activities include:

• Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, which grants $1-2 million per year to between 30 and 40 films, selected from 1,500-2,000 proposals;
• Creative Documentary Labs with seasoned creative advisors, held at the Sundance Resort;
• Work-in-progress screenings held at museums, film festivals, and cultural institutions globally;
• Documentary filmmaker and field support at the Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Creative Producers Summit;
• Creative partnerships to increase resources and support for independent documentary and amplify the use of film around key global challenges. Included are partnerships between the Stories of Change and Skoll Foundation, Good Pitch and the Channel Four/BritDoc Foundation, regional support in the Middle East with the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, and in China with CNEX.

The Sundance Institute

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Jeff Skoll created The Skoll Foundation in 1999 to pursue his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Led by CEO Sally Osberg since 2001, its mission is to drive large scale change by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve the world’s most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are society’s change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world. Byidentifying the people and programs already creating positive change, Skoll Foundation empowers them to extend their reach, deepen their impact and fundamentally improve society. Over the past 12 years, the Foundation has awarded more than $315 million, including investments in 91 social entrepreneurs and 74 organizations on five continents. In addition to grant-making, the Foundation funds a $20 million+ portfolio of program-related and mission-aligned investments. Skoll also operates the annual Skoll World Forum, the premier conference on social entrepreneurship, and shares the stories of social entrepreneurs through partnerships with leading film and broadcast organizations including the PBS NewsHour and the Sundance Institute, to drive awareness of social entrepreneurship and its potential to address the critical issues of our time.