Important Update, February 27, 2025:

Please note that the Enterprise Documentary Fund is under strategic review and applications are temporarily paused for the 2025 funding cycle.

At IDA, we are committed to supporting work at the intersection of journalism and cinema. We are working to advance this commitment in ways that respond to the needs of the field and the urgencies of the present.

The Enterprise Documentary Fund was created in 2017 to support filmmakers using journalistic principles; this was partially in response to a crisis in truth-telling in the media and to combat the misinformation being shared on many platforms. This crisis is even greater today. We will use the next few months to strengthen our offerings and support the needs and interests of contemporary documentary makers.

We are grateful for the generous support and strategic collaboration of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which makes this fund and other essential IDA programs possible.

Please see all IDA funding updates here. We look forward to sharing our new funding framework later this year. In the meantime, please visit our Other Grants Directory, and for specific questions regarding existing grants, please contact funds@documentary.org

IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process.

The Enterprise Documentary Fund was established in 2017 to respond to the needs of documentarians working alone or in small teams who are increasingly taking on high-stakes storytelling which was once the domain of legacy media. The fund prioritizes projects attempting to combat the misinformation being shared on social media and other internet platforms, using journalistic principles (such as fact-checking and rigorous, methodical research) to arrive at a verifiable truth.

In recent years, many organizations have emerged to support this type of filmmaking with resources, educational programming, and advocacy. IDA is proud to be a part of this effort. IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund seeks to support crucial facts-based storytelling while helping filmmakers retain their independent voices and artistic visions.

Since 2021, the Fund has increased access and resources for filmmakers outside of the United States. The issues of press freedom, facts-based storytelling, and mediamaking are urgent at a global scale. As our information infrastructure becomes more globalized, filmmakers from all over the world must have access to resources that can elevate their voices.

With support from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund provides production funds to documentary films using journalistic research practice while making cinematic and artistically rigorous work accessible to general audiences.