Fledgling is a small private foundation founded by Diana Barrett that is focused on improving the lives of vulnerable populations.   Guided by her vision that film and other creative media projects can educate, engage and mobilize us around entrenched and complex social issues that affect the most vulnerable, we focused the majority of our resources on maximizing the impact of social issue documentary film.  In June 2020, Fledgling announced that after 15 years, it was refocusing the work of the foundation and would no longer be accepting funding applications for new media projects.   See our announcement.

For 15 years, Fledgling focused on the social impact of the projects we supported and our impact on the field.  With a small staff, we supported over 400 projects and put over 14 million dollars into the field. We are proud to look at the range of issues our grantees have addressed and the important work that has been done to engage audiences and support movements.  Beyond that individual project support, Fledgling focused on field building activities designed to share what we learned and to support programming and organizations that were focused on supporting storytellers in their efforts to drive social change.  While there is much work still to be done, my hope is that taken as a whole, Fledgling’s work has had a positive impact on the field and the world.