Academy Foundation
Beverly Hills, CA · EIN 95-2243698. Reported 100 grants totalling $451.6M to 86 organizations across tax years 2019-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Academy Foundation, the IRS classifies it under arts & culture rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE A310) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 86 distinct organizations, with 68% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 100% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $25,000. Half of what it reported fell between $15,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $7,500 and the largest $79.3M. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
10 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $23.3M in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Museum Foundation | Beverly Hills, CA | $306.0M | 5 | 5 | 2023 |
| Archival Foundation | Beverly Hills, CA | $105.6M | 5 | 5 | 2023 |
| Vine Street Archive Foundation | Beverly Hills, CA | $37.5M | 5 | 5 | 2023 |
| Michigan Theater Foundation Inc | Ann Arbor, MI | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Film Independent Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Frameline Inc | San Francisco, CA | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| International Documentary Association Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Sundance Institute | Park City, UT | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Women in Film | Los Angeles, CA | $85,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| National Association of Latino Independent Producers Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Kartemquin Educational Films | Chicago, IL | $62,500 | 2 | 1 | 2019 |
| Center for Asian American Media | San Francisco, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Outfest | Los Angeles, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Siff | Seattle, WA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Streetlights | West Hollywood, CA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| American Museum of the Moving Image | Astoria, NY | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Pan African Film Festival | Los Angeles, CA | $37,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Chicken & Egg Pictures Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Film at Lincoln Center Inc | New York, NY | $35,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Asian Cine-Vision Inc | New York, NY | $32,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| African Diaspora Film Festival Inc | New York, NY | $30,000 | 2 | 1 | 2019 |
| Exceptional Minds | Sherman Oaks, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Indie Memphis | Memphis, TN | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| The Scribe Video Center Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Visual Communications Media | Los Angeles, CA | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Women Make Movies Inc | New York, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Internews Network | Arcata, CA | $28,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Blackstar Projects Inc | Philadelphia, PA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Chicago International Film Festival Inc Cinema-Chicago | Chicago, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Educational Video Center Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Firelight Media Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Inner-City Filmmakers | Oxnard, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Maysles Institute Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Media Arts Center San Diego | San Diego, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Mizna | Saint Paul, MN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Muslim Public Affairs Council Foundation | Los Angeles, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| New York Women in Film & Television Inc | Jackson Hts, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project-Qwocmap | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| San Francisco Film Society | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Smithsonian Institute | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| The Flaherty Film Seminarintl Film Seminars | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| The Independent Feature Project Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| The Jewish Community Center in Manhattan Inc | New York, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| The New Festival Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Atlanta Jewish Film Society Inc | Smyrna, GA | $22,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Indigenous Showcase | Seattle, WA | $22,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago | Chicago, IL | $22,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| New Orleans Film and Video Society Inc | New Orleans, LA | $22,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Ragtag Film Society | Columbia, MO | $22,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| American Film Institute Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Cinema Tropical Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Facets Film Forum | Chicago, IL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Jewish Film Institute | San Francisco, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Northwest Film Forum | Seattle, WA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Reel Stories Teen Filmmaking Inc | Brooklyn, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Uniondocs Inc | Ridgewood, NY | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| George Eastman Museum | Rochester, NY | $17,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| San Francisco Cinematheque | San Francisco, CA | $17,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Filmforum Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $16,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Echo Park Film Center | Los Angeles, CA | $16,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Big Sky Film Institute | Missoula, MT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Ghetto Film School Inc | Bronx, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Glas Animation | Glendale, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Inner-City Arts | Los Angeles, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Jacob Burns Film Center Inc | Pleasantville, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Rosendale Theatre Collective | Rosendale, NY | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop | Sedona, AZ | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Silent Film Festival | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Utah Film Center Dba Salt Lake City Film Center and | Salt Lake Cty, UT | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Columbia Film Society | Columbia, SC | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Montclair State University Foundation Inc | Montclair, NJ | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| American Museum of Natural History | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Austin Film Society | Austin, TX | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Center for Documentary Studies | Durham, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Diamond in the Raw | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Gala Inc Groupo De Artistas Latinoamericanos | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management Inc | Denver, CO | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Points North Institute | Camden, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Raw Art Works Inc | Lynn, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Silver Bullet Productions | Santa Fe, NM | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Subway Cinema Inc | New York, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| The Film Society of Minneapolis St Paul | Minneapolis, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Trustees of Hamilton College | Clinton, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Venice Arts | Marina Dl Rey, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| African Film Festival | New York, NY | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
| Berkshire International Film Festival Inc | Gt Barrington, MA | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2019 |
3 of 86 (3%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 74 of 86 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 88 | $71.7M | $22,500 |
| 2020 | 3 | $99.1M | $20.8M |
| 2021 | 3 | $106.2M | $18.7M |
| 2022 | 3 | $87.3M | $23.1M |
| 2023 | 3 | $87.3M | $21.3M |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
100% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $25,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Academy Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2019-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 3 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA, 90211.
EIN 95-2243698 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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