PARTICIPANT MEDIA

ASSIGNMENT: How can foundations and grassroots allies leverage “entertainment that inspires and compels social change”?

When Participant Media’s executive vice president of social action and advocacy landed in Hollywood to steer the company’s strategies for partnerships with NGOs, foundations, and mediamaker organizations, he sought real-time perspective from AV Lab’s Ellen Schneider. Drawing on lessons from Participant campaigns powered by Active Voice (Food, Inc., The Visitor, The Informant! and more) Schneider supported high-level alliances, key funder relationships, and campaign framing.

As a result, foundations including Ford, Open Society Foundations, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation were able to align Participant titles with their social change missions, and scores of grassroots organizations made their voices heard. Since this consultation, Active Voice went on to work on other Participant Media campaigns including Waiting for Superman, A Place at the Table, and Lincoln.