Center for Asian American Media
ActiveArts, Culture & HumanitiesFunds Individuals
San Francisco, CAWebsite
About Center for Asian American Media
To present stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible through funding, production, distribution, exhibition and education.
Focus Areas
film and mediadocumentary filmmakingAsian American cultural representationdistribution and exhibitionfilm festivals and community programmingeducation and outreach
Who They Fund
independent filmmakersfilm teams/production crewspublic television audiences
Funding Style
project-specific awardspartial/project funding
About Center for Asian American Media
Center for Asian American Media centers Asian American stories through a mix of filmmaker awards, fellowship support, and public media funding. Its recent grants show a clear preference for projects that move between production and distribution, including a $175,000 award to Wgbh for filmmaker support and a $100,000 award to Rose Pak Community Fund in San Francisco for the same purpose. The foundation also backs public television pathways, as seen in funding to public media organizations and film projects intended for broadcast audiences. Its active programs point to an organized funding structure: a documentary fund for Asian American experiences, fellowships for emerging makers, and a separate fund for stories about U.S. Muslims. That combination places the foundation at the intersection of documentary filmmaking, media access, and public representation. Recent awards also reach smaller project grants, suggesting support for both larger productions and targeted development work. Across these patterns, the foundation prioritizes media projects that broaden who appears on screen and how those stories reach viewers.
What Center for Asian American Media Funds
Documentary filmmaking is a core area. In 2025, Center for Asian American Media gave $75,000 to Asian and Pacific Islander Am for a filmmaker award, and in 2025 it gave $60,000 to This Is How It Ends LLC for the same purpose. Public television is another important route: Latnio Public Broadcasting received $50,000 in 2024 to partially fund a film for public TV. The foundation also supports public media organizations through filmmaker awards, including $25,000 to Detroit Public Television in 2023 and $10,000 to Pbs-nc in 2024. Beyond production, the grant list includes outreach, such as a $10,000 award to Common Counsel Foundation in Oakland for outreach. The active programs add further detail, with dedicated funding for Asian American documentary projects, mediamaker fellowships, and support for stories about U.S. Muslims.
How Center for Asian American Media Gives
Typical grant size is $20,000 at the 25th percentile, $30,000 at the median, and $50,000 at the 75th percentile, with larger awards appearing at the upper end of the range. The recent record shows repeated support to some recipients across multiple years, including American Documentary Inc and Wgbh. That points to recurring relationships rather than only one-time awards. The foundation is a regular funder and makes project-specific, partial-project, and artist-support grants. Several active programs accept unsolicited applications, including the CAAM Documentary Fund, CAAM Fellowship, CAAM Fellowship: Midwest Edition, the National Multicultural Alliance Fellows program, and the Building Bridges Documentary Fund.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.5M
Total Assets
$14.1M
Total Revenue
$3.7M
Total Expenses
$5.1M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $20K and $50K, with a median of $30K.
25th Percentile
$20K
Median
$30K
75th Percentile
$50K
Geographic Reach
National16 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Stephen Gong
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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