The Sunrise Foundation concentrates its philanthropy on film preservation, performing arts, and German/Jewish cultural heritage, frequently funding museum and institutional initiatives as well as specialist individual artists. Grants are large and project-focused—supporting restorations, educational residencies, archival programming, and major cultural campaigns—often directed to well-established national or international cultural institutions.
A defining thread in Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts’ recent giving is its sustained support for silent-film preservation and the institutions that maintain access to it. The foundation has backed restorations of German silent works, archival training, and festival presentation, while also funding musicians who accompany restored films in public screenings. That mix suggests a grantmaker interested not only in preservation, but in how audiences encounter the material. Recent awards show the foundation working with specialist cultural organizations and scholars across the US and Europe. Deutsche Kinemathek received support for restoration of three CCC films produced by Holocaust survivor Artur Brauner, as well as funding for the Junior Archivist Program and an English edition of Der Deutsche Film. In the US, the foundation supported National Film Preserve Ltd for The Nugget Project Education & Residency Endowment and the Regents of the University of California for German Film & Media Studies fellowships. It also funded Jewish Community of Helsinki for work on The Jewish Encyclopedia in the Film Age, showing interest in research, editing, and cultural memory alongside preservation and exhibition.
German silent film restoration is a central lane of giving. The foundation supported Deutsche Kinemathek with $110,226 in 2025 for restoration of three CCC films produced by Artur Brauner, and backed Munchner Filmzentrum EV with $60,919 in 2025 for restoration of Robert Wiene’s I.N.R.I. and G. W. Pabst’s Die Freudlose Gasse. It also funds the people and institutions that present silent cinema publicly. San Francisco Silent Film Festival received $75,000 for German-interest programming at the 2024 festival and production expenses, while Le Giornate del Cinema Muto received $47,874 for orchestration and performance of Hitchcock, The Manxman, at the Pordenone finale. Another clear theme is research and scholarship. The Regents of the University of California received $126,964 for graduate student tuition, fees, and living expenses in the UCB German Film & Media Studies Fellowship, and Jewish Community of Helsinki received $62,009 for continued work on The Jewish Encyclopedia in the Film Age.
$1.1M
$2.4M
$825K
$1.1M
Most grants fall between $33K and $92K, with a median of $47K.
25th Percentile
$33K
Median
$47K
75th Percentile
$92K
About 0% of grants go to recipients in CA.
Top 4 recipient countries by grant volume for Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 30 | $2.3M | 44.8% |
| 2 | Germany |
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Concentrated, high-value grants (many six-figure awards) to a small set of institutional and specialist recipients, with repeat funding for select grantees and a mix of project-specific and unrestricted campaign support.
Notable grantees: Deutsche Kinemathek, The Metropolitan Opera, Regents of the University of California (UCB German Film & Media Studies Fellowship), National Film Preserve Ltd, Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation
Typical grant size sits at $33,333 at the 25th percentile, a median of $47,250, and $92,000 at the 75th percentile. The recent list includes both one-off project grants and repeat support: Deutsche Kinemathek, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Munchner Filmzentrum EV, Donald Sosin, and Klezmer by Alicia Svigals all appear more than once across years. The foundation’s structure also includes direct support to individuals, including musicians and scholars, alongside grants to museums, universities, archives, and film-presenting organizations. The pattern leans toward project-based funding, residencies, fellowships, restorations, and program underwriting rather than application-driven general support.
Grant recipients are concentrated in the US and Germany, with smaller totals in Finland and Italy. California appears often in the recipient list, including Berkeley, Burbank, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. New York City also shows up repeatedly through cultural institutions and individual artists. Outside the US, Berlin and Munich appear as frequent German recipient locations, while Helsinki and Gemona are represented in the recent grants list.
Recent grants go to film archives, museums, universities, silent-film festivals, musicians who accompany restored films, and scholars working on German and Jewish film history. The list also includes grants to individual artists and researchers, showing support for both institutions and people.
The strongest patterns are silent-film restoration and archival preservation, live musical accompaniment for silent-film presentations, German film studies and fellowships, Jewish cultural heritage and performance, and historic interpretation tied to wartime memory.
Yes. The recent grants include direct support to qualified musicians for live silent-film accompaniment, as well as funding for graduate students through fellowships and support for a scholar’s long-term research and editing project.
Recent grants cluster around a $33,333 25th percentile, a $47,250 median, and a $92,000 75th percentile. The list also includes several six-figure awards, especially for restorations, fellowships, and institutional campaigns.
Yes. Deutsche Kinemathek appears multiple times for restoration, training, festival support, and publication work. San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Munchner Filmzentrum EV, Donald Sosin, and Klezmer by Alicia Svigals also recur across multiple years.
2025
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2025.
| 27 |
| $2.1M |
40.3% |
| 3 | Finland | 8 | $317K | 11.9% |
| 4 | Italy | 2 | $96K | 3.0% |
Recipient country reflects the grantee's headquarters per IRS 990-PF and Schedule F filings, not the program's implementation country.
Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Metropolitan Opera Association Inc | New York, NY | $250,000 | 2025 | Support the Metropolitan Opera Recovery Fund. |
| Klezmer by Alicia Svigals LLC | New York, NY | $122,000 | 2025 | Grant to a qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations. |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Be | $110,226 | 2025 | Support for restoration of three CCC films produced by Holocaust survivor, Artur Brauner. |
| Donald Sosin | Lakeville, CT | $103,200 | 2025 | Grant to a qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations. |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Be | $90,220 | 2025 | Supplemental Grant in support of the Junior Archivist Program. |
| San Francisco Silent Film Festival | San Francisco, CA | $75,000 | 2025 | Support for German-interest programming at the 2024 San Francisco Silent Film Festival & Production Expenses |
| Munchner Filmzentrum EV | Mu | $60,919 | 2025 | Support for restoration of Robert Wiene's I.N.R.I. (1923) and G. W. Pabst's DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE (1925). |
| Munchner Filmzentrum EV | Mu | $49,213 | 2025 | Support for restoration of two titles by German silent film director, Robert Wiene: RASKOLNIKOW (1923) phase three and GENUINE (1920). |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Be | $33,389 | 2025 | Underwrite "Der Deutsche Film" English Edition. |
| San Francisco Silent Film Festival | San Francisco, CA | $33,333 | 2025 | Support for a full-time Film Restorer Position at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival |
| Friends of the VATMF | Pacific Palisades, CA | $30,500 | 2025 | Support for an edition of early German musical comedies, including providing funding for the licensing fees and necessary work in design, audio restoration, authoring and replication to prepare the edition. |
| Jewish Community of Helsinki | He | $24,824 | 2025 | Support for continuing work on the long-term important research and editing project, THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA IN THE FILM AGE. |
| Jewish Community of Helsinki | He | $24,540 | 2025 | Support for continuing work on the long-term important research and editing project, THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA IN THE FILM AGE. |
| Blackhawk Films Inc | Burbank, CA | $20,000 | 2025 | Underwrite the composition and recording of an orchestral score for the film by Robert Israel, the distinguished silent film composer. |
| National Center for Jewish Film Inc | Chestnut Hill, MA | $19,557 | 2025 | Support for an edition of Herbert Kline's pre-WWII documentaries, including providing funding for the licensing fees and necessary work in design, authoring, and replication to prepare the edition. |
| Telluride Film Festival | Berkeley, CA | $9,050 | 2025 | 2024 Telluride Film Festival Film Sponsorship |
| Friends of the VATMF | Pacific Palisades, CA | $3,782 | 2025 | Additional support for an edition of early German musical comedies to further work on the audio restoration of one title, Die Privatsekretrin. |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Be | $2,793 | 2025 | Supplemental Grant in support of the Junior Archivist Program. |
| The Metropolitan Opera | New York, NY | $257,900 | 2024 | An unrestricted gift for the Transforming the Met campaign. |
| National Film Preserve Ltd | Berkeley, CA | $250,000 | 2024 | Contribution to The Nugget Project Education & Residency Endowment. |
| REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO | Berkeley, CA | $126,964 | 2024 | Grant to pay tuition, fees and living expenses for graduate students in the UCB German Film & Media Studies Fellowship. |
| Klezmer by Alicia SvigalsLLC | New York, NY | $92,000 | 2024 | Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations. |
| Donald Sosin | Lakeville, CT | $90,000 | 2024 | Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations. |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Berlin | $86,651 | 2024 | Fund a new candidate annually for a two-year traineeship in the Junior Archivist Program of the Deutsche Kinemathek. |
| San Francisco Silent Film Festival | SAN FRANCISCO, CA | $73,300 | 2024 | Support for German-interest Programming at Telluride Film Festival Film Sponsorship 2023. |
| Jewish Community of Helsinki | Helsinki | $62,009 | 2024 | Support for continuing work on the long-term research and editing project, THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA IN THE FILM AGE. |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Berlin | $57,245 | 2024 | Fund the 8th annual Film Restored Festival 2023 at Deutsche Kinemathek. |
| Le Giornate del Cinema Muto | Gemona | $47,874 | 2024 | Orchestration and performance of Hitchcock, The Manxman, at the Pordenone 2022 finale. |
| MUNCHNER FILMZENTRUM EV | Munich | $37,886 | 2024 | Restoration of two films by the German silent film director, Robert Wiene: RASKOLNIKOW (1923) and GEFANGENE SEELE/Captured Soul (1917). |
| MUNCHNER FILMZENTRUM EV | Munich | $34,081 | 2024 | Restoration of Karl Grune?s silent film, DIE STRASSE (1923). |
| San Francisco Silent Film Festival | SAN FRANCISCO, CA | $33,333 | 2024 | Support a new full-time Film Restorer at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. |
| San Diego Opera | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 2024 | Unrestricted gift for the recipient's general charitable purposes. |
| Telluride Film Festival | Berkeley, CA | $9,050 | 2024 | 2023 Telluride Film Festival Film Sponsorship. |
| Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation | Powell, WY | $250,000 | 2023 | Mineta-Simpson Institute Matching Grant |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Berlin | $176,000 | 2023 | Launch the Junior Archivist Program |
| Blackhawk Films Inc | Burbank, CA | $141,570 | 2023 | Restoration of MERRY GO ROUND (1923, Stroheim) |
| REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO | Berkeley, CA | $118,036 | 2023 | German Film & Media Studies Fellowship |
| Filmforum Inc | Los Angeles, CA | $47,250 | 2023 | Seed funding for the pre-production and shooting expenses of the film, Prometheus Complex |
| Jewish Community of Helsinki | Helsinki | $47,213 | 2023 | Support for The Jewish Encyclopedia in the Film Age - grants for further research and equipment |
| San Francisco Silent Film Festival | SAN FRANCISCO, CA | $41,140 | 2023 | Support for live musical accompaniment of two German films at the 2022 festival |
| Donald Sosin | Lakeville, CT | $37,500 | 2023 | Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations |
| Klezmer by Alicia SvigalsLLC | New York, NY | $37,500 | 2023 | Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations |
| Deutsche Kinemathek | Berlin | $25,538 | 2023 | Support live orchestral accompaniment for a screening of restored classic film, Sylvester, at the Louvre in Paris |
| San Francisco Silent Film Festival | SAN FRANCISCO, CA | $25,000 | 2023 | Support for Foolish Wives music recording and Blu-ray/DVD bonus features. |
| Friends of The Cineteca di Bologna | Los Angeles, CA | $10,000 | 2023 | Support for annual Bologna film festival |
| National Film Preserve Ltd | Berkeley, CA | $9,050 | 2023 | Telluride Film Festival Film Sponsorship 2022 |
| Yiddish Arts Academics Assoc of N A | San Diego, CA | $5,000 | 2023 | General support |
Support the Metropolitan Opera Recovery Fund.
Klezmer by Alicia Svigals LLC
$122,000Grant to a qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations.
Deutsche Kinemathek
$110,226Support for restoration of three CCC films produced by Holocaust survivor, Artur Brauner.
Donald Sosin
$103,200Grant to a qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations.
Deutsche Kinemathek
$90,220Supplemental Grant in support of the Junior Archivist Program.
Support for German-interest programming at the 2024 San Francisco Silent Film Festival & Production Expenses
Munchner Filmzentrum EV
$60,919Support for restoration of Robert Wiene's I.N.R.I. (1923) and G. W. Pabst's DIE FREUDLOSE GASSE (1925).
Munchner Filmzentrum EV
$49,213Support for restoration of two titles by German silent film director, Robert Wiene: RASKOLNIKOW (1923) phase three and GENUINE (1920).
Deutsche Kinemathek
$33,389Underwrite "Der Deutsche Film" English Edition.
Support for a full-time Film Restorer Position at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Friends of the VATMF
$30,500Support for an edition of early German musical comedies, including providing funding for the licensing fees and necessary work in design, audio restoration, authoring and replication to prepare the edition.
Jewish Community of Helsinki
$24,824Support for continuing work on the long-term important research and editing project, THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA IN THE FILM AGE.
Jewish Community of Helsinki
$24,540Support for continuing work on the long-term important research and editing project, THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA IN THE FILM AGE.
Blackhawk Films Inc
$20,000Underwrite the composition and recording of an orchestral score for the film by Robert Israel, the distinguished silent film composer.
National Center for Jewish Film Inc
$19,557Support for an edition of Herbert Kline's pre-WWII documentaries, including providing funding for the licensing fees and necessary work in design, authoring, and replication to prepare the edition.
Friends of the VATMF
$3,782Additional support for an edition of early German musical comedies to further work on the audio restoration of one title, Die Privatsekretrin.
Deutsche Kinemathek
$2,793Supplemental Grant in support of the Junior Archivist Program.
An unrestricted gift for the Transforming the Met campaign.
Contribution to The Nugget Project Education & Residency Endowment.
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO
$126,964Grant to pay tuition, fees and living expenses for graduate students in the UCB German Film & Media Studies Fellowship.
Klezmer by Alicia SvigalsLLC
$92,000Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations.
Donald Sosin
$90,000Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations.
Deutsche Kinemathek
$86,651Fund a new candidate annually for a two-year traineeship in the Junior Archivist Program of the Deutsche Kinemathek.
Support for German-interest Programming at Telluride Film Festival Film Sponsorship 2023.
Jewish Community of Helsinki
$62,009Support for continuing work on the long-term research and editing project, THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA IN THE FILM AGE.
Deutsche Kinemathek
$57,245Fund the 8th annual Film Restored Festival 2023 at Deutsche Kinemathek.
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto
$47,874Orchestration and performance of Hitchcock, The Manxman, at the Pordenone 2022 finale.
MUNCHNER FILMZENTRUM EV
$37,886Restoration of two films by the German silent film director, Robert Wiene: RASKOLNIKOW (1923) and GEFANGENE SEELE/Captured Soul (1917).
MUNCHNER FILMZENTRUM EV
$34,081Restoration of Karl Grune?s silent film, DIE STRASSE (1923).
Support a new full-time Film Restorer at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Unrestricted gift for the recipient's general charitable purposes.
Deutsche Kinemathek
$176,000Launch the Junior Archivist Program
Blackhawk Films Inc
$141,570Restoration of MERRY GO ROUND (1923, Stroheim)
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO
$118,036German Film & Media Studies Fellowship
Filmforum Inc
$47,250Seed funding for the pre-production and shooting expenses of the film, Prometheus Complex
Jewish Community of Helsinki
$47,213Support for The Jewish Encyclopedia in the Film Age - grants for further research and equipment
Support for live musical accompaniment of two German films at the 2022 festival
Donald Sosin
$37,500Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations
Klezmer by Alicia SvigalsLLC
$37,500Grant to qualified musician to accompany the live presentation of restored silent films by charitable organizations
Deutsche Kinemathek
$25,538Support live orchestral accompaniment for a screening of restored classic film, Sylvester, at the Louvre in Paris
Support for Foolish Wives music recording and Blu-ray/DVD bonus features.
Friends of The Cineteca di Bologna
$10,000Support for annual Bologna film festival
Yiddish Arts Academics Assoc of N A
$5,000General support