About Better Angels Society
The Better Angels Society is a nonprofit dedicated to educating Americans about their history through documentary film, supporting production, outreach, and civic engagement.
Focus Areas
American historydocumentary film productioneducational outreachcivic engagementyouth/student filmmakingfilm mentorship and fellowships
Who They Fund
documentary filmmakersstudent filmmakers / next-generation filmmakersfilm festivals and cultural institutionsgeneral public / audiences reached through outreach
Funding Style
direct project production funding
About Better Angels Society
The Better Angels Society Inc. channels unusually large support into documentary film as a tool for teaching American history, with its biggest recent awards going to public media partners that carry those films to broad audiences. The largest grant in the recent list was $11,318,083 to Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association Inc. in 2025, followed by another seven-figure award of $10,874,334 in 2024 and an $8,201,810 grant in 2023, all for production, outreach, and education tied to documentary films. That pattern points to a funder that backs films not only as productions, but as public history projects with audience engagement built in. The foundation also supports nationally visible history institutions and film recognition programs. In 2023, it gave $400,000 to the Library of Congress for the Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, linking its grantmaking to a prize structure rather than only project funding. Smaller recent awards show the same mix of production support and recognition, from PBS Foundation to National History Day, with grants directed toward documentary-making, mentorship, and student recognition. The overall profile is a steady commitment to American-history storytelling through film, education, and public outreach.
What Better Angels Society Funds
A core theme is historical documentary production. The foundation gave $280,000 in 2025 to WGBH Educational Foundation and $280,750 in 2023 to WNET, both for production of documentary films, outreach, and education. It also supported Central Park Film Project Inc. with $173,000 in 2025 for the same broad documentary-production-and-outreach purpose. Youth and student filmmaking is another distinct strand. National History Day received $40,000 in 2025 for recognition awards for student documentary films and $20,000 in 2024 for Next Generation Angels. The same pattern appears in project-based recognition, such as $68,000 to Lincoln Presidential Foundation in 2025 for recognition awards for student documentary films and $150,000 to Skiff Mountain Films in 2023 for support for and recognition of student documentary filmmakers. The foundation also funds festival and public-history programming. Middleburg Film Festival received $15,000 in 2024 for production, outreach, and education, while Adams County Historical Society received $10,000 in 2025 as Gettysburg Film Festival sponsors.
How Better Angels Society Gives
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$12.1M
Total Assets
$22.9M
Total Revenue
$9.5M
Total Expenses
$14.2M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $24K and $270K, with a median of $94K.
25th Percentile
$24K
Median
$94K
75th Percentile
$270K
Geographic Reach
National9 states funded
About 8% of grants go to recipients in PA.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
KATHERINE MALONE-FRANCE
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