• HFPA

The HFPA Announces $4.5 million in Grant Awards for 2022-23

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced more than $4.5 million in grant awards for 2022-23 through its philanthropic program. These donations support a diverse range of nonprofit organizations that help underserved communities, universities, and colleges. In addition, the grants also support film restoration projects both in the United States and overseas, as well as journalism programs that provide aid and assistance to journalists across the globe.

“The HFPA’s long history of philanthropy sits at the core of our mission to support cultural, educational, artistic, and humanitarian organizations,” said Helen Hoehne, President of the HFPA. “Our membership has always taken pride in devoting its funds to supporting the broadest range of programs with the most impact. We are exceptionally proud of this year’s grantees and the impact they are making, which range from the largest film restoration project in our history in France to the support of economically and socially disadvantaged diverse journalism students in Cerritos, California.”

The HFPA membership approved $4,534,195 for 112 grants to 93 programs and organizations, representing an increase of 3.2% over last year. A total of $4,420,695 was awarded as recurring grants with another $63,500 given as one-time grants. All funding for HFPA’s philanthropy program comes from revenue generated by the broadcasting of the Golden Globes® awards show.

Among some of the noteworthy first-time HFPA grantees include:

National Hispanic Media Coalition: Founded in 1986, the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) is a women-led civil rights organization dedicated to eliminating hate, discrimination, and racism toward the Latinx community. The $250,000 awarded by the HFPA over the next five years will support NHMC’s Education & Workforce Development Program: Series Scriptwriters Program & Latinx Stream Showcase. For nearly 20 years, the NHMC Series Scriptwriters Program has helped launch the careers of more than 200 Latinx writers who have worked on shows that can be viewed on Netflix, CW, NBCUniversal, HBOMax, Hulu, ViacomCBS, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and more.

Compton Unified School District Education Foundation: Serving over 19,000 primarily minority students, the Compton Education Foundation, working with current HFPA grantee Get Lit, was awarded $100,000 over five years to bring Get Lit’s program of empowering students through literacy and poetry to 3,000 middle and high school students. The grant includes curriculum licensing and materials, a school assembly, mentor visits, entry to a poetry slam, teacher training, and facilitation by teaching artists.

Film2Future: Film2Future (F2F) is a professional-level filmmaking program for underserved youth across Los Angeles County with a mission to empower a new generation of diverse content creators. Film2Future provides filmmaking instruction to high school students at zero cost to students and their families with programs delivered by more than 250 industry professionals who volunteer each year. As students graduate high school Film2Future works to facilitate their entry into the industry – whether that path is through college and paid internships or full-time, entry-level positions. Film2Future has secured 86 jobs or internships for its alumni so far, covering all areas of the filmmaking industry and students have received over $1 million in college scholarship awards. The $100,000 over five years will provide professional-level training to ensure that underserved diverse LA youth have access to careers in the film industry.

“These powerful programs represent our focus in helping to bring Hollywood opportunities closer to diverse and underserved communities,” said Neil Phillips, Chief Diversity Officer for the HFPA. “The HFPA’s grants also help maintain our support for protecting and growing journalism around the world, whether it involves the investigation of corruption or the push to keep the world’s attention on conflict zones, such as the war in Ukraine. We are proud of our philanthropy and the strong connections we have built between these communities and Hollywood.”

In addition to the $4.5 million annual recurring grants awarded, the HFPA also provided discretionary awards to support a variety of worthy programs, including $400,000 to support the NAACP and the Reimagine Coalition, $100,000 to La Cinémathèque Francaise for the restoration of the 1927 classic “Napoleon,” and $75,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists for its work in the Ukraine war.

Grants were awarded in several categories:

$201,500          Fellowships and internships at higher education journalism schools

$102,800          HFPA endowed scholarships and fellowships

$725,000          Film schools for fellowships and projects

$947,240          Professional mentorship and training programs

$360,000          Pre-professional education and mentoring programs

$395,000          Film restoration and preservation

$880,000          Promoting cultural exchange through film

$670,475          Journalism and press freedom programs

$202,000          Special projects, including local arts and social services

Among recurring grantees include noteworthy programs such as A Place Called Home, Big Brothers Big Sisters Los Angeles, Get Lit – Words Ignite, Latino Film Institute, IndieCollect, Film Noir, American Cinematheque, Film Independent, Committee to Project Journalists, Los Angeles Press Club, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Children’s Hospital, The Actor’s Gang, St. Elmo Village and Las Fotos.

Higher education institutions receiving support include Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Northridge, Cerritos College Foundation, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Valley College, Cerritos College, Santa Monica College, California Institute of the Arts, UCLA and the American Film Institute.