Call for applications for POD Program!
The Story Money Impact Pod program is a three month applied mentorship adventure to support five individuals as they build their impact skills on an existing documentary film project. This mentorship focuses on the skills and strategies that support the film being used as a tool for positive change in the issue area it explores.
Our hope with this iteration of the Pod is to support Canadian and Indigenous projects that are striving to be active in the impact space, but desire some guidance from Story Money Impact.
What is an Impact Producer or Practitioner? An Impact Producer, or Practitioner, is responsible for maximizing a film’s potential for social change. Responsibilities may vary based on the film’s content and defined distribution goals, but often include strategy development, issue mapping, fundraising, partnership development and management, event production, dialogue facilitation, discussion guide creation, evaluation and impact measurement.
The program will include:
Group sessions (mandatory attendance):
Wednesday, January 6th, 12pm - 3pm (Pacific Time)
Friday, January 8th, 12pm - 3pm (Pacific Time)
Individual mentorship follow-up sessions, which will follow in February and March. Anticipate 30-minute meetings on an approximately biweekly basis, schedule to be determined.
Who we seek: We are looking for five people from across Canada (of which, two are from BC), who are actively using documentary storytelling as a tool for change. Candidates may be the creators of a social or environmental justice film, or working with a film as their impact lead, in production or dissemination phases. Ideally, some seed funding or budget allocation has been secured to support this role within the project. If not, we hope to help!
If you are a candidate who is not a filmmaker, but feel called to work with films in an impact role, we also encourage you to apply.
Candidates need to have flexibility in their schedule to engage in sessions with other Pod participants and in one-on-one mentoring sessions with SMI staff from January 11, 2027 - March 31, 2027 . We also expect the participants to be actively working on this impact campaign between sessions.
Individuals with historic barriers to access are encouraged to apply. This includes, but is not limited to, BIPOC, people with disabilities, and queer folks. If the application form is itself a barrier, please email jackie@storymoneyimpact.com to explore an alternative approach.
How does it work? For a period of four months, selected Pod participants will come together for a series of virtual group learning sessions and discussions. Once we get to know the participants and what their area of applied impact work is, we will shift sessions to working one-on-one with an SMI mentor, providing direct support to each individual and project based on what they are trying to do. Schedules will be determined once we have identified our candidates. We expect each candidate to commit working time to this project outside of our meeting for the duration of the program.
An honorarium of $2,000 will be provided to participants for their time.
Application deadline: November 23, 2026, 11:59pm Pacific Time.
Timeline: The Pod program will run January 6, 2027 - March 31, 2027. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview between November 30-December 4, 2026
Application: To preview the application questions, take a look at this PDF.
Questions? We will host one live Q&A Zoom info session about this program. Click on the link below to register.
If you cannot attend this session, you can direct any questions to jackie@storymoneyimpact.com
