KITS Funders
Burrell Family Foundation
The Burrell Family Foundation has been supporting KITS since 2018, as part of KITS Ambassador Ty Burrell's commitment to the mission of KITS & support of foster youth.
Ty Burrell also volunteers his time to guest teach acting classes during our
Screenwriting & Filmmaking Program, and serves as host for the KITS Film Awards.
His commitment is in honor of his father's work, which is why in 2019, KITS surprised Ty with the inaugural Gary Burrell Humanitarian Award at the KITS Awards.
California Arts Council
This organization is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency.
The Cal Arts Council has supported KITS with various grant support since 2018.
Their support has included grants for operational support as well as programming support, allowing KITS to offer our Screenwriting & Filmmaking Program, while also providing a consultant to help KITS Board members create a strategic plan to guide KITS into the next decade of service to foster youth in Los Angeles.
Weingart Foundation
Unrestricted operating support from the Weingart Foundation is designed to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations, collaboratives, and coalitions advancing equity and justice.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Since 2016, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has supported KITS as one of their grantees. Their support has helped us offer our Screenwriting & Filmmaking Programs, helping KITS youth create incredible films.
In 2020, their virtual Grantee Celebration shined a spotlight on a few of our youth, while they also worked behind the scenes to produce the package as well.
LA County Department of Arts & Culture
This organization is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
Thanks to the LA County Department of Arts & Culture, this operational support has allowed KITS to maintain our administrative team, giving us the manpower needed to pivot our programming during COVID to support our youth through the arts virtually.
Dwight Stuart Youth Fund
The mission of the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund (DSYF) is to support organizations in LA County that provide direct services and experiences to underserved children and youth so they may gain values, skills, and confidence to achieve their potential.
We've been honored to be grant recipients of the DSYF for the last couple years, which has included specialized training as well as funding.
Washington West Film Festival
KITS has been an honored recipient of support from the Washington West Film Festival, since 2016, as they support various non-profits with their box office sales.
Even more, Washington West has supported our youth by screening their films and flying some of our KITS youth to present their films personally at the Festival. This partnership has provided a unique experience for our youth to gain soft skills in communication and leadership as they represent KITS & share their films with new audiences.
WESTAF | National Endowment of the Arts
Selected KITS programs and services are generously supported by WESTAF (the Western States Arts Federation) and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Thanks to WESTAF and the National Endowment of the Arts, this operational support
allows KITS to cover teaching mentor fees, maintain our administrative team and underwrite programming costs.
The Canet Foundation
The Canet Foundation believes that the education and exploration of creative endeavors is the key to a healthy society.
KITS has been honored to be the recipient of sponsorships from The Canet Foundation for both the KITS Film Awards as well as the KITS Night at the Drive-In Fundraiser we had in place of the KITS Awards in 2020, due to the pandemic.
Music Is Unity Foundation
Philip Bailey - of Earth, Wind & Fire - & his family have been supporters of KITS since our inception of KITS & the work we do with foster youth. Because of that, Music Is Unity
has been a sponsor of the KITS Film Awards for many years.
Further, they've included KITS as one of the community partners they have helped through their #FosterChallenge Emergency Fund, in response to the recent pandemic.
CBS Radford Studios
KITS production days would not be possible without the support of in-kind sponsors like CBS Radford Studios. As we film the youth's short films in a single day, CBS
Radford Studios has made it possible with equipment - like lighting and cameras - for many of our productions for the last 5 years.
Further, the staff have served as volunteers on production days and participated in judging the films to select the KITS Awards winners.
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal has supported KITS since 2018, thanks to the Black Employee Network (BEN at NBCU). The BEN members have served as volunteers both on production days and at our KITS Film Awards. They've also hosted our Summer Program for our transitional age youth, hosted judging sessions, sourced auction items for fundraising events, and covered the cost of craft services on production days.
In 2021, NBCUniversal hosted a Virtual Career Day for foster youth, allowing our youth to learn from creatives & executives in various departments; and donated pro-bono time to consult KITS in the area of marketing and communications.
Warner Media
For the last 5 years, the Black Employees at Warner Media (a business resource group) has been supporting KITS as a community partner, hosting our Spring Program for transitional age youth, volunteering time and resources, hosting fundraisers & events, sourcing auction items for fundraising events, sponsoring the KITS Film Awards.
Warner Media's Prop Department has helped with in-kind support for our productions, and WB Good has donated old set materials for our upcoming KITS Production Studio.
The SAM Initiative
The SAM Initiative has been an instrumental part in KITS expanding our team, twice, through their funding. First, in 2017, with an Executive Administrator, and again, in 2021, with the onboarding of our part-time Youth Advocate Specialist.
As Tige always says, "it takes a village," and the SAM Initiative has indeed helped expand our village, giving KITS the internal support to grow our program and the impact it makes.
CA Small Business Grant Program
KITS was a recent recipient of a grant from the CA Small Business Grant Program to support small businesses, like KITS, who have been impacted by COVID.
The support we've received through the challenges of COVID-19 has allowed us to continue to support foster youth locally through the arts, as well as youth nationally, through our KITS National Short Screenplay Competition.
Ian Somerhalder Foundation
Through a grant from the Ian Somerhalder Foundation in 2016, we were able to offer our KITS Screenwriting & Filmmaking Program at a group home in Los Angeles, where the youth in our program wrote, cast, and starred in the 2 films they created.
US Bank Foundation
The US Bank Foundation has sponsored the KITS Film Awards as well as our KITS Night at the Drive-In Fundraiser, as well as funding KITS with a grant in 2021.
US Bank has also showed their commitment to helping us further our mission as local Vice Presidents have served on our KITS Board for the last few years.
Super Bowl LVI Legacy Program
Thanks to LA Super Bowl Host Committee, LA SEC, LA84 Foundation & Play Equity Fund, KITS has been selected for the Super Bowl LVI Legacy Program –“Champions Live Here”.
We are one of the 56 local-non-profit organizations recognized for making a transformative impact in underserved communities across the Los Angeles region.
Entertainment Industry Foundation
Thanks to a referral by FosterMore, the Entertainment Industry Foundation awarded
KITS with a grant to help us continue our mission through the challenges 2020 brought, helping underwrite the production costs from filming 2 of our films
that had been put on hold for a year due to COVID-19.
The Cal Wellness Foundation
The vision of Cal Wellness is for every resident of California to enjoy good health and experience wellness. Our mission is to protect and improve the health and wellness of the people of California by increasing access to health care, quality education, good jobs, healthy environments and safe neighborhoods.