Website Helps Nonprofits Use Movies and TV Shows to Promote Causes

At gunpoint, the woman stretched her hands above her head and pleaded for her life. Pearly Mae, a character in the television series Underground, would escape death at the hands of a slave catcher in the scene but sacrificed her freedom so her daughter could continue her journey.

The drama tells the story of slaves navigating the underground railroad to freedom in the pre-Civil War south. But Pearly Mae’s gesture was anything but dated: Her surrender, during an episode that aired in March, mirrored the hands-up stance protesters in Ferguson, Mo., adopted following the shooting of Michael Brown, a young black man, by police.

For ColorOfChange, a nonprofit that seeks to strengthen blacks’ political might, it offered a way to connect with its 1.3 million members and share lessons about the present. As the action was unfolding on-screen, millions of viewers kept their eyes on their Twitter feeds, thumbs at the ready.

They were taking part in a live Twitter discussion with members of the cast. It was hosted by ColorOfChange and a for-profit group called And … Action, which connects groups with Hollywood scripts that deal with social issues. The discussion attracted 14 million participants, and those at And … Action say it is just one example of how nonprofits might use its new website, which tracks societal problems in plot lines and themes in film and TV shows.

“A lot of groups see pop culture’s power, but they don’t know exactly how to plug in and do it authentically with their causes,” says Kristen Grimm, founder of And … Action.

The Seed of an Idea

Ms. Grimm, president of Spitfire Strategies, a communications consulting company under which And … Action operates, conceived the idea in 2014 after she received a Henry Crown Fellowship from the Aspen Institute. The fellows are charged with coming up with an idea to improve the world, and Ms. Grimm sought the advice of Norman Lear, the pioneering television director whose social critiques and depictions of real-life Americans in the 1970s and 80s transformed the television sitcom.

Much had changed since Mr. Lear’s heyday, Ms. Grimm realized. With audiences fragmented by cable channels and streaming video websites like Netflix, the power of network television has diminished. Nonprofits are less likely to get a huge boost in public awareness by a mention of their cause on a television show.

She also saw that nonprofits don’t know when issues they work on are going to get a media hit. And even if they do get a heads up that a favorable plot line is on the way, they don’t necessarily know how to capitalize on it.

Still, digital media also means huge opportunity for groups to instantly plug into public dialogue through social networks like Twitter and Facebook in a way that was impossible when Mr. Lear’s All in the Family and Maude enjoyed their first runs.

With $1.3 million in grants from Atlantic Philanthropies, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, Ms. Grimm started And … ACTION last year. The website, which went live this week, has a database that allows nonprofits to scan the plot lines of upcoming television shows and movies for stories that mesh with their mission.

And to help them become what she calls “opportunity omniscient,” Ms. Grimm plans to post webinars and interviews with groups like ColorOfChange, which used a story on TV to build membership.

The approach doesn’t have to be a full-blown marketing campaign to have an impact, Ms. Grimm says.

“Nonprofits sort of feel that unless they are doing a massive partnership with a massive studio that was two years in the making, there’s not a lot for them to do around film and television,” she says. “That’s untrue.”

Screenwriters and Authenticity

At ColorOfChange, the staff brainstorms with writers and producers about how to air shows with an authentic depiction of being black in America, says Brian Walker, director of Culture and Entertainment Advocacy. And … Action has helped develop campaigns to build coalitions based on those storylines, he says.

While many screenwriters want their efforts to result in social change, Mr. Walker says, they often don’t think about how to connect directly with a cause.

“Most nonprofits don’t have the capacity to develop relationships with the entertainment community to bridge those gaps,” he says.

For years, nonprofits, including Hollywood, Health & Society, have attempted to educate scriptwriters about social causes such as health and climate change. In the 1990s, when blockbuster shows like E.R. commanded massive audiences, the mention of a social issue could “move the needle” of public perception on a given cause, says Vince Stehle, executive director of Media Impact Funders, a network of media grant makers.

And … Action, he says, is a twist on that model. Rather than pushing for the creation of certain storylines, the organization provides intelligence on upcoming shows so nonprofits can “catch the updraft of popular culture.”

Social-media campaigns can be done on the fly and can be very effective, but Mr. Stehle warns that nonprofits have to be very careful about the tone they use in their messages — they only have one shot to get it right before Twitter and Facebook users direct their attention elsewhere.

“These moments are quicksilver,” he says. “You have to be careful not to pursue this recklessly.”

Being Prepared

The Blank Foundation in Atlanta has worked for many years with documentary filmmakers to inspire local nonprofits. For instance, in 2014, the foundation hosted a screening of Underwater Dreams, a film about a group of sons of undocumented immigrants from a Phoenix high school who competed against elite college students in an underwater robotics contest. The event helped galvanize interest among the foundation’s grantees in supporting the advancement of girls in science and math, leading to an $88,000 grant to GeorgiaFirst that helped support a group of students, the Robotics Queens.

While the list of upcoming scripts on And … Action’s site is helpful, John Bare, a vice president at the Blank foundation, says he’s most excited about the ways the group can train others to be ready for when their issue attracts the gaze of pop culture. That’s because film and television are two of the most effective ways to spur action, he says.

“The way to encourage behavior isn’t through a lecture, a finger wag, or a white paper,” he says. “It’s to engage people in personal, emotional ways” — the stock in trade of Hollywood writers and producers.

Currently, And … Action has a list of about 400 TV shows and movies in its database. It adds 10 to 20 each week, says Ms. Grimm. She’s confident Hollywood studios will provide even more.

“I think more of them will come to us with intelligence,” she says. “At the end of the day, the industry wants eyeballs, and they want buzz.”