Tax deductible. No calories.

Make a contribution to the Wisconsin Film Festival’s Real Butter Fund!

What is the Real Butter Fund?

It’s a way for folks to help support the Festival through voluntary donations. These funds are applied to many of the Festival’s expenses (more details below) and are for the butterment…er…betterment of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

The Festival is presented by the UW Arts Institute, part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. (Read more about the Festival’s background and governance here.) We are a nonprofit educational program. Any contributions to the Real Butter Fund are considered donations to the UW–Madison. Charitable gifts that are not made in exchange for goods or services—which is the case here—are deductible as charitable contributions if you itemize your tax returns.

This fund is associated exclusively with the Wisconsin Film Festival, so your donation is guaranteed to be used only for this event.

Why does the Festival need to raise outside money?

Supporters like you are so important because the annual Festival operating budget needs to be generated anew each year.

Some funding comes from applications for foundation and community grants, contributions from University partners (programs who share their own funding with us to help bring films to the Festival), and sponsorship from local businesses who are committed to keeping the Festival vibrant. The rest comes from ticket revenues. The UW Anonymous Fund, the Brittingham Fund, the Evjue Foundation, and the Dane Country Cultural Affairs Commission have all generously supported the Festival. Substantial in-kind donations and 150 event volunteers also make the Festival possible.

We run a really lean operation with very little overhead. Smart accounting policies within the University govern how we spend. We work very hard to make sure we’re squeezing every dime as far as it will go. You can have confidence that your support will be used wisely and respectfully.

What will the Festival do with the Fund?

Bring movies and filmmakers to the Festival! We pay screening fees for many of the movies that you’ll see. These fees are getting higher each year, and frequently we have to turn down a really top-notch film because it’s just slightly beyond the reach of our budget. Just a little bit of our budget is available for filmmaker travel, and we’d of course love to invite more filmmakers, including those from other countries.

Couldn’t you just raise ticket prices?

As an educational event, it’s important to keep the Festival open and accessible to as many people as possible. There’s a discount for students, for example. At a time when tickets to entertainment, sports, and arts events are becoming more expensive, we want to ensure that price is not a barrier to seeing extraordinary movies.

Would you pay more for tickets? Consider supporting the Festival through the Real Butter Fund. You can really make a difference in keeping this event affordable for everyone in our community.

What’s the ultimate goal of the Fund?

The good folks at the UW Foundation are helping the Festival evaluate long-term needs, with the goal of establishing an endowment that can provide reliable operating funds over time.

If you can make a significant contribution to the Wisconsin Film Festival for its long-term success, please contact Meg Hamel, the festival director (608-262-9009; email) or Eric Greiling, at the UW Foundation (608-890-1223; email).

Why is it called the “Real Butter Fund”?

This is Wisconsin. Real butter represents everything that is good and great about our state. The name was inspired by a mobile that hung above the popcorn counter at the former Strand Theater on East Mifflin Street in Madison. The mobile was salvaged before the building closed in 1990.

It’s popcorn, it’s movies, it’s Wisconsin.

» download the Real Butter Fund contribution form