What Upstander Project does

Upstander Project, Inc. is a Massachusetts-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that produces documentary films and accompanying educational resources centered on Indigenous histories, truth and reconciliation, and social justice. Its content portfolio includes the Emmy Award-winning feature Dawnland (aired on PBS Independent Lens in 2018), the short-film Dawnland series (Bounty, Dear Georgina, First Light), Coexist, the multi-season Reciprocity Project co-produced with Nia Tero and REI Co-op Studios, and the in-post-production feature We Sing Nonetheless. Films are paired with teacher guides, viewer guides, StoryMaps, walking tours, and primary-source materials for classroom and community use.

The organization serves K-12 educators, higher education institutions, museums and cultural institutions, tribal nations (notably the Wabanaki communities of Maine), public libraries, and community groups. Distribution combines free individual streaming, password-protected Vimeo rentals ($15–$20 per 30-day rental), DVD/Blu-ray sales ($20 unit), and multi-tiered institutional licensing with public performance rights (ranging from $125 life-of-file for a single K-12 campus to $19,050 for a large university network combo). The Upstander Academy is a seven-day residential professional development program in Maine and Massachusetts, capped at approximately 25 educators with a pay-what-you-can tuition model.

Revenue is generated through a hybrid nonprofit model combining foundation grants and individual donations (from funders such as the Brian A. Reardon Fund, Susanne M. Collins Foundation, and Davis Family Foundation), institutional film licensing, individual film sales and rentals, Upstander Academy tuition, and ancillary broadcast/PBS distribution via American Public Television. The organization operates with a lean core staff of roughly six (co-presidents Adam Mazo and Mishy Lesser, vice president Nessie Ruiz, plus administrator, researcher, and producer) and a broader network of Indigenous faculty, board members, and tribal collaborators.

Name

Upstander Project

Legal name

Upstander Project, Inc.

Website

https://upstanderproject.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Upstander Project is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that produces documentary films and educational resources on Indigenous histories and social justice, serving K-12 educators, universities, museums, and tribal nations through institutional licensing, direct sales, the Upstander Academy, and foundation grants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Documentary Films

NAICS

Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries (512), Motion Picture and Video Distribution (51212), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Distribution (7822)

akta.pro primary industry

Multimedia Learning Production (Video, Animation, Interactive) (EDAGAKAG)

Keywords

• Documentary films
• Educational media
• Social justice content
• Indigenous storytelling
• Film licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Film Licensing: Sale of institutionally-licensed documentary films on DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming formats with public performance rights included. Pricing tiers based on institution type (K-12, community college, university, tribal nation, museum) and size (enrollment/student count)
2. Individual Film Sales and Rentals: Direct sales and rentals of films for personal viewing, including DVD purchases and streaming rentals for 30-day access
3. Upstander Academy Tuition: Pay-what-you-can tuition model for seven-day professional development program for educators, with suggested contribution range from $0 to $1,000 per participant
4. Donations and Grants: Nonprofit funding from foundations, individual donors, and grant-making organizations supporting educational programs and film production

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Upstander Project creates and distributes documentary films and educational resources focused on Indigenous histories, truth and reconciliation, and social justice. The organization sells and licenses films to individual viewers (DVD, Blu-ray, streaming rentals) and institutional buyers (K-12 schools, universities, museums, tribal nations) with tiered pricing and public performance rights. It also operates the Upstander Academy, a residential professional development program for educators.

Product overview

Upstander Project is a documentary film production and educational organization offering a portfolio of documentary films focused on Indigenous histories, truth-telling, and social justice. The core offerings include feature documentaries (Dawnland, Coexist, We Sing Nonetheless), short films in the Dawnland series (First Light, Dear Georgina, Bounty), and the multimedia Reciprocity Project series. These are supplemented by educational programs including the Upstander Academy professional development program for educators, comprehensive film guides and learning resources for classroom use, and institutional licensing options (streaming and physical media). Products are distributed through individual sales/rentals for personal viewing and institutional licensing for educational and community screenings, with public performance rights included.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Reciprocity Project: A co-production with Nia Tero in association with REI Co-op Studios, embracing Indigenous perspectives on reciprocity and reframing relationships to Earth, living beings, and each other.
• We Sing Nonetheless
• Upstander Academy

Products and services

• Dawnland Emmy Award-winning documentary (86 or 54 minutes) about the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating the removal of Native American children from their families. Available for individual purchase/rental and institutional licensing with public performance rights.
• Dear Georgina 15-minute documentary following Passamaquoddy elder Georgina Sappier-Richardson as she explores her identity after being removed from her family at age two. Available for free streaming and institutional licensing.
• First Light 13-minute documentary documenting the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the unprecedented experiment in truth-telling and healing for Wabanaki people and child welfare workers in Maine. Available for institutional licensing.
• Bounty 9-minute documentary revealing the hidden story of the Phips Proclamation scalp-bounty proclamations used to exterminate Native people. Penobscot parents and children resist erasure by reading and reacting to the government-issued death warrant.
• Coexist 53-minute documentary exploring Rwanda's unprecedented social experiment in government-mandated reconciliation following the 1994 genocide, revealed through survivors, perpetrators, and witnesses. Available for free streaming and institutional licensing.
• Reciprocity Project Co-production with Nia Tero in association with REI Co-op Studios. A multimedia series featuring Indigenous filmmakers exploring reciprocal relationships between all beings and the lands we inhabit. Season One (7 episodes) distributed through American Public Television; Season Two (7 episodes + 1 related film) released in 2024.
• We Sing Nonetheless Feature documentary following musicians Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg of Nefesh Mountain as they navigate parenthood, marriage, fame, and life on the road. A verite documentary exploring love, art, community, and family.
• Upstander Academy Seven-day residential professional learning program for teachers (grades 3-12) focused on Native American history and contemporary realities in the Dawnland region. Pay-what-you-can tuition model for up to 25 participants. Taught by majority-Native faculty.
• Film Guides and Learning Resources Teacher's Guides, Viewer's Guides, StoryMaps, and walking tours accompanying documentary films. Includes lesson plans, discussion questions, and primary source documents for classroom use by K-12 and higher education educators.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500,000+ aspiring upstanders have watched Upstander Project's films
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Nia TerocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-production partner with Upstander Project for the Reciprocity Project multimedia initiative. Nia Tero and Upstander work together as equal partners to amplify Indigenous storytelling globally.
• REI Co-op StudioscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation partner with Upstander Project and Nia Tero for Reciprocity Project production and distribution. REI Co-op Studios provides production support and executive production for the series.
• American Public Television (APT)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorDistribution partner for Reciprocity Project Season One, making the series available to public television stations nationwide.
• Akomawt Educational InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndigenous education and interpretive consultancy founded by team members endawnis Spears and Chris Newell. Collaborates on Upstander Academy, film production, and educational resource development.
• Maine-Wabanaki REACHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiated the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission and featured in Dawnland. Continues collaborative work on implementing TRC recommendations and Wabanaki self-determination.
• Dartmouth CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHome to N. Bruce Duthu (board member), supports Native American Studies programming, and partners on educational initiatives.
• Wabanaki Tribal Nations (Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point, Passamaquoddy at Indian Township)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMultiple tribal nations collaborate on films including Bounty (Penobscot families), Dear Georgina (Passamaquoddy), and First Light. Integral to story development and validation of historical narratives.
• Independent Lens/PBSmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBroadcast partner for Dawnland documentary, airing on Independent Lens in November 2018. Provided national platform for the film's reach.
• Brown University Swearer CenterminorStrategic or Co-development Partnerendawnis Spears serves as Practitioner in Residence for Tribal Engagement at the Swearer Center, connecting Upstander Project to academic resources.
• University of ConnecticutminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerChris Newell serves as Tribal Community Member-in-Residence. Partnership supports Indigenous education initiatives and academic programming.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• American Public Television (APT): A major distributor of public television programming to stations across the U.S. Comparable as the actual distribution partner for Reciprocity Project Season One and a benchmark for the scale of broadcast distribution Upstander Project can access.
• ITVS (Independent Television Service): The U.S. distributor of independent documentary film for public television and a major funder of independent documentary content. Comparable as the broader PBS-aligned distribution and funding ecosystem in which Upstander Project's Dawnland operates.

Direct peers

• Kartemquin Films: A 50+ year-old documentary production nonprofit whose films address social justice issues and are distributed widely for educational use. Comparable as a similarly-sized, mission-driven documentary production company producing educational content for institutional distribution.
• Nia Tero: A global nonprofit that partners with Indigenous-led organizations to ensure Indigenous guardianship of land and water. Directly comparable as a co-production partner on the Reciprocity Project with shared mission around Indigenous storytelling and reciprocity.
• Vision Maker Media: A nonprofit that supports and distributes Indigenous public media content, funding Native-produced documentary films and educational resources. Directly comparable as a mission-aligned Indigenous documentary production and distribution organization.
• Facing History and Ourselves: A nonprofit providing educator professional development and curricular resources on difficult histories including genocide, racism, and colonialism. Highly comparable in business model (films + guides + teacher professional development) and target customer (K-12 and higher-ed institutions).
• The Representation Project: A nonprofit using film and media to address social justice issues including gender, race, and identity, with educational resources and curriculum for schools. Highly comparable as a social-justice documentary + educational resources nonprofit with similar institutional distribution model.
• REI Co-op Studios: A storytelling and impact media initiative that co-produces documentaries and series focused on outdoor culture and environmental stewardship. Directly comparable as a co-production partner for the Reciprocity Project with mission-aligned content strategy.
• Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT): A national nonprofit dedicated to increasing Native American representation in media through content creation, distribution, and training. Highly comparable as an Indigenous-focused documentary and educational media producer.

Emerging players

• StoryCorps: A nonprofit that records and preserves oral histories, distributes via NPR and other broadcast partners, and provides educational resources for schools. Comparable as a documentary storytelling nonprofit with strong broadcast and educational distribution, although focused on oral history rather than Indigenous-specific content.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/upstanderproject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upstander-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Upstander Project