The Better Angels Society is a 501(c)3 organization that was founded by supporters of US filmmaker Ken Burns in order to raise funds for his work from individuals of wealth and private family foundations.
[4] The Better Angel Society assists a diverse group of emerging and established filmmakers by providing funds to complete, broadcast, promote, and share their documentaries in ways that reach and inform as many people as possible through robust educational and civic outreach programs.
We work to ensure historically significant films are completed, broadcast, promoted, and shared in ways that reach and inform as many people as possible through robust educational and civic outreach.
"[5] In 2019, a partnership between The Better Angels Society, the Library of Congress, and the Crimson Lion Foundation announced the creation of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, an award “to recognize exemplary accomplishment in historical documentaries,” and “to recognize a filmmaker whose documentary uses original research and compelling narrative to tell stories that touch on some aspect of American history.”[6] The grant is funded by Jeannie Lavine and her husband Jonathan Lavine, co-managing partner of Bain Capital[7] through a $15 million gift to The Better Angels Society.
In 2017, philanthropist David Rubenstein, through The Better Angels Society, pledged to support the launch of UNUM, a digital platform where users can access clips from across Burns's films, explore themes that run through American history, and relate them to issues of the present.