By Sarah Anderson, Chief Operating Officer
Chicken & Egg Films is celebrating a notable milestone this summer. 10 years ago we became an independent 501(c)(3) and established our inaugural governing Board of Directors. In our second decade, we’ve launched three strategic plans (soon to be four), expanded from five to 16 staff, developed and implemented new and evolving programs, weathered a pandemic, and so much more. Across it all, one grounding belief that has not changed: strong relationships are the backbone of a resilient organization.
As we’ve evolved and grown, we’ve needed to reconsider our approach to board engagement, or the building of the board’s relationship to the work. Some of our past models, such as having board members attend filmmaker labs or workshops, no longer scaled or met our goals.
But the need for our board to experience not only meaningful closeness to our work, but also first-hand experience of the international documentary industry, has perhaps never before felt so urgent and critical to our success. Today’s political and economic environment continues to seismically impact our industry, and each person’s expertise, passion, and ambassadorship makes all the difference. So we set out to explore how we might nurture and deepen the board’s relationship with our team, our filmmakers, and with each other as fellow stewards of the mission.
What we did
We ultimately decided to pilot an ambitious strategy. In March 2026, we led a board trip to CPH:DOX in Copenhagen timed to coincide with the concluding retreat for the 2025/26 Chicken & Egg Award cohort. Our goals were for the board to:
Deepen exposure to and understanding of the international documentary ecosystem (C&E is a global organization with a US-based board, so there was an opportunity for us to collectively expand our horizons)
Connect with the current Chicken & Egg Award cohort of filmmakers and with our industry partners and peers
Live out their role as ambassadors with more proximity to C&E’s programmatic work
Spend quality time together, strengthen peer relationships, and have fun!
Getting to know each other, for real
Despite our many creative attempts since 2020, C&E hasn’t found Zoom to be a particularly effective vehicle for bonding. Relationships are built in those informal moments when you share a meal, a stroll, and a belly laugh together. Plus, when we’re out of our routines and habitual settings, everyone has an opportunity to show up as a person first, and you start to see and talk to people as people rather than their title. Virtual and in-person board meetings are efficient, but there is nothing that can replace having an organic connection with folks.
“There's a real purpose to this kind of bonding: when you know people more deeply, you feel safe pushing them on the work and asking the hard questions. And bringing fun and joy into the work isn't a side benefit, it's what keeps us in it, committed enough to push with intention rather than just showing up.”
Connecting with our community of filmmakers
Anyone can read a press release, hear a presentation, or stream a C&E-supported film. But a board member who has met a filmmaker, seen their film alongside an audience, and talked it through with them is a better ambassador and more invested fundraiser. With this in mind, we invited the board to a dinner hosted in honor of our Chicken & Egg Awardees. It was a space to celebrate our cohort of filmmakers with the documentary community in an intimate and authentic setting. We also organized a happy hour and invited all C&E AlumNest filmmakers at CPH:DOX to join us. In this informal space, filmmakers, staff and board alike could toast film premieres, mingle, and make introductions, bringing together members from different parts of our community.
“I kept hearing about this one film and I didn’t know who the filmmaker was. Then a C&E staff member introduced me to her and I got the “speed version” of who she was and what she was doing. I felt suddenly invested in her and the project. I found that very satisfying and rewarding.”
Engaging in the documentary ecosystem
We chose CPH:DOX for our pilot trip because it’s not only a film festival, but also has an impressive pitch forum, roundtables, presentations, and panel discussions. Across the years, we’ve brought filmmakers to Sheffield DocFest, CPH:DOX, DOC NYC, and IDFA so they can meet key industry players and learn about different production and funding models. This was an opportunity for our board, which has varying levels and types of experience in the field, to deepen and expand their learning in a parallel way.
“It was fantastic to go to the pitch forum and get a better sense of who the funders and different players in the field are.”
“I really enjoyed the roundtable. I’m a supporter of documentary film, but I don’t really engage with many people from all around the world in this way. It was fun to hear about their work, and share what C&E is doing.”
How we did it (tips for peers)
Logistics are strategy, and how you organize an activity signals your values and enables participation. Some key choices that we made included:
Assessing and garnering interest far in advance by raising it at meetings and via a simple poll
Selecting a festival and city that we thought would be easy to navigate
Organizing an official C&E delegation with CPH:DOX to ensure everyone would have a pass to all festival and forum events
Sending out trip goals, key details, and budget info, and having a commitment deadline
Providing a pre-trip city and festival orientation on Zoom, and recording it for those who weren’t able to attend
Creating a schedule with “suggested” and "choose your own adventure" flexibility
Setting up a WhatsApp group for on-the-ground coordination (and photo sharing!)
Importantly, we amended our board Travel Fund Policy—which we launched in 2024 as an equity practice to ensure that the cost of attending board meetings didn’t create an undue financial burden—to include the flight to Copenhagen, accommodation, and the CPH:DOX pass for any board member who requested it.
Summing it up
What made this pilot a success was intentionality at every step of the way, from the “why” to the “what” to the “how.” Throughout the process we checked-in, made adjustments, and ensured buy-in. This was an optional trip and we ended up with 70% participation. While this was a substantial investment, it felt worth the risk because it met strategic goals at multiple levels.
We affirmed our belief that board engagement happens best outside of formal contexts and virtual meetings. And in a moment when so many things about our industry and the world seem uncertain and frankly a bit scary, we feel more confident that we will be able to take on these challenges, together.
We left Copenhagen asking: “Where to next?” We don’t have the answer, yet, but we’re looking forward to figuring it out.
If you have an example of an innovative way you’ve approached or are thinking about board engagement, we’d love to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram to continue the conversation.
