The year is 1919. Mary Pickford entered her Hollywood studio with a hammer and a tin can. As she nailed this tin can on the wall of the stage a gathering crowd wondered, “What is America’s Sweetheart doing?” Ms. Pickford announced, “Please help others to help themselves by sparing any change you have.”

Soon similar cans with hand-lettered signs were to be found around all the Hollywood studios. And people contributed. Mary Pickford combined this money with leftover funds that had been raised for soldiers overseas into a new project: a fund to help out-of-work actors. In 1921, thanks to Mary’s campaigning, the Motion Picture Relief Fund was formally established. For decades she continued to lead the way as a board member of this organization.

Mary founded United Artists with the ideal that artists need to forge their own future. As one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, she proclaimed the importance of film as a cultural force. Throughout her life, Mary Pickford was a philanthropist and fundraiser. One of her central goals was helping those in need who were close to home. In 1958, the Mary Pickford Foundation was formed to help those less fortunate and to encourage others to help themselves.

Over the past fifty years the Mary Pickford Foundation has provided scholarships and assistance to tens of thousands of deserving individuals and organizations.

In 2003, the Foundation was extremely proud to announce the opening of the Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education (MPI). The Institute is the newest initiative of the Mary Pickford Foundation, and represents our commitment to the expansion of the Foundation’s goals to educate and instruct young people who might not otherwise have the chance, about filmmaking and film history. Giving a voice in the media to persons currently outside the communications industry is key to building a brighter world in which every voice is heard. Mary Pickford understood this when she created her Foundation. The Institute was created to serve the public and to increase awareness of Mary Pickford’s legacy of creativity and charity. Her belief in artistic independence and in the need to provide opportunities for talent, regardless of gender or ethnicity, is an important part of that legacy. So was her generosity, expressed in both time and money, when it came to “taking care of our own.”

MPI seeks partnerships with others in our industry who share these ideals and who are motivated to put them into action.