Melina McKinnon | Founder & Chief STRATEGIST

Melina is a champion of social impact who has used her passion for storytelling as a platform to develop, design, and execute social impact strategies, generate resources, amplify awareness, and drive meaningful change in the arts, health, and the environment. She is an entrepreneurial leader by nature and thrives on opportunities that drive systemic change and positively contribute to the global good. This leadership style is balanced with exceptional organizational skills, dedication to maximizing program investments, and a perfect record of delivering on time and within budget. As a skilled relationship builder, she is appreciated for her authenticity, hard work, and gracious and thoughtful style.

As Founder, Fundraiser & Media Producer for M3 Films, her expertise has grown to encompass impact media production, fundraising, project management, financial management, grantmaking, and client acquisition, retention, and service. This work culminated in the Filmanthropy Fund of the Dallas Foundation, a donor-advised fund that brought philanthropists and filmmakers together to produce socially relevant and impactful films.

Her award-winning film and finance credits include Jobs, a biographical drama based on the life of Steve Jobs; Mr. Stanley: The Merchant Prince, a documentary on the life of Stanley Marcus, whose verve and flair in running the Neiman Marcus stores made him one of the world's best-known retailers; and Torey's Distraction which follows a world-renown craniofacial surgeon as he provides life-saving surgery for children. She began her film career producing music documentaries for Grammy-nominated musicians in partnership with Dallas mega director King Hollis. Together they have created music docs for Universal Music’s Blue October, Sony Music artists Bowling for Soup, and Austin rocker Bob Schneider.

Concurrent to her film production, finance, and Filmanthropy career, Melina and Susan co-founded Filmmatters, a curated discussion meant to engage, educate, and inspire an audience to support film to facilitate social action and impact. She spent a decade in development with the non-profits Arts Fighting Cancer and the Dallas Film Society, where she secured $1.5 million in funding from ultra-high-net-worth individuals and foundations for developing and exhibiting socially relevant media. She managed the Deep Ellum Film Festival, the Santa Monica Drive-in at the Pier, the Lone Star Drive-in and created the innovative fundraising events Goth Ball and Live Draw. She served on the start-up teams for the Dallas International Film Festival, one of the nation's top 20 Film Festivals, and EarthxFilm, an environmental and emerging media film festival that supports EarthX - the world's largest environmental forum.

Under the M3 banner, along with Susan and David, she has created the WhatMatters Symposium which navigates today’s complex issues one topic at a time through a 3-part panel series (What, Why, How). The first production under the WhatMatters Symposium was StoneMatters: building for the future in the face of severe weather.

Melina holds an MBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University (SMU). She also received an Achievement Award from Women in Film in recognition of making a significant contribution to the local and statewide film and television industry in Texas.