Nonprofit Video Blog

Use This Camera for Your Nonprofit Videos

If you haven't bought a video camera for your nonprofit - you should. And this is the camera you should buy: the Kodak Zi8. It's inexpensive (about $250 with 16GB Flash card and case), it takes great-looking video, AND it has an external microphone jack.

The external microphone jack is important because it gives you the option of using a lapel mic and getting better sound if you're talking to someone. At less than $30, the AudioTechnica ATR 3350 does a fine job.

So where do you get the Zi8 and the microphone? The Internet, of course. More specifically, go to Amazon. You'll get the best price and you'll have it in two days.

How To Begin 

Now - what do you do once you get your camera and microphone? You start experimenting. Make a few little videos without the microphone, just using the camera. Shoot people in your office - or film scenes in your cafeteria, out on the street, in your garden. Just use it, and learn how to pull the video into your computer and do basic editing - with iMovie if you have a Mac and Windows Movie  Maker if you have a PC. These programs are already installed on your computer.

What to Shoot 

Once you're comfortable with your camera, now start making a list of the small stories you can use it to tell. I say ‘small' because you shouldn't be planning to make a half-hour documentary. Rather, you're looking to make videos as short as 60 seconds. Really. You'll be using these to connect with and grow your community by posting them on Facebook,  YouTube, and your website. You may even use them in email campaigns. So you want to make many, not one.

To get you thinking, here are a few examples of stories specific nonprofits might tell:

• A veterans shelter may use their camera to shoot their events person talking about the upcoming military ball. The person holding the camera would say, "Tell me your name and title, and then tell me all about the military ball in two minutes: what it is, who can come, why it's special, how people get more info." And then film the events person talking.
• An animal hospital might tell the story of a patient. The person holding the camera would ask a vet to sit next to Sparky on the floor, and pet him so his tail wags, and tell us why he lost a leg and how he's doing. Then, while the vet is talking, move the camera over to Sparky so we can see him - his tail wagging, his poor amputated leg, how brave he is.
• A boys and girls club might use their camera to talk to some of the staff members and volunteers about programs, like the basketball program. The person holding the camera might ask the coach: "Tell me your name, and what you do here, and then tell me about the basketball program, who participates, and what it does for the kids." Start filming the coach as he talks, and then slowly move the camera so you're filming the kids playing basketball as he talks. Then, come back to him to wrap up. Your final question might be something like, "Why do you do this work?"  

You get the picture. A video camera will let you share small stories that communicate why your nonprofit is special. These stories have great potential to connect you with the people who care about the work you do. So... what are you waiting for?

 

Learn From This Nonprofit Call-to-Action Video

There are many calls to action in the nonprofit world. The first - and most widely used - is the call to donate. Nonprofits spend billions of dollars every year on mail campaigns that ask people to donate. But people can feel like their only value to your nonprofit is in the money they give. If that's true, they can experience donor fatigue. Offering your donors another option - a way to take action that will help your organization without donating - will give your donors a psychological boost. And - it'll help you connect with your future donors.

Here's an example. This is a terrific video that combines Hollywood celebrities, humor, and a call to action that isn't giving money. This video has had nearly 200,000 views on its own website since its release on January 27, and another 6,000 on YouTube. It was created by the NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) Action Fund.

This video works for several reasons:

• First, because the point - asking for your support for pending legislation - is made in such a fun way that it makes you want to participate. The case for action is built logically, and it's very hard to disagree with.
• Second - and this is crucial - because the organization has made it so very easy to take action. All you have to do is click the "Contact Your Senator Now" box in the video. The form you'll fill out takes about 60 seconds. You click Submit, and bam - you've just told your senator to support legislation you think is important. Now you feel good because you're supporting a cause you believe in and because it was very easy to do.
• Third - the video's other goal is to get you to share it with your friends and family, and it's very, very easy to share. You can post it on Facebook and Twitter. You can embed it in your webpage or blog. You can post a link in an email. And because it's such a fun video and you know the people you send it to will agree - it's hard NOT to share.

So when you're thinking about how to use video for your nonprofit, don't forget the call to action video that will let people take some kind of action other than donating. Maybe - like this example - it's sending a letter in support of legislation. Maybe it's signing a petition you'll deliver to a decision-maker. Maybe it's sending good wishes to the patients and staff at your clinic. Or maybe it's asking people to share your video with friends and family.

People want to help your organization, and they believe in the work you're doing. Ask them to do something for you besides donating, and make it very easy for them to do it. You'll make people feel good to be helping you, and you'll start getting them used to being active supporters.

 

Set These Goals for Your Nonprofit's Video

When you begin the process of creating videos for your nonprofit, it may be tempting to set the same goals you'd set for a traditional campaign, such as a fundraising letter sent through the mail: X new donors and $Y total donations. But creating videos and distributing them via the Internet represents a radically different way of raising money and growing your donor list, and so your goals can't be the same old goals. Instead, they should reflect the reality of how the Internet works, and how people interact with video.

By deciding to have an Internet presence - through your website, Facebook, YouTube, etc. - you are setting out to create and cultivate a community. This is how the Internet works - people will interact with you if they feel part of your community. They will ignore you if all you do is ask them for money. But - once people feel part of your community, and once they care about the work you're doing, then they'll give money when you ask.

Video is an important part of this community-building process because videos tell the stories of the good work you do in an emotionally powerful way. Your videos will cultivate the feelings that motivate people to give, IF your videos aren't perceived as constant appeals for money. An occasional appeal is fine, but using video primarily to ask for money means that your videos are commercials, and people really dislike constant commercials. What they do like are interesting, powerful stories of good work being done and the impact on real lives.

What goals should you set for your videos?

• Your first goal should be to build the relationships that will be the foundation for future giving. The people who watch your videos will be your future donors. Ask for their feedback. Ask them what they'd like to see. Create conversation about your videos. Work on the relationship. 
• Convert your current donors to advocates who spread your story. Ask them to send your videos to friends and family members.
• Recognize and thank volunteers. Video is a terrific way to let your volunteers know you're grateful for the help they give you. While people don't volunteer because they want recognition, knowing that their efforts are recognized and appreciated makes them feel good, and shows that you're the kind of organization that understands the value of donations - of money AND time.
• Grow your volunteer base. Many nonprofits depend on their volunteers to get work done. Asking for volunteers and showing how rewarding it is to be your volunteer will help you attract more people who want to help out.
• Create more real-world engagement. Create a short video asking people to participate in your fun run or come to your annual dance. Use the video to show how much fun people had at the event last year.

You can set other goals as well - such as attracting a regional or national celebrity, learning how best to communicate with your community, creating more speaking engagements, generating more buzz, etc.

The common thread in all of these goals is using video for relationship creation and relationship nurturing. Because the people who have a relationship with you today - who feel emotionally connected to the good work you do AND who feel connected to your organization - are the people who will donate in the future.

Nonprofit Videos: Simple is Better than Complex

Nonprofits generally understand that they need to start using video on the Internet. But it can be tough to figure out exactly what that means. What kind of video should you make? What kind of stories should you tell? More than once, what we've seen happen is that an organization decides to make one video, because they don't understand exactly how to use video and so they decide to dip their toe in the water. They're starting with one video, and if that works for them, then they'll think about making more.

Then, because they are only making one video, they want to include lots of information about their organization. So the video becomes a little movie - a seven or eight or nine-minute long documentary-style film that tells about the work the nonprofit does, the people it reaches, how it gets its funding, how it was founded, etc. Because they're only making one video , it needs to contain an awful lot of information.  

They work very hard on their video, and they upload their single video to YouTube and Facebook and wait for it to work magic for them. Which it doesn't.

Why not? First, on the Internet people don't generally watch long, complex videos. And second, one video presents only one chance to connect. People can easily miss it.

Now, there may well be a very good reason to make one longer video. For example, if it's going to be played at a live event, the audience will be happy to watch a longer video and absorb a complex story. But on the Internet, if people do find it, many will stop watching after just a few minutes. Not because they don't care. Because people tend not to watch long, complex videos online.

So - if your nonprofit is ready to start making video for the Internet, and you were thinking of making one long video that tells your organization's story, use your video production budget to make several short videos that tell smaller, simpler stories. Because several videos will give you several chances to engage with people online and they'll be easy to watch and easy to share.

Here's an example: if you're an animal shelter, why not make a series of one to two-minute videos that tell the stories of some of the animals you've helped? What could be more emotionally-engaging than showing an injured cat that you're helping back to health? Or the older dogs you're trying to find homes for? Or the little girl whose parents just adopted a puppy for her? Or the volunteer who fosters baby birds?

Short videos like these are easy to watch, and they're easy for people to send to their friends. They're telling your story - they're just not doing it all at once. And that's OK, because the reason you're making video is to create and nurture relationships with your current and future donors and supporters. And relationships require that you touch people more than once.

If your organization wants to start using video online, don't start by making a long, complex, documentary-style movie that tells us everything about your organization. Decide instead to make a series of five, or six, or ten short videos that tell simple stories of your good work. Then, use Facebook and YouTube, get them out there, and encourage conversation about them. Encourage people to share them. And to give you feedback.

That's a better way to dip your toe into the video pool.

 

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Nonprofit Oxfam America Uses Video to Raise Funds for Haiti

Nonprofits all over the world are reacting to the terrible earthquake in Haiti by ramping up their fundraising, because immediate aid is needed. Oxfam America made this short video to connect with potential donors and convince them to donate. Notice that YouTube allows nonprofits to post text of a website during the video, and a hot link after the video is done playing. If you click the link after this video plays, you'll go directly to a donation page on the Oxfam America website.

The video is very short - just over one minute. And it's very simple. No long explanation, no interviews with different people. No graphics. No B-roll. Just one man - Mike Delaney, Director of Humanitarian Response - standing in front of a map, explaining why help is needed and what Oxfam America will do with your donation. The power of this video is in Delaney's obvious emotion. He is sharing what we are all feeling, which is the horror and the recognition that help is desperately needed.

Kudos to Oxfam America for a very effective video. And - kudos for what will turn out to be a very effective fundraising campaign, because Oxfam is using social media to spread its message. Of course you can use the 'Share' button on YouTube to post this video on Facebook and Twitter. But beyond that, if you make a donation, you get an email that gives a link to the donation page and asks you to send it to your friends. There's another link to post a message on Facebook. And, there are instructions for how to raise money for Haiti: through a personal fundraising page on the Oxfam America website, on Facebook, or through a text message to your friends.  

If you're moved to make a donation, use this link. And when you're thinking about video for your nonprofit, remember that sometimes you can communicate your message very effectively in a short, simple video.

Seven Questions To Ask Before Your Nonprofit Makes Video

A few days ago we received a phone call from a nonprofit that has made the decision to invest in a video. They plan to use this video to educate potential clients about their services, solicit donations from their current donor list, impress potential donors, show off their facility, and attract new volunteers. The caller said that many nonprofits are starting to use video, and so they thought they should give it a try. If it works, they'll think about making more. How will they know if it works? They're not sure.

This is a situation that's typical in the nonprofit world right now. Many nonprofits are making the assumption that the way to start using video is just to make one and see what happens. And since they're investing in a video, they may as well try to get it to do lots of different things.

Unfortunately, if they proceed with their plan the video is going to fail. First, because they're treating their video like a big bucket, and they're dumping everything they can possibly think of into that bucket. But video doesn't work that way. It's not a bucket. It's most effective if you use it like an arrow.

Second, it'll fail because they're crossing their fingers and hoping thier video just somehow 'works' - even though they don't even know what that means.

What they should do - and what you should do if your nonprofit is thinking about making video - is this: don't start by making a video. Instead, start with these seven questions:

1. What are the audiences you want to connect with? Individual donors?  Corporate donors? Potential clients? Volunteers? Potential volunteers? List them all, and then prioritize the list.
2. What are the stories you want to tell? The answer is directly related to question #1. For example, if your audience is potential volunteers, the story that will have an impact is the story of how much satisfaction and fulfillment your volunteers get from their work. If your target is potential donors, then showing the good work you are able to do because of donations is crucial. If your target is potential clients, then show the caring and compassion your existing clients receive. And so on. Match each audience with the specific story they need to hear.
3. What kind of videos should you make? There are many different kinds of videos - testimonials, documentary-style videos, virtual tours, fun videos, to name just a few. Once you know who you want to connect with and what story you want to tell them, you can figure out what kind of video you should make.
4. What are your goals for each of your videos? What do you want your videos to do for you? Raise awareness about the problem you solve? Convert 20 percent more people to volunteers? Communicate information to clients? Increase donations by 15 percent? Be as specific as you can.
5. How will you distribute your videos? How will you get each of your videos in front of their audiences? The answer may include email newsletters, targeted emails, YouTube, Facebook, your blog, pages on your website, dvds, projection at events, etc. It's important to deliver your videos in as many different ways as possible, and not to just park them on YouTube and forget them.
6. What will you measure to know if your videos are doing their job? This is easy to answer if you've defined your goals for each video. If it's convert more people to volunteers, you can measure an increase in volunteers. If it's donorship, that's easy to measure too. If it's raising awareness, then you need to develop some specific metrics to help you understand if and when you've achieved your goal. Ten percent more mentions on the web and in traditional media? Five more inquiries a month? A 20 percent increase in Twitter mentions? 
7. How can you make as many videos as possible within your budget? One single video just doesn't have much impact these days. It's a better idea to plan carefully and make as many videos as possible within your budget.

If you get stuck on any of these questions, bring in an expert who can help you answer them. Then, use the information you've gathered to create your video plan. Once you have your plan, the rest is easy: you'll know who you're making your videos for, what messages you want them to communicate, how to make them as economically as possible, how to distribute them, and what to measure to see how well they're doing their job.

Doesn't that make a lot more sense than "We're going to make a video and see what happens?"

 

 

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Baxter's Lesson: Don't Make Your Nonprofit Videos About Money

Meet Baxter the therapy dog. This video is all about the service Baxter provides, and it will bring tears to your eyes. As you watch it, notice something else: the video has absolutely nothing in it that has anything to do with raising money - to support Baxter's work or the work of other therapy dogs. There's just Baxter and his incredibly powerful story.

If I had written about making videos that are only about your story - that have absolutely no element of solicitation, explicit or implicit - you may have had doubts. But watching Baxter's video lets you understand what I mean much more clearly.

In a nutshell, human beings love emotionally-powerful stories. Human beings also have a strong dislike for commercials. And for nonprofits, a commercial means asking for money or support.

Because this video is only about Baxter's story, viewers can engage completely. There's no holding back because you get the story but you have to put up with the commercial. The video is, instead, a gift. Viewers don't have to give anything to get the emotional payoff.

Does this mean you can't ever make videos that ask for money? Absolutely not. If your nonprofit doesn't ever ask for money, you can't do the good work you do.

But it's important to understand that when you're thinking about the videos you're making, or are going to make, taking the longer view is a very good idea. Yes, solicitation may bring you some money right now, but constant solicitation trains people to tune you out. And people don't like to send solicitations to their friends.

Giving people videos that are all emotional payoff and no solicitation makes it much more likely that they'll spread your stories to their friends through Facebook and Twitter, and through sending email links to your videos. And when you do ask, those people are more likely to give - and their friends are too.

The Pink Glove Dance: Your Nonprofit Video Can Be Fun

Think your nonprofit video has to be serious? Think again. Watch The Pink Glove Dance, made by the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. The video was posted on YouTube about a week ago, and already has 173,000 views.

After watching The Pink Glove Dance, you're probably smiling. Maybe you're going to forward the link to someone you know who's a breast cancer survivor, or who has a family member with breast cancer. Why? Because it's uplifting, it's fun to watch, and even though all it shows is people putting on pink gloves and dancing, it says an awful lot that can help someone with this disease.

It also says a lot about the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. Not by telling us about their mission, or talking to cancer patients about the level of services or the kind staff, but by showing us the attitude of everyone who works there.  

The lesson for your nonprofit is NOT that you should make a video that shows your staff dancing (though you certainly could). The lesson is this: when you're looking to make video to spread the story of your nonprofit, remember that a very effective option is to find a way to show, not tell.

And, of course, that making a video that's fun to watch and fun to share is a very good idea.

Nonprofits: Use Internet Marketing like Businesses Do

If you're a nonprofit, you understand that you must use the Internet to connect with donors and supporters. But how, exactly, should you do that? One place to start is by understanding how businesses use Internet marketing in their sales process.

Companies that do a good job marketing themselves on the Internet do this:

1. They make it easy for people to find their website. They use a variety of tactics, including email newsletters, Social Media, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO, which is configuring a website so it's top-ranked when people Google those particular products).
2. When people get to the website, they find rich content that engages them and teaches them more about the company and the product. Blog articles and videos are especially powerful rich content.
3. Businesses then capture people's contact information through compelling offers for things like webinars, eBooks and free trials.
4. Once businesses have a person's contact information, they nurture that person through their sales process until the person becomes a customer (when nurturing continues through customer relations programs).

For nonprofits, the process can work in roughly the same way:

1. Use a variety of tactics to help people get to your website. Good tactics include email newsletters, videos on YouTube, and interactions on Facebook and Twitter. Sound SEO practices are also important.
2. Once people land on your site, you can engage them with rich media that teaches them about the work you do, and helps them understand if they would be a good fit as donors and supporters. Videos are the most compelling way for you to tell your stories, so make sure that when people get to your site, there's a video for them to click on. You should also engage people in conversation on your blog.
3. Capture people's contact information (email address, phone number) by offering them something. For example, you can offer to send them your newsletter, or you can offer to notify them when you make more videos. 
4. Once you have their contact information, nurture them through your ‘sales process' until they become donors (when you'll continue nurturing through your donor relations program).

For businesses, the key to successful Internet marketing is to make it very easy for people who are interested in their products to find them, and then to capture contact information so they can nurture those people through the sales process.

For nonprofits that process is similar: use the Internet to find and connect with people who care about the work you do, and then capture their contact information so you can nurture them through your sales process.

The difference is that for businesses, the goal is more customers. For nonprofits, the goal is more donors and supporters.

To learn more about how to use video for your nonprofit, download our free eBook: "Internet Video Campaigns for Nonprofits" 

Nonprofit Videos Must Offer Hope and Optimism

Video is the best tool for telling a nonprofit's stories. But it's not enough to just have video. For people to feel a connection with your cause, your video must do several things, like tell a compelling story that people want to share and find hard to forget. One element in particular is crucial: your video MUST offer hope and optimism.

I'm not suggesting that you exclude stories that are sad. The work that nonprofits do is very often sad and difficult - think children with cancer, homeless veterans, acres of clear-cut forests, battered women, species extinction, etc.  I'm also not suggesting that a nonprofit's stories should necessarily have happy endings. It's important that nonprofits not sugar-coat the stories they tell.

However, the goal of creating video is to connect people with the work you do, to find those that believe in your cause, and to convert them to donors and supporters. People want to be part of efforts that are working, and they want their donations to have an impact. And if there is no hope, then there's no reason to donate because the story's over.

One example: There's an annual slaughter of dolphins that takes place in coastal towns in Japan, and several videos have recently been made to publicize this event.

They are graphic and terribly sad, because they show thousands of dolphins herded into nets and brutally and inhumanely killed. The videos are informational, news-type videos and they include people who are obviously emotionally distressed, talking about how terrible the slaughter is. And that's it. The videos close with how terrible the slaughter is.

So - if your nonprofit were trying to stop the slaughter, and those were your videos, viewers would have no reason to get involved and support you, because the message of the videos is that the event happens every year, and it's not going to stop because some Americans are upset.  

If, however, the point of the videos was that your nonprofit has come up with an innovative way to save some of the dolphins, well there's a great reason to donate. More money to you means more dolphins saved, which is what your supporters are going to want to do. Watching dolphins being slaughtered is not optimistic BUT offering a way to stop the slaughter definitely offers hope, and gives people a reason to donate and support your cause.

So when you're planning the video content you're going to make for your YouTube channel and your email newsletters and your website, make sure that the stories you're going to tell are powerful and unforgettable. AND make sure they don't stop at describing a sad situation. Give your viewers a reason to support your nonprofit - find a way to offer optimism and hope.