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Video is a powerful storytelling tool. Through sound, imagery, and story, videos bring to life what words alone cannot always fully describe. For non-profit organizations especially, video can be leveraged to transform theory into practice. They enable the organization to not just talk about what they do but also demonstrate what they do!
If you’re a non-profit organization, adding just a few different types of videos into your repertoire can help to further your mission, generate new donors, highlight your impact in the community/world, and give a behind-the-scenes look at who you are.
As always, we want to make it known that you don’t need multi-million dollar video equipment and an entire team of people to make your videos happen. While production quality can be helpful for clarity, offering authenticity to your audience makes all of the difference.
The truth is, non-profits enter into the nitty-gritty of humanity. The mission and vision they are driven by are not always clean and tidy. They face some of the biggest challenges that plague our society, planet, and communities – it is only natural that non-profit videos present these challenges with care, sacredness, and authenticity.
In addition to presenting the challenges that they are seeking to remedy, bringing in the personal element of storytelling is key to non-profit videos. Utilizing interviews, personal testimonials, and behind the scene perspectives is a key way to reinforce authenticity.
So what videos should non-profits include in their digital media strategy? While the list is by no means completely exhaustive, including these 5 types of videos can help to make the mission known to the world, inform the potential donor, and aid in the act of storytelling.
1. Mission/Who We Are
Regardless of the cause, every non-profit organization needs a concise video about who they are and what they do. This video lends the opportunity for the organization to give a spoken version of their “about us” website page.
Instead of it being just a page of text, the nonprofit is able to present their vision through the hands-on work they are doing.
This video should offer several different key elements:
In general, what you truly want to accomplish through a nonprofit mission video is to give a snapshot of who you are, what you care about, the needs you are addressing, and what you do to meet those needs. Providing a few sticky statements about your values and mission that the viewer can grab onto is especially helpful.
This video from The Philadelphia Project is a great example of a simplistic yet beautifully concise, mission video that highlights the non-profit’s values and gives real-life proof of what they say they do.
2. Testimonials & Interviews
Personal testimonies are one of the most impactful videos a non-profit can use. It is one thing to hear about the mission from those who are enforcing it, it is an entirely different thing to hear true stories of how the organization has personally impacted someone’s life.
Personal testimonies can be extremely powerful in giving proof of a non-profit’s impact on the real world and real people by entering directly into the story of someone who has actually been changed by the organization’s efforts. It is a way to especially show donors the “return on their investment.” They can see real-life people they have affected through their financial contribution and volunteerism.
Truly, not many organizations do these types of videos quite like Compassion International. Compassion has an aim to rescue children and families from the grip of poverty through sponsorship programs. They make a way for children to get the needs we often overlook, such as food, medical resources, education, and more.
Compassion is known for having their sponsored children share their stories at conferences and churches, but they also use the power of video to tell these impactful stories as well.
3. Campaign
An important method that many nonprofits employ is special fundraising campaigns. These typically exist to fund upcoming special projects that require more financial resources than typical routine donor contributions. A fantastic way to highlight these projects is through campaign videos!
These videos can truly include any of the elements mentioned above, and frankly, they probably should! Trying to build your donor ship pool is one of the most important elements of maintaining the success of nonprofits. But it doesn’t work just to ask people for their financial contributions – there needs to be a further commitment beyond their money.
The goal is not necessarily for people to donate once and move on. It is to build long-term relationships with the donor. This cannot happen unless the donor is sold on the cause and mission of an organization.
Campaign videos are not just call-to-actions, but they serve to reinforce the mission, show the impact, and then invite the viewer to join in on helping the cause. One organization that does campaign videos well is charity: water. Although this campaign happened over a decade ago, their use of personal testimonies from the founder, real-life impact examples, and a clear call to action make for a stellar campaign video.
4.Meet the Team
If you can’t tell by now, non-profit videos are best if they’re personal! A creative way to bring in another personal element is by doing a fun video to get to know the staff and volunteers of a non-profit. We say fun, but truly, you can be as creative, silly, or serious as you want in these meet the team videos.
Why should you include these videos in your nonprofits repertoire? Well truly, it is just a unique way to get to know the people who are in the nitty-gritty of fulfilling the mission and making things happen. It gives the audience a behind-the-scenes perspective and allows them to get to know the quirks, personalities, and hearts of those on the team.
Ellerslie Road Baptist Church created a simple meet the team video for their church. This video introduces the staff members of the church and features quirky facts about the staff, their hobbies, and more. It shines a light on the heart and personality of each person in an engaging way. By doing this, generous contributors and community members get to see the authenticity of the people who run the mission.
5.Celebrations & Thank Yous
Without the support of those who believe in the mission, nonprofits simply couldn’t accomplish the work they are passionate about.
So it makes sense to take some time to simply celebrate supporters and thank them for their contribution to the cause!
These videos can truly tug on the heartstrings because you get to share the real-life impact of the organization’s efforts, true stories, and celebrations of success. In addition, these videos give you an opportunity to emphasize the qualitative impact of donor ship through statistics and a list of accomplishments.
These videos are encouraging and lend the chance for the donors to be acknowledged for their hand in the organization’s success. This thank you video from The American Cancer Society combines the elements of testimony, accomplishments, and real-life impact by the non-profit. We’re warning you, it’s a tear-jerker.
The work that nonprofit organizations do in our world is truly remarkable. They help the helpless, give a voice to the voiceless, and seek to make the world a better place. They are truly worth celebrating, and using video storytelling to highlight their impact is a wonderful idea.
At PMF Creative , we want to help those who do good do more. We utilize the power of digital media to spread the message of our clients to the world. We want to help you make an impact and ignite growth! Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you spread your vision through the power of video storytelling.
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