5 Creative Ways to Use Nonprofit Videos and Boost Your Brand Message

Successful organizations must figure out ways to stand out and encourage people to get involved. Often, that means using nonprofit videos as a brand promotion method. You may think video creation is outside your budget.

However, you may be able to get something made while sticking to a modest budget. Consider asking videography students to work as interns at your organization, or shoot footage outside class time they could use for their portfolios.

Here are five ways to benefit from the power of videos as nonprofit brand boosters.

1. Tell People How Your Organization Benefits Others

If you only offer bulleted lists and paragraphs of content that describe what your organization does for the people it serves, it might be hard to convey the nonprofit’s importance. However, videos tell stories that engage viewers and make them feel compelled to make a difference by donating money or at least sharing the content on their social media feeds.

Charity: Water described its Pipeline project in a video that’s less than two minutes long, but is remarkably powerful. The Pipeline initiative involves training mechanics in developing countries to fix water wells once they break down.

As a result, they gain useful skills that help their communities at large. It’s also helpful that water is a universal need. People relate to the individuals they see in the video, even if they’re thousands of miles away from them.

2. Use Them As Volunteer Recruitment Tools

Volunteers are crucial for most nonprofit organizations that can’t necessarily afford to have dozens of people on the payroll, but still have work to accomplish. Consider shooting a video showcasing what a day is like in the life of someone who volunteers at the organization. You could show glimpses of the work environment, including team members and examples of corporate culture.

Many nonprofits get results by engaging with potential volunteers on social media. Besides posting information about recruitment events, you might provide videos that let volunteer candidates know what to expect from the available roles.

Don’t forget, some social media apps let people share and watch videos from their smartphones, not just computers. They can do that on Snapchat or download video content from Instagram. As such, your videos could achieve more significant reach than you expected.

3. Promote a Specific Campaign

It may also become evident videos could help emphasize an upcoming campaign. If you have a message and objective in mind before shooting a video, it’ll more likely become a powerful tool instead of a wasted resource.

Think about the possibility of using videos to request donations or otherwise urge people to take desirable actions. Donate Life America, a foundation that encourages individuals to become part of the organ donors list, did that with its “Give Me a Heart” campaign video.

The opening of the video features a joyful young person who’s just received a heart transplant. The remainder shows people speaking to the camera to reveal how many days, months or years they’ve been waiting for heart donations.

That approach shows viewers how meaningful it can be when people sign up to become organ donors. A statistic in the video also reveals how many individuals are open to the idea, but haven’t registered. Seeing the footage could persuade them to take that final step.

When people analyze what makes a video go viral, they bring up the importance of meaningful messages. Donate Life America’s method certainly has one of those.

4. Increase Confidence and Trustworthiness in the Organization

You may realize a large percentage of people don’t know about your nonprofit or do not have strong opinions about it one way or another. Those situations aren’t ideal, but you could potentially fix them with videos that inform and ease uncertainties.

The Spay/Neuter Alliance is part of the ASPCA facility in Asheville, NC. A short video about it gives details about the veterinarians there and what happens when people bring their animals for procedures. Plus, a call to action and website address at the end urge animal owners to book their appointments.

Before seeing that video, people may not have realized they could take their pets to that ASPCA center to prevent reproduction. Also, since the clip shows vets at work in well-equipped surroundings, animal lovers should feel comfortable associating with the nonprofit and bringing their animals to it.

5. To Ensure the Distribution of Consistent Training Information

Whether addressing paid staff members or volunteers, it’s crucial all team members receive uniform information about how to handle situations that arise during the job. A Meals On Wheels branch in Ontario, Canada, achieved that with its easy-to-understand training video for volunteers.

It briefly goes over the two main roles a person could assume, plus how to deliver meals and what to do if an emergency happens while visiting a client. Video-based content works well when teaching staff members in groups and maximizing information retention.

Videos Strengthen Your Nonprofit’s Brand

Regardless of the exact techniques you use in a video, this list emphasizes how they could increase awareness and make people want to get involved. As such, videos could be excellent, long-lasting investments.