Capturing Caring

As more nonprofits realize the value in using the media as a bullhorn for their cause, an up-and-coming nonprofit TV segment called “Profiles in Caring” presents opportunities for organizations to increase their visibility.

“Profiles in Caring” is a half-hour, professionally produced TV program that highlights small- to mid-sized nonprofits that are making an impact with minimum staff and dollars.

Kimberly Perkins Klintworth, a retired TV news anchor who is co-founder, executive producer and host of the show, works with selected nonprofits to create mini-documentaries with a behind-the-scenes feel that capture the essence of the work each organization is doing, ending with a call to action that leads viewers to the profiled nonprofit’s Web site.

In addition to being aired by the Starfish Television Network and other national and international broadcasters — e.g., AmericanLife TV, Voice of America, Comcast ON DEMAND and KHIZ-TV Los Angeles — every video the show has produced is available on the Profiles in Caring Web site, which currently is seeing between 75,000 and 80,000 visitors a month. Each featured organization also gets a DVD copy of its profile with an unlimited license for use — whether it be for PR, educational outreach or fundraising. Featured nonprofits need only cover the travel expenses of one crew member.

Now in its third season, the show has produced 40 episodes, with another 12 expected this fall. Klintworth says the success stories that have come back from organizations she’s profiled make the hard work of producing the segments on a shoestring budget worthwhile.

“There’s been a few times in the last few years where I’ve said, ‘Why am I doing this? This is so hard.’ And obviously, there’s no money,” she says. “[But] the greatest reward is to get an e-mail or a letter from the executive director of a nonprofit telling us the success that was generated from people seeing their video.

“We have one nonprofit that we featured last year that a major fashion company has now taken under its wing and committed more than a million dollars to this year,” she adds. “And that was just from the CEO of that company watching the DVDs that we produced on that nonprofit.”

YouthLINC, a Salt Lake City-based organization that offers local and international service opportunities for youths, was featured on the show. Judy Zone, founder and executive director of YouthLINC, says Klintworth and a videographer went to its headquarters and service sites in Mexico and Kenya, and interviewed youths and mentors in the program. From the 30-minute video that aired on TV, “Profiles in Caring” created an eight-minute promotional video for YouthLINC to use.

The short video has become an invaluable educational and communications tool, which YouthLINC has used at conferences and during presentations to school groups for recruitment, and at rotary club meetings and with donors to solicit support.

“That video was priceless to us,” Zone says. “These people travel with you, see what you’re doing, do a very professional job. They get in there and take great video. It’s just the best way to — in an eight- to 10-minute time span — tell everything you need to tell about your program to a potential donor, a potential participant, a potential volunteer.

“There’s something about seeing your organization in action and hearing from many voices, so it isn’t just you preaching about what you do. Even in eight minutes, there’s at least 20 people who are talking about the organization, so it forms a cumulative kind of gestalt,” Zone adds. “And because it’s accurate and well produced, you can be proud of it and you can feel comfortable about it. You want to do a presentation, just bring the video. It says everything that needs to be said. It’s a fabulous marketing tool in the visual age.”

To submit your organization’s story, visit www.profilesincaring.org, click on “submit a story” and fill out the questionnaire. Organizations also can apply for the Ambassadors of Caring award — $10,000 grants given to four nonprofits each year.