Video

Last month, YouTube announced YouTube Next Cause: a program designed to help nonprofits already changing the world better use online video to drive action.

Twenty organizations were introduced for the first class:

• Autism Speaks
• Children's Hospital Boston
• IFAW - International Fund for Animal Welfare
• Sunlight Foundation
• BuildOn
• American Heart Association
• CARE
• American Foundation for Equal Rights
• Malaria No More
• The Humane Society of the United States
• The Pablove Foundation
• COTS - Committee on the Shelterless
• Durango Discovery Museum
• Save Mount Diablo
• Art Resources in Teaching
• breakthrough
• Per Scholas
• The Supply
• Born Free USA
• The Lazarex Cancer Foundation

Atlanta based nonprofit Jennifer Ann’s Group announces the “5th Annual Life. Love. Game Design Challenge” with a first place prize of $5,000 for the video game that best illustrates the dangers of dating violence for teens, tweens and young adults.

In 2008 Jennifer Ann’s Group announced the first challenge to promote awareness of teen dating violence through video games. Video game entries must increase awareness about teen dating violence but cannot include violence in the video game itself.

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) announced the launch of a public service announcement video competition for NCTF’s 18 member theatres and affiliates.

No matter what your thoughts are on Invisible Children, there are some lessons to take away for fundraisers of all kinds from Kony 2012, lessons that reinforce the best practices in the sector.

YouTube has opened up the opportunity to live-stream to all members of the YouTube Nonprofit Program. Nonprofits, from small to large, will now be able to engage live audiences in charity concerts, conferences and other special events to raise awareness about their causes and drive donations in real time.

The YouTube Nonprofit Program is currently open to registered organizations in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada and offers free benefits like donate buttons/overlays, custom thumbnail selection and channel branding.

Worldwide video-sharing website YouTube is now making it easier for nonprofits to accomplish their missions. Through an initiative called YouTube Next Cause, nonprofits can promote their efforts and obtain one-on-one consulting and community engagement tips to grow their YouTube following.

YouTube and See3 Communications are now accepting submissions for the 2012 DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards, an annual event to showcase and reward some of the best video work from nonprofits. The awards will honor nonprofits in four categories: Best Small Organization, Best Medium Organization, Best Large Organization and Best Storytelling Video. The winner of each category will be awarded several prizes, such as monetary compensation as well as a featured spot on YouTube’s homepage on April 5.

An Orange County, Calif.-based charity that puts smiles back on the faces of underprivileged kids in need of major orthodontic care is the first charitable organization featured as part of a unique social media campaign designed to inspire people to get involved with nonprofits. A documentary-style video profile featuring Share A Smile co-founders Mike and Kim Robertson and a few of the participating local dentists and orthodontists who volunteer their time and talents to repair youthful smiles — free of charge — can now be seen on YouTube, at www.shareasmile.com, and at www.agendabe.com.

MatchingDonors.com is asking the public to help raise awareness about being a living organ donor on MatchingDonors.com through their Everybody Can Save A Life Video Contest!

Greenworks Video, a green screen video production studio located in Denver, announces Lights, Camera, Vote For A Cause!, a yearlong video contest for Colorado nonprofit organizations that begins June 3.

Responding to Colorado’s growing philanthropic community and worthy causes in need, Greenworks Video has selected a total of 36 diverse Colorado nonprofit organizations to participate in a yearlong video contest with a winner each month. Each of the 12 contest winners will receive a custom-made video produced by Greenworks Video’s writer-director Brian Doubleday and veteran editor Jim McConnell.