See What’s Out There

This was in today’s mail:

Your Incremental Charge: $0.28

From a review of its billing records, T-Mobile has determined the amount of your Incremental Charge. That amount is shown above…

If you are a former T-Mobile subscriber, the amount of your Incremental Charge will be donated to City Year, a national youth outreach non-profit organization. However, if you want to receive a payment in the amount of your Incremental Charge instead of having that amount donated to City Year, you may notify the Settlement Administrator of your preference by visiting www.WongSettlement.com or calling (800) 282-5966, in which case you will receive a check in the amount of your Incremental Charge.

I am not making this up. Good for City Year. I hope they have a lot of former T-Mobile customers with lots Incremental Charges, whatever they are!

City Year just joined us at DoGooderTV:

It seems like everyone these days is talking about how nonprofits need to use more video, especially online. To all of these people, I say “Welcome!” We founded See3 and DoGooderTV to be THE video people for nonprofits and so it is very nice indeed to see our colleagues starting to beat the same drum.

Our friend Alia McKee from Sea Change Strategies wrote a blog post about nonprofits using video and gave some great examples. We worked with Alia when she was at Donordigital on videos with Amnesty International.

The latest nonprofit consultant/professional talking about video was Tom Belford from The Agitator blog.

“As I’ve written before, I think it is crucial for nonprofits to master this medium for conducting your fundraising, advocacy and educational efforts,” Tom writes.

He then shows some stats from comScore:

* Over 133 million Americans watched online video in July — or 74% of US internet users.
* They watched more than 9 billion videos, 27% of them on Google sites (mostly YouTube).
* More than one-in-three (37%) US internet users viewed video on YouTube.
* Online viewers watched an average of more than 3 hours of online video during the month, with an average video duration of 2.7 minutes.
* The average viewer consumed 68 videos, or more than two per day.

So while we don’t yet have all the metrics we need to show that video will actually improve/increase fundraising online, we know that this is the content people are gravitating towards. You don’t have to have more metrics to understand that in order to capture and keep the attention of you target audience that you have to have good, compelling visual stories. And now we know, online video is the best way to do that.

I have been telling my loyal readers for almost two years now how video is really important for nonprofit organizations. People want to SEE your story. They want to HEAR from the people you serve and experience the work that you do. You can’t do that in a brochure or on a static website. With the growth of YouTube, DoGooderTV and other video sharing sites, people are used to seeing video content. If you are waiting for the right time, the right budget or the right moment to start developing and using more video, you are waiting too long.

In addition to what individuals are doing online, news sites like the New York Times, CNN, and Washington Post, have invested heavily in bringing video to the web. They know that people want to see and hear and experience. Online video is the juggernaut that can’t be stopped.

The trend in online video has corresponded to a trend in advertising. Advertising dollars are shifting from broad-based media (think TV ads) to more targeted and measurable advertising online. The 8000 lb. gorilla is Adwords, Google’s platform to match text ads to search terms and websites with relevant content. This one product makes up almost all of Google’s billions of revenue and has, by itself, thrown the entire advertising industry into turmoil.

Google just announced that they are are going to begin adding video ads into search results. What does this mean? It means if someone is looking for information about helping the homeless and a great organization has a terrific 30-second spot about how they are helping — they are going to get the mindshare that will lead to more supporters, more advocates and more donors. This is a big move by Google and it means organizations must be thinking how to create compelling media and RE-USE and RE-PURPOSE the video materials they already have into short, compelling videos for use online.

That is what we are pioneering at See3 and I am more excited than ever that we are able to take our clients’ stories and create fundraising and communications’ strategies online that will bring an increasing return on the dollars invested.

Bill Clinton is busy these days trying to get back into the White House. But when I saw him speak early this summer at an evening in support of the American Jewish World Service, it was not politics on his mind. Bill Clinton — whatever you think of him — is doing great things for Africa, against HIV/AIDS, on obesity and nutrition, and helping poor communities generally.

He is doing this work in the context of the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. The Foundation is what it sounds like. The Clinton Global Initiative is a way to get business, NGO and government leaders together and get them to make some promises. For example, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group committed $3 billion to renewable energy projects over the next 10 years.

Clinton knows very well the impact of stories. He knows that to really move people to action, you have to take big scary issues, like HIV/AIDS or health care or malaria, and make it personal. He has always done this well and this is a big part of why he was so persuasive in public office and is so persuasive now with business and government officials around the world.

So I wasn’t surprised to see that Clinton is coming out with a new book. It is called Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.

Here’s an excerpt:

I’ve included one picture that says it all. It captures the beautiful face and bright eyes of a Cambodian orphan born with HIV. Basil was ten months old when this photo was taken. His mother died when he was only one month old, and her doctor arranged for him to be taken in by New Hope for Cambodian Children, an organization that cares for HIV-positive orphans and other vulnerable children. When Basil arrived at the home, he was six weeks of age and had both HIV and tuberculosis. His doctor, a Clinton Foundation fellow, treated him for both conditions, giving Basil lifesaving pediatric AIDS medication through my foundation’s partnership with UNITAID, which funds our efforts to treat children across the globe. Basil responded well to the treatment, gained weight, and, as you can see, is now healthy. He has a chance. That’s often all one person can give another. But it can make all the difference.

Mining is in the news a lot recently because of the terrible tragedy in Utah where six miners are presumed dead in a mine collapse and at least three more have been killed trying to rescue them. Another kind of mining made today’s news. It’s called mountaintop removal and it is the most common mining in West Virginia and Appalachia generally. It is just what the name implies. They remove the top of a mountain to expose the coal vein. In addition to destroying the trees and vegetation there is another big problem with this technique — where does the mountain top end up? The answer is in the valley, where the streams and rivers run. With an entire mountaintop in the river the river stops, or gets diverted. It is a big mess.

The news today is that the people in the Bush administration that regulate this industry — who happen to have been industry lobbyists before they joined the administration, surprise surprise — just announced new “rules” that basically interpret a law saying you can’t mine near the streams and rivers to mean that you can dump all your waste in streams and rivers. Obvious isn’t it. (And they say China is being Orwellian with language as they prepare for the Olympics.) You can read about it more in today’s New York Times.

But this is all very abstract and if you were an organization trying to mobilize people against this practice, the most powerful weapon is video. Show people what “mountaintop removal” really is and they will be shocked and surprised that we are allowing corporate profits to decimate whole areas of the country. The folks at I Love Mountains.Org have done just that. Their video was a runner up in the See3 - NTEN video contest this year. Their video is too long, and there are other production quality issues with it, but they don’t really matter. Just look and see what it means to SHOW people something versus just telling them about it. How are you showing your issue?

Now featured on DoGooderTV is Ben Affleck in a corn suit. Really. The first in a great serialized set of short videos called Project Phin - Clean My Ride, Flex My Fuel. It is from the Center for American Progress and was brought to our attention and to DoGooderTV by our friends at MSHC Partners. Have a look!

You might think that YouTube has all but won the online video game. Just as Google seems to have search locked up, so too YouTube would seem to be the only destination you need for online video. But just as Google has a batch of new competitors for search, YouTube has some competition on the video front. (One of these is our very own DoGooderTV – the home to nonprofit video.) The game is far from over.

While YouTube may always be the best place for America’s Funnies Home Videos, it seems doubtful that they will win the battle for IPTV — streaming professionally produced content through the web to your computer and eventually to your TV. On one side of that battle is Joost – from the people who brought us Skype. They have a really cool interface and are doing deals for all kinds of content. This is like cable TV — Joost has channels and if you want your content on Joost you have to do a deal with them.

I tend to think the Joost approach is bad. Why recreate cable TV online? Why have a limited number of Joost channels when you can have an unlimited number of channels in the open web? The approach I find to make more sense is that of Veoh. They are saying “we will give you a single player and aggregate content from all over the web for you.” There was an article in the Sunday Business section of the Times about their launch of VeohTV.

Once the software is downloaded to a computer, it offers an easy-to-navigate directory of 114 video channels, including listings for CBS, NBC, Fox and YouTube. On the NBC channel, there are dozens of episodes of “Heroes,” “30 Rock” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” On the Fox channel, there are several full-length episodes of the dramas “Bones” and “24.”

Those shows are free and available for streaming on the NBC and Fox sites. The VeohTV player, Mr. Shapiro said, is just giving them a new audience.

“There are full-length episodes at Fox.com, but many customers don’t know how to find them,” he said. “The Web browser is fine for short clips. But if you just want to sit back and watch video on the Web, this is what you will want to use.”

The content providers are nervous about this approach because while VeohTV will include whatever video ad the content provider has in the stream, the content provider no longer gets the benefit of the page view — and the non-video advertising there. We will see how it plays out.

Just remember, YouTube isn’t the only game in town. Here’s a sample from Veoh which is pretty good quality.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

We just finished doing post-production on a public service announcement (PSA) for PlayPumps International using footage they had of tennis player Nicole Vaidisova (currently ranked 10th in the world) talking about her support.

“The PlayPump water system is a child’s merry-go-round attached to a water pump that provides clean drinking water and powerful educational messages to children and families in schools and communities in rural and peri-urban communities in Africa.”

The PSA is currently the featured video on DoGooderTV.

Wednesday evening I was joined by 900 other folks at Jazz at Lincoln Center to support the American Jewish World Service and honor President Clinton. It was an amazing event.

First, the setting is spectacular. The Time Warner building and the big glass windows overlooking Columbus Circle are super classy. (You have Whole Foods in the basement, and the home of Wynton Marsalis upstairs…)

We started off with buffet and cocktails and schmoozing. Then we went into the theater. Ruth Messinger made some introductory remarks and then we watched the video that we produced here at See3. You can see the video right now on the home page of DoGooderTV.

After the video, James Wolfensohn got up to talk about AJWS and introduce President Clinton. Wolfensohn was engaging and interesting and certainly a contrast from the most recent past president of the World Bank.

Then Clinton spoke. That guy is good. A mix of wonkish policy speak, amazing knowledge of his subjects, and compelling stories of meeting people all over the world.

After Clinton spoke we heard from Ann Curry from NBC news who was honored for her coverage of Darfur. Unlike 99% of her news colleagues, Ann has actually gone to Darfur, and more than once. She said that outside of the Times (which has Nicholas Kristof), no one is doing enough to cover this story.

The program ended with a South African woman named Mama G, who thanked AJWS and its supporters for helping fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. And she sang a thank you song that was moving and beautiful and upbeat.

Stay tuned for some video from the event.

I have written a lot about the growing trend to see for-profit solutions to the world’s problems. Grameen Bank being the most famous example, there are many people who believe that unlike traditional philanthropy, for-profit business has built-in sustainability. I don’t think it’s either or. There are certain things that defy traditional market forces that need the giving of individuals, organizations and governments. But there are other things that, with some creativity, the market will take care of.

The issue of water is a big one and there are two things on this I want to bring your attention to. One of them is something where market forces are being used and the other is more traditional philanthropy — both to great effect. The first is about redesigning the water carrier. A little design, and some market forces and you can change the lives of millions of women and children around the world. It falls into the category of “why didn’t I think of that?”

It’s a rolling 20-gallon water carrier. It is so smooth a kid could do it and it replaces those jerrycans that women carry on their heads. The Times reports on an exhibit in New York called “Design for the Other 90%” about designers who have created products to help people living on less than $2 per day live better. If you click on the story you can see an image of this water carrier.

The story is also about how market forces can be put to work to make a sustainable difference if we focus some talent on the problems. Watch the video here.

The other water thing I want to tell you about is an organization called PlayPumps. The idea is simple… design a water pump in the form of a children’s playground toy. You know those things that spin? Kids run and spin and sit and all the while they are pumping water for their village or neighborhood. PlayPumps is raising money for 100 pumps in 100 days. We are hosting a PSA contest for PlayPumps at DoGooderTV. If you have a video camera, enter the PlayPumps PSA contest and win a MacBook Pro with FinalCut. Here’s the blurb:

Calling all budding filmmakers! PlayPumps International wants you to create our next PSA.

Help spread the word clean drinking water crisis and highlight solutions that young people and/or adults can use to make a difference in both local and global communities.

PlayPumps International, with support from Reebok, women’s tennis star Nicole Vaidisova, the Case Foundation, Hard Rock International, Flashbags and The Motley Fool, is holding a contest to encourage youth and adults to produce the best Public Service Announcement (PSA) video about the clean drinking water crisis. The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness of the clean drinking water crisis in sub-Saharan Africa and compel people to act on behalf of PlayPumps.

Five videos will be selected as finalists by a panel of celebrity judges. One video from among those five will be selected as the contest’s official prize-winning entry, based on voting by the general public. Our grand prize winner will receive a new 15″ MacBook Pro with Final Cut Express and more! Contest entry deadline is June 15, 2007.