In the most recent issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy I am quoted in an article titled “Telling Moving Stories.” The article features the case study of our client the American Jewish World Service. (Click here to view the front page of the issue.)
You need to subscribe to see the whole thing, but here’s an except:
When the American Jewish World Service used to talk about using video to illustrate its overseas aid projects, it usually meant gathering enough footage for a seven-minute spot to be shown to the people who would attend its annual fund-raising dinners.
But the Internet has changed all that.
The New York organization last year collected more than 60 hours of footage of the organization’s workers and volunteers helping AIDS patients in Uganda, tsunami victims in India, and poor residents of El Salvador, and it soon plans to use that extra footage for an extensive online video campaign. The collection of two- to three-minute spots will run on the group’s Web site, and the charity will also post video clips of interviews with volunteers on the popular online video site YouTube. The organization is also creating DVD’s of some of the videos to send to prospective donors.
What’s more, the charity has trained some of its staff members to shoot video using inexpensive cameras, with the goal of creating a library of footage that it can use to create fresh online videos for years to come. The cost for this effort — which included the purchase of four cameras and video-editing equipment — was about $2,000.
Susan Rosenberg, American Jewish World Service’s director of communications, says these projects are important to the organization because video, more than any other medium, can tell powerful, emotional stories that move supporters and donors to take action. Instead of simply telling potential donors about the organization’s overseas outreach work, it can show them the people it helps and allow them to hear volunteers and those they help in their own words.
“Increasingly, audio and video on the Web are critical tools [for nonprofit groups] for communicating to people about the work they’re doing, and I only see that intensifying,” Ms. Rosenberg says.
With YouTube’s announcement in September that it plans to dedicate a portion of its video-sharing site exclusively to charities, experts say many nonprofit groups are likely to follow American Jewish World Service’s lead.
…
Because of these factors, groups that attempt to use their internal, benefit-dinner videos for an online audience will find their efforts largely ignored, says Michael Hoffman, president of See3 Communications Company, a Chicago consulting group that helps charities produce online video campaigns. See3, for example, helped the American Jewish World Service create its documentary-style videos for YouTube and other Web sites, including the company’s own video portal, DoGooderTV.
“You can’t produce that dinner video over and over, three or four times a year, because most organizations don’t have the budget to do that,” Mr. Hoffman says of those richly produced videos, which typically cost between $20,000 and $75,000.
Instead, he encourages nonprofit groups to produce documentary-style videos that show their work and cast their workers as real people. Such videos can be done inexpensively — requiring only the investment in a digital video camera, video-editing software, and staff time.
Because many digital cameras and editing software are inexpensive, that investment can be less than $1,000.
“The model of continuous documentation is so important,” Mr. Hoffman says.
“If you’re shooting on a regular basis and capturing your work on a regular basis, there are great opportunities to show the kid who walks into your program timidly on the first day and three years later is the leader of a group,”he says. “To have the documentation of the transformation gives you material for powerful stories.”
American Jews, like Americans generally, opened their hearts and wallets to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A lot of the giving went through the Red Cross, but for many Jews it was important to find a Jewish response. In reaction to this desire, the main organs of Jewish philanthropy set up funds to help.
But here we are, two years later. New Orleans is in trouble. The response to Katrina from all levels of government has been inadequate. New Orleans had problems long before the hurricane and the destruction only has exacerbated a long list of problems.
I am very excited to say that a new continuing Jewish response to help New Orleans is being launched by AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corp. AVODAH puts young Jews to work in a year-long program of service. While working locally, these folks live communally and study both how to make change in the world and the Jewish connections to social justice. Right now, AVODAH has houses in New York, Washington and Chicago. Starting next fall, AVODAH will be in New Orleans putting “boots on the ground” to help the city recover.
I am on the national Board of Directors of AVODAH and yesterday, in an all-day meeting in New York, we decided to greenlight the expansion to New Orleans. We will need to raise money for this effort, and there are lots of logistical challenges. But we all felt that in running a national service program we could not avoid addressing New Orleans. Our broader goal is to invigorate Jewish life in America with the values of service and we hope that this effort can help energize a new generation of Jewish leaders to step up and act.
Learn more about AVODAH and make a donation while you’re at it. And if you think New Orleans isn’t still in need, have a look at this recent piece by Robert Greenwald.
Why should I donate? Yes, you do good work. Yes, I care about these issues. OK, you got me. I will donate. But not now. When I get around to it. (Which might not actually happen any time soon.)
I think this is a common subconscious set of thoughts from donors. I will get to it. I made that pledge, but I didn’t return the envelope. Not because I didn’t intend to do it, but because it’s not URGENT. Creating urgency is an important part of fundraising. OK, I get you do good work. But why is it important that I donate now. Right now. Why not tomorrow? Why not next month?
One way to solve the urgency issue is to use a matching program. A typical match program will get a high-net-worth donor to conditionally pledge some money, say, $75,000. They will pay the pledge if you can get another $75,000 to match it. Often this is a nice way to up a gift from a major donor as well as getting your base excited. I was thinking about this recently because I saw two case studies for running matching gift programs online.
The first is from the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). They sent out an email about a week ago to their list saying that a family foundation has agreed to provide $75,000 if the amount could be matched. In about two days the $75,000 came in online. Here’s the amazing thing… a lot more money came in phone calls! “I just got this email about the matching and I want to donate.” So they were over their goal. (Don’t forget, if you get calls or letters that reference an online campaign, the online campaign needs to be credited for those gifts in your database so you can accurately measure the impact of the campaign.)
Within a couple days, the whole experience got someone else excited about the matching possibilities and I got this email from Ruth Messinger, the head of AJWS:
Dear Michael,
During these Days of Awe I am particularly grateful for your ongoing commitment to AJWS.
Last week I shared the news that, in the spirit of the High Holy Days, a family foundation agreed to match your contributions up to $75,000.
I am so pleased that, thanks to an outpouring of support, we have met the match.
However, the generosity of our supporters did not stop there. After hearing of the success of the first match, an anonymous donor came forward and offered an additional $100,000 in match funds!
With the ongoing help of the AJWS community, we are confronting some of the world’s most difficult challenges. We support the world’s most vulnerable people – where the need is greatest – in communities that have not been reached and not been served by others.
So please, don’t miss this special opportunity to contribute today – your donation will go twice as far and will help AJWS raise up to $350,000 for our critical work around the world!
Thank you for your commitment to global social justice and support of AJWS. May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Warm regards,
Ruth Messinger
President, American Jewish World Service
The second case study is from the Obama campaign. What’s interesting about their approach is the idea of matching real people to each other to create a kind of virtuous circle of leveraged gifts. The Obama people are combining the urgency of the match with the idea of creating community, which has been a lot of what their campaign is about. And they also throw in here a little “prove to me that you’re a man” kind of stuff for added punch (which is the part I don’t really like because I think it dilutes the power of the community sell.) Have a look:
Dear Michael,
Somebody out there believes that you’re ready to own a piece of this campaign.
A fellow supporter has promised that if you make a donation right now, they will match what you give.
So take the next step.
Prove to them that they were right to put their faith in you. Make a donation now and double your impact:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
This isn’t an anonymous donor program backed by big checks from Washington lobbyists or corporate fat cats. This is a one-to-one, supporter-to-supporter effort.
If you make a donation, you’ll be matched up with a real person — another supporter who has put their faith in you. And you’ll be able to read a note from them and send a response.
Here’s how it works:
You choose the amount you’re willing to give — it will be doubled by someone willing to match that amount
You’ll see the name and town of the fellow Obama supporter who agreed to double your donation
You’ll be able to write a note to the person who matched you and let them know why you decided to own a piece of this campaign
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
Our movement is funded by actual people — individuals who are moved to give whatever they can afford, whether it’s five dollars or five hundred dollars.
Most campaigns do not realize the value of contributions from ordinary people — they are focused on the money that comes from Washington lobbyists and special interest groups.
But we reject the notion that lobbyists and PACs represent “real people,” and we’ve refused their money since this campaign began.
So it’s up to you.
Make a donation and show your support. Double your impact by giving today and being a part of our supporter match campaign:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
According to the Campaign Finance Institute, we have raised more money in small dollar contributions than any major campaign in history.
If we keep building our movement this way, we have the potential to fundamentally reshape the political process.
We can end the days of lobbyists and political action committees paying for access and influence.
That’s why we’re so focused on bringing new donors into the campaign. For the next ten days you will write the history of this presidential election through your actions.
You have the opportunity to build the biggest grassroots campaign politics has ever seen.
Make a donation, connect with another supporter, and double your impact now:
https://donate.barackobama.com/match
Thanks for your support,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
Matching programs can work. So if you haven’t tried it, you should. One rule of creating urgency is that you shouldn’t abuse it. You can’t tell people in every communication you have with them all the time that the sky is falling (even if it is!). If you say, “We need you to act today!” and you say it again next week, they will get burned out. They will begin to feel that they can never solve your problems, that you just take and take and no matter how much they give you are still in this crazy urgent situation. And if they feel that way, then your appeals start to make them feel guilty, and guilt is not a tricky tactic in fundraising. Most of the time people will avoid guilt-inducing situations.
If you have your own matching gift story, leave it in a comment here to share it with your nonprofit colleagues.
Yesterday I went with Danny and his dad Bernie to watch the Cubs beat the Cardinals. It is hard to not have fun at Wrigley Field. This was shot using my PureDigital Flip Video camera, which I will write more about soon.
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.
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.
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.
Jerusalem Rocks! I used to live there and I love it, so I think so. But I am referring to a concert called Jerusalem Rocks being put on by some of my buddies. It will feature the Black Eyed Peas, Arrested Development and The Commitments. These are pretty big names to get to come to Jerusalem, even more so at the same time. So make your reservations now for the show on September 9. From their site:
Jerusalem Rocks! will bring together musicians from all over the world in support of peace and unity. Jerusalem has hundreds of thousands of students and youth, numerous universities and a total population of 725,000. The city, its population and industry strive to show the world that Jerusalem is dedicated to peace and, more, is a growing center of today’s culture and business. However, Jerusalem has not hosted a mega international musical event in many years. Jerusalem Rocks! speaks to all these issues. It is not only a gift to Jerusalem; it is a statement to the world.
