Video Design for Nonprofit Marketing: The Definitive Guide
Introduction
Don’t tell us all the reasons this might not work. Tell us all the ways it could work.
These words from John J. Wood (Founder of Room to Read) sum up the spirit that is at the core of the most inspiring nonprofits,
driven by causes larger than them. So when you are building a nonprofit organization to create change,
your message deserves the right medium to make an impact and inspire action.
A survey of nonprofits conducted by Google and Millward Brown Digital found out that 57% of people who watch a video for a nonprofit,
go on to make a donation! Other than being an engaging format to convey your message,
videos are a great way to invoke emotions and move people to act.
At Typito, we are inspired everyday to see nonprofits from around the world use our software to create videos that create an impact.
Organizations like WWF, Tree Aid, American Heart Association (AHA) and Care.org create videos to raise awareness, for fundraising and to grow a community by continuously engaging with them.
WWF Australia raising awareness about endangered Rhinos
American Hearth Association sharing why you need to care
Video production is getting cheaper by the day — you can shoot your own HD or 4K video with just a smartphone!
Though content creation is getting easier, getting the desired outcome from the videos can still seem daunting.
Impactful and engaging videos go through a well thought a designing stage that leads to a well produced video that drives people towards action.
We developed this guide to help you get an understanding of the building blocks of different types of videos you can create to grow your nonprofit and suggest a lean process that you can follow on your own.
To make sure that the insights are actionable, we have partnered with leading influencers and experts from the nonprofit industry.
You will learn from mentors like Julia Campbell, Tony Martignetti, Gail Perry and more!
Let’s get started!
Videos: The Key Ingredient in your Nonprofit Marketing Mix
The combination of moving images, beautiful text and synchronized music makes video a powerful medium to convey your message.
Here are some numbers that speak loud:
After the launch of YouTube’s Nonprofit program, videos from nonprofits have amassed over 4.6 billion views!
Videos can be used across different stages of your nonprofit’s journey and to convey a range of messages.
From sharing your vision, raising funds to thanking donors and sharing success stories, you can produce and promote a wide variety of videos across platforms.
* * *
Nonprofit Campaign Goals and how Videos fit in
Before talking about how different types of videos can fit into your nonprofit marketing strategy,
it would help to understand the strategic goals that help you drive results in every nonprofit fundraising campaign and how videos fit into the plan.
There are three main types of goals you need to focus on across your nonprofit campaigns:
Donor Acquisition:
This stage is about obtaining new donors or contacts through fundraising campaigns and related marketing efforts.
When looking to acquire new donors, your campaigns will focus on nurturing new contacts through communication.
It all starts by introducing them to your mission. Often, the communication at this stage consistently presents the ‘Why’ of your existence.
Why do you do what you do? Why should they care?
The consistent messaging about the mission is followed up by presenting donation opportunities.
Point to note, don’t miss out on leveraging the current network of supporters to reach out and convince new donors.
Video storytelling is a perfect way to grab attention and pique curiosity, leading people to the website or email list to get more information about the cause
and form a deeper relationship with the organization. The video doesn't have to be perfect, highly-produced with bells and whistles.
It can be from the heart, told from the perspective of one person and a smartphone camera. The key is authenticity.
author of Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits and founder of the Nonprofit Social Media Summit
Donor Engagement:
Successful non-profit organizations are built around deep and sustainable relationships with their donors. Donor engagement is all about it.
Surprisingly, this stage is often the most overlooked. Many put undue stress on communication asking for new funds.
Imagine this, how would you feel if someone is constantly sending you emails and letters, messages on social media - all with intent to ask for something? Burnt out? Irritated?
A good donor engagement strategy ensures that a relationship is beneficial for both parties - You and the donor.
Just like any other long lasting relationship, the process takes time and effort. With the power of social media though you can scale the engagement programs.
Engagement need not be only through phone calls and offline events.
Think about personalized thank you videos and campaigns to showcase the impact the funds are having!
Donor Retention:
Donor engagement leads to donor retention.
Donor retention is simply the number or percentage of donors that continue to provide funds over a period of time (quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year).
The importance of donor retention can’t be stressed enough. According to Adrian Sargeant,
a leading nonprofit marketing expert found that just a 10% increase in attrition can yield a 200% increase in projected value.
Point to note, recurring donations from retained donors is more cost-effective than acquiring donations from new donors.
This report from Nonprofit Quarterly shares how new customers/donors cost a nonprofit up to five times more than returning ones.
The key to retaining donors is about trust that your organization is well run, impacting lives and the belief that they are playing a crucial part in the journey of creating change in the world.
Sending them regular updates and involving them in key decision making though surveys and forums is a good start!
Type of Nonprofit Videos
Now that we’ve established the three main goals of every nonprofit campaign, let’s learn how videos can help in boosting these nonprofit campaigns from a goal perspective.
To understand this better, we watched more than 200+ videos created from by some of the best nonprofit organisations in the World.
So here goes the list:
Donor Acquisition
Donor Engagement
Donor Retention
1. Brand Story - Why we exist
Every brand has a story, which needs to be told. And video is one of the best formats to tell a story.
Once the video is made, it can be shared on the homepage of the website and even on social sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, among others.
How does a brand story video help?
Research reveals that 80% of people remember a video they watched in the last month.
Brand building can help make a memorable impression; it allows the supporters of the nonprofit to know what to expect of the organization, it can influence the way people perceive an organization,
and moreover, it can help a brand stand apart and differentiate itself from its competition.
Brand Story videos play an important role in Donor Acquisition.
Tips and guidelines for brand story videos:
Explain the purpose with which your nonprofit works
Tell the audience what problem is your nonprofit trying to solve
Let the viewers know the key points about your nonprofit
Introduce the people behind the nonprofit
Share the stories of your under-recognized staff heroes:
Paralegals at a legal services org; scientists at a renewable energy org;
physical therapists & social workers at a healthcare org; stage managers for an arts org;
student aides at a school for the physically challenged.
Better yet, let them tell their own stories: empower your heroes to tell their stories.
In an awareness video, the nonprofit Water is Life told the simple realities of a 5-year old Kenyan boy from the Masai tribe.
The makers of the video wanted to drive across the point that unsafe drinking water is one of the main causes of death of children under five years. Creating awareness is an important part of developing support.
Awareness can translate into action and help people to understand and respond to a need.
It helps educate people and boost public awareness about a nonprofit’s cause.
Awareness videos fall under the goal of Donor Acquisition for most nonprofits.
Why create an awareness video?
For a nonprofit, it is important to educate people and let them know the story, the reality behind its cause. People need to see and feel for a cause to want to contribute towards that cause.
Tips and guidelines for awareness videos:
Sharing real stories and real footage would make the video more potent
Using behind the scenes footage can make it more impactful and real
Sometimes organizations do a lot of different things, which is difficult to describe in a short video.
In this case a series of videos could do justice to the amount of information that is to be shared.
The first step is to grab attention. Aim to pique interest from the very first frame, and try to start the story at a critical point, in the middle, or near the end, and work backwards.
This will make the viewer want to understand how the person in the video came to that point, and how they overcame the conflict.
The second step is to elicit an emotion. If you want people to feel something so deeply that they take action, the story must go beyond a simple recounting of things that happened.
You can use data and statistics to draw us in and make us want to learn more, but data will only make us interested - it will not make us act.
Having an emotional element to the video is crucial to get someone to move from passive to active.
The third step is to ask me to do something specific. Not to "get involved" or "learn more".
You have my attention, you made me feel sad or angry or proud or inspired - now what do you want me to do? What's next?
Only ask for one action per video. Keep it simple, and make it an action that they can take immediately upon watching the video.
3. Community Update - What we’ve been upto
Keeping all stakeholders of a nonprofit engaged is essential. For a nonprofit organization, the stakeholders are the donors, trustees, employees, beneficiaries, partner organizations, among others.
Organizations make use of different mediums to keep them engaged and updated with the work that the nonprofit organization is doing.
Social media, email, personal calls and messages and meetings and presentations, are a few of the ways in which stakeholders can be updated.
Video is a crucial element of this process. Whether it is graphs, numbers, photographs, video footage, it can all be compiled in the form of a video for easy sharing.
Community Update video helps with the goal of Donor Engagement.
Tips and guidelines for community update videos:
It can be in a slideshow format with simple slides compiled into a video along with audio music and relevant captions.
An update video could share information about an event that took place.
Creating a video with photographs of the event and inserting text to punctuate the photographs is an easy and effective way to do so.
Ever wondered, the annual report of a nonprofit organization could be repurposed to create a video.
A compilation of the informative slides, images and background sound, is a quick and easy way to change the format of the annual report sharing.
4. Event Promo - Come join us!
Events are one of the most effective ways to get the word around about your nonprofit.
EventBrite’s Pulse survey of 500 nonprofits found that the great majority — 78% — of nonprofits most frequently host cause, community, and educational events.
Not surprisingly, 32% of them also host galas and fundraisers.
While it helps to use traditional digital channels like email to promote your event, one of the best media would be videos.
Event promo videos can certainly help with Donor Acquisition and Donor Engagement depending on the type of audience you want to attract for your event.
If it’s a cause event or a gala, it might be a great place to acquire new donors where as community and educational events could help with engaging with your existing donors.
Tips and guidelines for event promo videos:
Events generally follow a lifecycle that comprises of 3 stages: pre event, during event and post events.
Event promo videos can be designed keeping in mind these phases.
You can learn how to design videos for these stages here.
If you are focusing on donor engagement, it helps to put more emphasis on producing and publishing post event videos that provides existing donors an update on the work done by the team.
If you are nervous about being on camera in your videos because you think you have to be perfect,
here's a counter-intuitive tip: Do Facebook Live first, rather than starting with recorded video!
With live streaming, there is no expectation of perfection. You definitely still need to be prepared,
but people will understand if you fumble a bit or mess up a few words. It's perfectly natural, human, and authentic.
Once you get comfortable going live, doing recorded videos is so much easier!
You'll need fewer takes and you'll be a whole lot easier on yourself.
Studies show that appreciating and thanking can help you win new friends and acknowledging other people’s contributions can lead to new opportunities.
A study on donor retention revealed that only 2% of nonprofit organizations are able to retain their donors year after year.
In such a scenario, a thank you video would be a quick and effective way to ensure that your supporters stay with you.
Thank you video helps with the goal of Donor Retention.
Tips and guidelines for thank you videos:
Personalize the message if there’s an opportunity, especially for the most valuable donors.
This can be done by asking each volunteer to create a thank you video for a pool of donors.
Show the impact to the donors and supporters. It helps if you are able to convey what you achieved with their support.
A key component of raising money is tapping into your donor's emotions.
You can personalize a Thank You video by including clients thanking specific donors.
Ask them to finish a sentence like: Thanks to you, I am able to… (have your clients fill in the blank).
For example, thanks to you, I am able to access world class medical care.
Thanks to you, I have a safe place to go after school. Thanks to you, I have enough to eat every day.
The International Centre For Journalists created a year-ending video made with still photographs and texts.
The video showed the achievements of the journalists that were supported through the organization.
How do stories of achievement and success help?
Research shows that donors are driven to donate when they know how and who their funds have helped and know what to expect of the nonprofit.
Impact videos help in driving Donor Retention.
How can impact videos for nonprofits help?
Milestones, achievements and progress are all interconnected.
Sharing success stories provides a sense of achievement to not only those who are a part of the nonprofit organization or a particular project, but even the donors and supporters. It helps in building an emotional connection with the audience, increase visibility and increased participation.
Moreover, it is a great way to document the activities of the nonprofit organization.
Tips and guidelines for impact videos:
Here are some key aspects that make donors donate. These must be kept in mind when creating impact videos.
When donors perceive an organization to be effective achievers of its mission.
Organizations that express timely gratitude.
When donors are given the opportunity to make their voices heard.
When donors are made to feel that they are an important part of a cause.
When donors receive information about how and who has been helped with their money.
* * *
Video Design Elements
Video creation, be it for any purpose, is an act of creative expression. It cannot be
produced without thinking about the intent, audience, scope and context of the video. The best video
campaigns are well thought out artistic works that stand out from the usual videos that try to serve
the same purpose.
We believe it’s futile to pursue a cookie cutter approach to creating videos. A
cookie cutter approach to a function is very beautifully encapsulated in the two definitions
provided by dictionary.com:
cookie-cutter [koo k-ee-kuht-er]
[adjective]
1. having the same configuration or look as many others of a given kind; identical
2. lacking individuality; stereotyped or formulaic.
It is essentially a philosophy in which the work is understood to be comprising of
mechanical steps and could be followed to complete a function without indulging in a creative
process. In case of videos, using a cookie cutter approach would result in production of videos that
look identical or sport very similar attributes while losing a touch of individuality. In a crowded
world, your individuality is a strength.
What is unique about humans is their individuality
- Leroy Hood
As a video creator, you have the opportunity and responsibility to showcase a rich
palette of perspectives and design videos that make an impact while staying true to your
individuality. Hope you are not intimidated by the concept of video design. If you are, take a
breath
and get comfortable. 😃
We are going to walk you through all the key components of video design that
will be relevant to you as you produce your nonprofit marketing videos. Let’s get started:
1. Video Format
When distributing your nonprofit campaign videos on social media platforms, tailoring your video to a platform’s video format specifications is mission critical.
The user interface of each social media platform is different and the way viewers will engage with your video will depend on how well you optimize for the native format.
YouTube prefers 16:9 (landscape) and Facebook loves 1:1 (square) videos. Want to leverage Instagram Stories to raise awareness about an issue? 9:16 (portrait) is the way to go.
The effort that you put into optimizing your video design for a specific format is a sign to the viewer that you actually care about their viewing experience.
Grab those brownie points!
Formats for nonprofit videos never follow 'one size fits all'
With Typito, you can choose from a wide collection of aspect ratio formats that work
well for different social media platforms. Check
out Video Formats on Typito.
Do note that the leading social media platforms keep releasing new video formats and
update the existing ones. Here’s a one-stop comprehensive guide
to all the format specifications
across social media platforms from our friends at SproutSocial.
2. Brand Essentials
The most influential nonprofit videos are good at humanizing the brand. You need the videos to be ambassadors which stay true to your organizational values.
When investing in creating videos for your cause, your choices about the text animations, the font, the colors and how these elements will interact with each other,
all will play a key role in the effectiveness of the video.
In this section, we will discuss the core elements of your brand design on video and share how they play a key role in creating an engaging, memorable video that will encourage your audience to act.
2.1 Motion Graphics
2.1.1 Text Animations
a) Intro
An Intro is a motion graphic or text animation element that is added within the first
few
seconds of the video popularly called the bumper section in a video. It is most commonly positioned
at
the centre of the video frame. Intro, like title of a story, gives context of what the video is
going
to be about.
Shout out what makes the video unique using the Intro
TreeAid is all about unlocking the potential of trees
Here are a couple of quick tips while designing your intro:
1. The Intro added on your bumper is effectively the first impression of your brand
on video.
Try to bring out your style and personal touch. Text on plain background is a non-starter 🙂. Here’s
how to
design a great bumper from
our friends at Wistia.
2. Is there something unique about your nonprofit? Showcase that at the get go to grab
the eyeballs.
b) Lower Thirds
A lower third refers to the lower area of the video frame which contains information
like the name of a speaker, his/her title, the company name etc.
Contrary to the name, such titles may not need to occupy one third of the video frame
area. In most videos the lower third is at the bottom left or bottom right of the frame and the area
occupied depends on the length of text and design choice with the graphics.
Lower thirds use the power of text on videos to build better content retention and
association for users. A good animated lower third adds impact and draws the attention subtly to
important contextual information about the person in the frame. In nonprofit videos, lower thirds are
essential as they give context about the donors, beneficiaries or influencers.
Source: International Observatory Human Rights
Using lower thirds can also help you to reinforce your brand elements subtly.
Here are some quick tips to create engaging lower thirds:
1. The lower third can be created using your brand colors and fonts and other
design
elements that represent your brand.
2. On the readability front, a golden rule you could follow is to have san serif
fonts.
They are easier to read and comprehend on screen.
3. Place the lower third in a ‘title safe area’. It is an area of the video screen
that
will be seen clearly across distribution formats in different social media platforms. A safe bet is
to ensure that the text is positioned by keeping in mind a 10% padding from the top and bottom of
the video area usually reserved for video player controls.
c) Captions
A caption is a type of text animation format that communicates (in real-time) what is
being said.
If you have watched any videos on your social media stream today, it is likely that you would have
seen captions it at least one of them.
Source: CFCNCA
Facebook says internal tests showed that captions can increase video view time by an
average of 12%. Captions have become more relevant thanks to the growing trend of silent videos
across platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. More importantly captions enable deaf and
hard of hearing users access your videos. There are specific laws in
many countries that make captions mandatory for video content
across a number of industries.
d) Outro
As the name might suggest, the ‘Outro’ is a text animation that plays at the end of your video.
As a best practice, it is advised to offer a call-to-action (CTA) which is relevant.
The call to action can be to check out your website, request funds or to share a reminder for an important event.
Source: CARE
Quick tips while designing Outros:
1. Abrupt endings reduce the impact and retention of your content and reflect
an amateur take. Be clear about the goal of every video and find creative ways to nudge the viewers
towards the goal using the outro.
2. For YouTube videos, it is advised to have at least around 8 seconds for the
outro.
2.1 Motion Graphics
2.1.2 Text Color
“If everyone would look for that uniqueness then we would have a very colorful
world.”
~ Michael Schenker
Colors do so much more than just making your video appealing. Have you come across the
‘color wheel’ used in most designing or video editing software? Using the wheel, you can choose any
of the 4294967295 variations of just the red color!
1. A simple thumb rule to choose a color palette for the text and overlays on your
videos, is to go with the key colors from your brand logo or your website!
2. Colors are great at invoking emotions. Make sure the colors you choose go along
with the values your brand wants to reflect.
2. Contrast is crucial. Go for colors that contrast well with the background or
the footage of your video that you have captured.
4. Colors have their own language and deeply affect your mood and perception.
Go with the psychology of colors to hit the right chords of your viewer's heart.
2.1.3 Fonts
The font that you use on your nonprofit videos can leave a lasting impact on the viewers.
Choose the right font and your prospective donors will start to build a relationship of trust and confidence.
A blunder here and the impact can be nullified.
Some quick tips:
1. Legibility is mission critical. With your videos getting distributed across
social
media, make sure you check the readability of the font in different screen sizes.
2. Respect the different sizes and hierarchy across the text used in different
sections.
For example, the title of a donor needs to be thinner and smaller in size
compared to the text to showcase the name of the person.
2.2 Logo
Logos speak. They do! When producing videos for your nonprofit, you can find smart ways to
reinforce the brand using a logo in sections where the core value is being derived.
You can use the following methods to use logos and keep your video brand compliant:
1. Small sized corner logo: Small sized logo could be positioned on the on top
right
or bottom left with 2.5% padding from the border. It could be maintained at 70% - 80% opacity to
ensure the content behind is not blocked.
2. Mid sized centre logo: A mid sized logo can be positioned along with Outro
motion
graphic template at the end of the video.
Logo should be placed in every video using at least one format
Logo should be placed in every video using at least one format
3. Motion graphic logo template: You can also use motion graphic text animation
templates
that have a logo placeholder, very similar to news banners. It could be the lower third for
interviews, over the establishing shots of the venue or during the speaker profile showcase. Check
out some of the logo templates here: Logo Templates
Note: A lazy and ineffective way to showcase a logo is to open a video with a flashy
animation on a color background that fills the screen. Use those precious seconds to build a rapport with the audience using engaging footage!
The logo can come in as an animated overlay.
3. Footage
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The actual raw footage which you will need
for the different types of nonprofit marketing videos. Don’t worry, we won’t burden with you a cinematography course. Just a nudge.
After looking at 200+ videos from top nonprofit organizations,
here are some shots that are most common and almost essential for an engaging nonprofit video:
Establishing shots: These are shots used to establish a location or a situation. Usually title of the videos go great with such shots.
Source: UQ School of Veterinary Science
Medium close ups: Most preferred shot for shooting interviews with donors, volunteers and beneficiaries.
Source: Scenarios USA
B-roll: Supplemental footage which are shot to act as a cutaway to help tell the story.
Source: Save the Children Action Network
A Day in The Life: Most commonly used to show the current status quo of the situation. The shots tell the story of a normal day in the life of the subject
Source: Neverthirst
Face in focus: Great at building a personal and emotionally stirring connect with the viewer
Source: Save the Children Action Network
4. Audio
Counterintuitively, the success of your videos will greatly depend on the quality of
sound and music you choose. Clear audio and a well synchronized music makes viewers comfortable and
plays a key role in the retention of the core message.
Also, studies
have shown that the tolerance level for bad audio is lower than that for
lower quality images or footage in your video. For your nonprofit videos the two types of sounds you
need to take care of are:
i) Audio from interviews, speaking sessions
ii) Background music to go along with the footage.
Here are some quick tips to get the sound right:
1. The background music sets the mood and can invoke the emotions you want.
Libraries
like Marmoset and Tunefruit
have sorted tracks across tag like “empowering,” “playful” and
“peaceful.” Get a head-start 🙂
2. Have you watched videos where the background music takes over the rest of the
crucial audio? Well, not good! When editing, keep
background music in the background.
3. Setup a dedicated space in the venue with relatively low noise levels to record
video testimonials and interviews.
Understanding Nonprofit Videos with the Video Design framework
We’ve learnt what videos perform well for nonprofits marketing and why it’s important to pay attention to designing these videos instead of following a cookie cutter approach.
We will now take some time to understand what design elements are to be kept in mind while creating these specific type of nonprofit videos.
For simplicity, we will go through each video type again but this time trying to understand how the various video design elements contribute to its effectiveness.
Brand Story
Format
Brand story videos are typically created for different distribution channels.
Here are the recommended formats for the most popular channels for promoting brand story videos:
Widescreen: Landing page, YouTube
Square: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
Brand Essentials
Motion Graphics - Brand story videos have an element of a grand and bold vision instilled in them
and this has to reflect well in the design elements used in these videos, especially motion graphics.
The most critical text elements you want to add on these videos would be the following:
Intro - Intros, in its larger than life appearance, could be a nice way to establish the reasons
why you want your audience to consider becoming a donor and join your journey.
Caption and Lower Third - Caption and lower third templates enable you to narrate your story
with conviction to this audience be it by stating facts or announcing you mission or providing context with a
lower third card when the founder speaks.
Outro - After you’ve leveraged Intros to convey the organization’s vision and cause,
end the video with a call to action that warrants a response from the viewer.
Ensure that motion graphic text animation templates are compliant with the nonprofit’s brand guidelines.
Using the brand fonts and colors would take you a long way with brand recall,
which is very important in a brand story video. You can check out the text templates for brand story video here -
Brand Story Templates
Logo - Logo elements should be added on all Flashback videos.
1. Small sized corner logo
2. Mid sized centre logo in outro
Footages
Brand story videos can be created using a collaboration of stock footages and original images or footages that can
reflects well the cause the nonprofit is fighting.
Audio
It helps to have an audio track that builds up tempo or arouses the feeling of hope or anticipation since brand story is
supposed to help the audience get inspired by what the nonprofit is doing and possibly join their journey.
Awareness
Format
Awareness videos play a critical role in acquiring more donors for the nonprofit.
Here are the recommended formats for the most popular channels for promoting awareness videos:
Widescreen: YouTube
Square: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
Awareness videos are the most effective format of video to catch attention of potential donors on social media.
This is partly because of it’s nature of jumping directly to portrayal of important facts that warrant an emotional response from the audience.
Brand Essentials
Motion Graphics - Awareness videos bear the responsibility of telling stories that matter to the audience.
They need to be able to relate with the cause and take an action immediately. This need of narrative story telling is made
possible with the help of design elements used in these videos, especially motion graphics.
The most critical text elements you want to add on these videos would be the following:
Intro - Intros, in awareness videos, take the role of titles in movies.
They set the context of what you are about to witness in the form of a small snackable video.
Caption and Lower Third - Captions and lower thirds carry the story in awareness videos for more than 80% of the duration.
These captions have to be brand-compliant and designed in tandem with the visuals in the video.
Outro - After you’ve leveraged intro and captions to convey the cause with clarity, outro enters the scene with the responsibility
of soliciting a response from the viewer - it could be donating or registering to the cause or even sharing the video in his / her social circles.
Ensure that motion graphic text animation templates are compliant with the nonprofit’s brand guidelines.
Using the brand fonts and colors would take you a long way with brand recall,
which is very important in a brand story video. You can check out the text templates for brand story video here -
Awareness Templates
Logo - Logo elements should be added on all Flashback videos.
1. Small sized corner logo
2. Mid sized centre logo in outro
Footages
Awareness videos can be created using a collaboration of stock footages and original images or footages that can reflects well the cause the nonprofit is fighting.
It’s important to note that visuals in the video have to be tandem with the captions to enable effective story telling in awareness videos.
Audio
It helps to have an audio track that builds up tempo or arouses the feeling of need to act since awareness video is supposed to help the audience
get touched by the problems the nonprofit is trying to solve and possibly join their journey.
Community Update
Format
Community Update videos are published with the goal of engaging donors - to keep the audience and online followers on tab on social media with what’s
happening at the organization. The preferred format would be:
Square: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
Brand Essentials
Motion Graphics - Community Update videos typically benefit with the following text animation elements:
Intro - The video can be introduced with a simple but effective title. Eg. “Day #1 at Orlando Outreach 2020” or
“5 things we did in March 2020” or
even something as simple as “Kentucky Chapter Updates #12”
Caption and Lower Third - Lower Thirds in Community Update videos help with collating the important events that took place
in the day or by including important quotes from the key events.
Community updates can include interviews of volunteers and beneficiaries and these can be supplemented well with lower thirds.
Ensure that text elements in motion graphics use the brand font and colors.
You can check out the text templates for Summary video here - Community Update Templates
Logo - Logo elements should be added on all Community Update videos.
1. Small sized corner logo
2. Mid sized centre logo in outro
Footages
Community Update videos can have video footages or images captured during the nonprofit’s different activities that are contextual to the theme of the update video.
Eg. If there’s a point that talks about a quote by a volunteer or beneficiary during an interview,
it helps to have a picture or footage of the person speaking during the event.
Audio
Summary videos are best produced with a good background music that takes prominence. Important to lower the volume of music and
highlight the speaker’s voice during interview clips where a volunteer or beneficiary or other stakeholders give updates.
Event Promo
Format
The most common nonprofit event videos are well edited videos that lists the top reasons to join at an upcoming event in a listicle format of video.
These videos play a dual role in boosting donor acquisition and donor engagement based on what part of the nonprofit event the video caters to.
The common formats for these videos would be:
Widescreen: YouTube
Square: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
Brand Essentials
Motion Graphics - Event promo videos can have the following text animation video design templates:
Intro - Like in most videos, intros in these videos help to establish the context for the video with a one liner.
Eg. “Why Green Round Table 2020”
Lower Third and Caption - These text elements serve the purpose of introducing the speakers for the event or
highlighting the episodes at the event so that it helps in weaving a story about the event.
Outro - Outro in event videos serve different purposes based on the type of event promo video. If the purpose is pre-event promotion,
the call to action would be to sell tickets or aim for similar goals where as an event highlight video published donor-retention would try to keep
the donors engaged with more of such content on social media.
Ensure that text elements in motion graphics use the brand font and colors. You can check out the text templates for Speaker video here: Event Promo Templates
Logo - Logo elements should be added on all Thank you videos in the following avatars.
1. Small sized corner logo
2. Mid sized centre logo in outro
2. Motion graphic logo template as lower third
Footages
Footages of event video can either be images or videos from the event or from the last year’s chapter of the event.
Audio
Event video is at the core a presentation that educates the viewer about the importance of the event run by the nonprofit.
So it helps to have the audio take the back seat and have a positive but not dominating music.
If there are sections in the video where the volunteers are talking,
ensure to keep the music volume down to 25-30% so that it doesn’t interfere with the person’s conversation.
Thank You
Format
Thank you videos are a personal note to the donors who’ve supported the nonprofit’s journey so far.
It’s about celebrating the success of the event and acknowledging how it couldn’t have been possible without each of their contributions.
The popular formats would be:
Widescreen - YouTube (which is also shared via email)
Square - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
Brand Essentials
Motion Graphics - Thank you video’s core motivation is to serve the goal of Donor Retention that is to retain the donors who’ve contributed before.
It’s core message is driven across with the help of the following text animation templates:
Intro - Intro, in a Thank you video, is used to set the context for the video by establishing
why you are thankful to your donors. If the video is in response to a very specific campaign they helped with, it helps
to use the intro to emphasize that. It's your conversation starter in this video.
Captions and Lower Third - Captions are used to narrate the story of how the nonprofit was able to achieve ambitious milestones with the help of the donor.
What helps here is to state how the donor’s contribution specifically helped the nonprofit and celebrate that. Lower thirds in a thank you
video can be used to announce the speaker in the video who's addressing and thanking the donors.
Outro - Outro in Thank you video is used to thank the donors, one last time! 🙂
You can also use this opportunity to tease the donor about the plans ahead.
Ensure that text elements in motion graphics use the brand font and colors. You can check out the text templates for Thank you video here: Thank You Templates
Logo - Logo elements should be added on all Thank you videos.
1. Small sized corner logo
2. Mid sized centre logo in outro
Footages
VIt’s recommended to use candid shots from different programs run by the nonprofit, be it video footages or images, to create a simple Thank you video.
If possible, it would be worth trying to get all of the team members of the nonprofit including volunteers to come together and shout out “Thank you” to the camera.
This would be a great ending footage. Apart from that, individual personalised thank you messages from staff and volunteers would also go a long way in warranting good response from the donor.
Audio
Thank you video demands a pleasantly conclusive themed audio that shares a good vibe with the audience.
Impact
Format
Impact videos serve the purpose of proving a report card to the donors.
They are to celebrate the achievements and goals of the nonprofit team and the impact they created in the journey.
Impact videos go a long way in instilling more confidence in a nonprofit’s current pool of donors and prompts them to support the nonprofit further.
The popular formats for impact videos would be:
Widescreen - YouTube (which is also shared via email)
Square - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram
Brand Essentials
Motion Graphics - Impact video’s core motivation is to serve the retain the current set of donors by telling them more about the amazing work done by the team.
It’s core message is driven across with the help of the following text animation templates:
Intro - Outro in Impact video is used to announce the context for the impact report that is going to be shared
with the donors in a specific video campaign. It sets the stage for the video narrative.
Caption and Lower Third: Captions are used to narrate the story of how the nonprofit was able to achieve ambitious milestones and goals.
What would help to make the narrative compelling is to have mentions of how the beneficiaries feel about the impact. Lower thirds add to the value provided by
captions by letting you add more context in the presentation, say by announcing the speaker in a video for example.
Ensure that text elements in motion graphics use the brand font and colors. You can check out the text templates for Thank you video here: Impact Templates
Logo - Logo elements should be added on all Thank you videos.
1. Small sized corner logo
2. Mid sized centre logo in outro
Footages
It’s recommended to use candid shots from an impact perspective, be it video footages or images, to create a simple impact video.
It would also help to get testimonials from beneficiaries about how the nonprofit’s work impacts their life -
these footages can sway donors and volunteers to support the organization’s further efforts.
Audio
Impact video demands a pleasantly conclusive themed audio that shares a good vibe with the audience.
Over to you
Heya! Glad to see that you made it till here. Now that you’ve explored what goes into creating videos for your nonprofit,
that engage and convert, we hope you feel ready to get started and try creating videos on your own.
Please note that the best practices we have shared are not rules written on stone.
You can explore even more types of videos and design styles to create videos that fit your intended objective.
Videos have the potential to be the champion of your next nonprofit campaign.
After all, they have a unique way to reach and acquire,
engage and retain donors by invoking emotions and following the value of ‘Show, don't tell’.
This guide is the result of a team effort at Typito and our team members Anshul, Krishna, Basim, Tejaswi and Matthew will
do a little dance when you create a video to grow your mission.
Before wrapping it up, we wanted to share a worksheet that gives you a quick glance at all the types of nonprofit videos
discussed and understand what goes into making them.
Nonprofit Videos Master Sheet
Strategic Goal
Videos
Video Format
Motion Graphics
Footage
Audio
Donor Acquisition
Brand Story
Widescreen: Landing page, YouTube
Square: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
Grand and bold vision instilled in them
Intro to establish reasons why you want your audience to consider becoming a donor
Get testimonials from beneficiaries about how the nonprofit’s work impacts their life
Pleasantly conclusive themed audio that shares a good vibe with the audience.
Presented By
Typito is a web-based drag-and-drop video editor which allows you to
create engaging videos for social media with beautiful typography, images, and videos. It has been
called the “Canva for videos”. Brands like WWF, Heineken, Fox8, Logical Indian along with 60,000+
marketers, advertising agencies and news agencies use Typito.
Meet the authors
Matthew John
Founder and CEO, Typito
Tejaswi Raghurama
Marketing Manager, Typito
Jigna Padhiar
Content Writer
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