We have never lived in a world like now, where so many different
ways must be used to market an idea to people. There's no one
avenue or method of communication that reaches most of the people
a nonprofit needs to reach, even in small communities. And it's
never been more important for one of those communication avenues
used by nonprofits to be video.
Most nonprofits, no matter their size, no matter their focus,
need at least one short video that succinctly explains their
programs and their impact, or a video that shows how the
organization engages volunteers. They may also need a video that
helps onboard program participants or explains safety measures.
Your small nonprofit with just a handful of staff - maybe just a
few employees, maybe just one employee, maybe all volunteers
(unpaid staff) - may think it cannot make such a video, because it
can't afford a professional videographer. In fact, you can, and
with just the tech assets you have. I've had to do it several
times myself, as I've never had a budget for a videographer.
Are my videos going to win awards or be used to teach in film
school? No.
Have they attracted financial donations, program participants and
volunteers? Yes.
Here's how you can do the same:
With just the first four bullets, you have almost everything you
need to produce a simple video for YouTube, as a reel for Facebook
and Instagram, or a short for TikTok or similar platform. And
throw in that last bullet and you have even more options.
A caution: you may need to buy an external hardrive just to meet
the memory requirements of making videos, if you make more than
one.
You need HUNDREDS of photos to choose from for most video
projects if you are not going to record video for use. The best
photos are of clients, program participants and volunteers. You
need photos from events, classes, trainings, meetings, site visits
and more. Photos of your staff are also good, depending on the
project, but don't make any video is too closely identified with
any one staff member: employees and volunteers leave, and you
don't want to have to frequently redo a video because it refers to
employees by name: if it says "just ask Mary" and Mary isn't there
anymore, that's a problem.
In addition to photos of people, consider photos of:
These make great filler photos for transitions, introductions and
end images on a video.
If appropriate to your needs and the sensibilities of the
clients, ask them for their own photos of themselves. If you've
helped someone and that help has also been important to their
entire family, would asking for a family photos be appropriate?
Only you can answer.
The sound on this video must be clear and easy to understand.
There's no way around that. You can have a video with substandard
images, but not with substandard sound.
Practice with whatever device you are going to use beforehand.
Record with it and then listen to it on your laptop and your
phone, with the volume at 60%. If you have to increase the volume
to its highest, you might want to rethink what it is you had
planned to use to record sound - but you also may be able to
increase the volume in your video editing software (more on that
later).
When recording, make sure the environment is as noise-free as
possible. If you can hear it, whatever you are using to record can
also hear it. Don't record near a refridgerator. There should be
no TV, radio, computer, or any device playing sound anywhere in
the area, including not in an adjacent room. Don't record on
garbage day. Don't record if someone is mowing grass or blowing
leaves outside. Some noise in the background can be okay - the
ocassional sound of a child laughing, for instance. But you will
be shocked at how often background noise can ruin a recording, and
you find out only after you have finished recording and have
started editing. Yes, there are apps that can take out or lesson
background noise, but these can be expensive and complicated -
remember that this page is a resource for using only the tech you
readily have.
When recording an interview with someone that you are doing to
solicit comments you can use in your video, do your best not to
react audibly to anything happening, including say affirmative,
"Uh huh" sounds. You are going to be surprised at how often you do
this without thinking about it. Those sounds won't autommatically
ruin an interview, but if you are seeking client or volunteer
voices, your own noises interfere with that.
What is the primary goal for this video? What do you want someone
to do, ideally, right after watching the video? "I want to give
this organization money!" or "I want to volunteer with this
organization!" Let that be your guide for the kind of video you
want to make, and there are many web sites and blogs out there
that can help you craft whatever message you want to convey. I'm
not going to duplicate all of that info that's readily available
out there, but I will say that focusing on the impact you make in
a community or on behalf of a cause, not just the activities that
you do but WHY they matter, is the most powerful message you can
convey.
Know your time limit. For this kind of video, aim for 10 minutes
or less. Beyond that, you may be pushing the audience too much in
terms of their patience with a non-professional video.
I attended a workshop by a motorcycle video blogger, and something he said really stuck with me: forget trying to be perfect. If you wait until your video is perfect, you may wait forever. Get it to where it needs to be, where you feel it meets the need, and then LET IT GO.
Video projects can drag on endlessly if you aren't careful. You
need to pick a date for this video to be done, with absolutey no
more changes to be made, and then you need to pick the day a week
before, even two weeks before, to show it to your test audience -
usually, your staff - and get their feedback for changes. Working
backward from that date, you decide how long you will need for the
project and, therefore, what the start date will be, how to
schedule needed interviews, etc.
Trust me: your video will take more hours to do than you budget.
Interview times will get postponed. Someone you were counting on
to translate something won't do it on time. Editing the audio will
end up taking three times as long as what you expected. Budget at
least 25% more time than you think it will take to produce this
video. 50% would be even better.
Following all of the above advice, I made this video for West Tuality Habitat for Humanity:
Habitat for Humanity homeowners in Washington County share the benefits of homeownership.
NOT doing video - doing just audio - for this video wasn’t just a
budget choice. It was also because I think video makes people
uncomfortable. I was concerned about making these homeowners feel
absolutely comfortable, and I think they forgot about the
recording sometime - we were just chatting.
Two of the homeowners provided photos of themselves and their families in and around the home, and that was beyond helpful in putting this video together - I needed far more photos than what I had.
The audio for this was as good as I could get it with what I had,
and had it been any muddier, it would have been unusable. Because
I don’t have better resources (and, perhaps, not enough
knowledge), I couldn't take out the background noise. I also
needed to increase the volume, particularly for the last speaker,
but was limited by iMovie to 400%. My workaround: raise her audio
that much, export the movie, then re-import it as a new project,
separate the audio and raise it again - it worked out well, I
think.
YouTube will NOT automatically transcribe a video that is a mix
of languages, My workaround: I edited the first two interviews in
iMovie, which are in English, I made a movie out such with just a
few photos, uploaded it to YouTube, let YouTube transcribe it, and
then corrected that transcription on YouTube. I edited the last
interview, in Spanish, on iMovie, uploaded it to YouTube, let
YouTube transcribe it, and then had a bilingual collegue correct
the transcription in Spanish. Then I spliced those two videos
together on iMovie, and uploaded them to YouTube, then replaced
the automated transcriptions with the correct ones from the
previous YouTube uploads (YouTube makes it REALLY easy to download
and upload transcriptions). I had to translate the Spanish using
Google Translate, unfortunately, and then manually replace the
Spanish with English - which is unfortunate, but my colleague
wasn't available for a proper translation.
I'm hoping, with volunteer assistance, to create a second video
with Spanish captions and maybe voice overs in Spanish for the
first two interviews, and then the last interview transcribed in
Spanish. Time will tell if this is possible.
I also made this short video using just photos I found in an
online archive, video I took in one day with my Android, and my
own voice over to encourage
volunteering at the Forest Grove Restore, also in
support West Tuality Habitat for Humanity. This quickie video,
which I did in an afternoon, is the most popular video on West
Tuality Habitat's YouTube channel.
A group of web site coders participated in the Accessibility
Internet Rally 2019, by the nonprofit Knowbility. The team
developed a new, accessible web site in just a few weeks for a
nonprofit organization as part of the AIR competition. Members of
the team talked about their experience in a video call and I used
a recording of the call to make this
short video of them talking about their volunteering
experience, which the nonprofit uses to help people
who are considering being a part of the AIR competition understand
a bit of what it's like.
Those three videos aren't going to win any awards, but all three
have played a critical role in outreach and training goals for
these small nonprofit organizations.
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