March 05, 2021

Google conducted a study in 2013 that found that 80% of all media consumption occurs via video and 47% of donors search multiple nonprofit websites before donating. Therefore, embedding video into your content is critical to make sure your organization stands out. Videos build meaningful connections and deepen relationships in seconds, and fundraisers can incorporate them into fundraising plans for nonprofits in many ways. Organizations can include videos on the main web page and utilize them in emails and social media campaigns. Each touchpoint effectively helps your organization prioritize stewardship, share breaking news and updates, and continue fundraising activities.

While 2020 forced us to acclimate to virtual relationships, the search to creatively maintain those relationships continues. Building authentic connections, beyond the traditional methods of check-in phone calls and zoom meetings, is more important than ever. Below are ways to incorporate video into your fundraising and stewardship plans, as well as tips to make them successful.

Gratitude Campaign: Conducting a gratitude campaign is an effective way to help nonprofit organizations recognize donors who have contributed in the past year. Videos can be utilized to highlight the use of the funds received and share compelling stories about the communities and volunteers engaged with your work. When building a nonprofit thank you plan, videos are an effective social media tool leading up to and on, the chosen day. Many organizations choose to host a Thank A Donor day as part of their campaign. The first step is to choose a specific day. If possible, select a meaningful day, such as the date the nonprofit was established, or some other milestone in the organization's history. Once the date is set, determine what level of donor you are planning to recognize. DonorPerfect suggests running a report of your top ten gifts last year, (excluding outliers gifts, as well as corporations and foundations), and calculating the average gift size. Based on this data, determine your dollar amount and reach out to those individuals by embedding a personalized video into an email from someone in your organization. In each video, be sure to mention the donor by name and share a brief update on the work you’ve done with their donation. Keep the video less than 2 minutes; eight to ninety seconds is the sweet spot when it comes to keeping your users engaged.

Organization Updates: Our email inboxes are overflowing with information and news that often goes unread. Including an embedded video in an email message can boost open rates up to 72% when the industry standard is 18%. For each video email, choose a video subject such as a mission update, information related to the release of a new report, or even a fundraising update. elect who will speak directly to the audience; ideally, this will be an influential person in your organization (think, the organization’s board president or CEO). By engaging your CEO and Board President in an organization update, you set the tone that the information is not only essential but exciting!

Featured Profiles: Without the networking structures that can support events, nonprofits must find alternative ways to introduce themselves to donors. Creating featured profiles about their staff, volunteers, and programs can be a great way to communicate information about your organization and uncover unexpected prospects. Generosity.org shows first-hand footage collected before the Coronavirus pandemic and a compelling script and narration by the co-founder and CEO provides an inspiring two-minute video informing the viewer of the organization's purpose and steps to get involved in the cause.

Her Story, Inc, used video to introduce Executive Director Sandy Wagner. In this one-minute video, the organization provides an update on its progress, leadership, and commitment to the mission.

It's easy to see the information above and feel overwhelmed with what appears to be a lot of work. Often nonprofit staff have multiple responsibilities, and the ideas above stay in the "it would be nice" list. However, incorporating video can efficiently engage your donors in a way that improves retention and builds meaningful relationships because fundraising staff will appear more accessible. There are ways to integrate video as simply as sending a birthday greeting to a donor, or as advanced as scheduling a virtual meeting through video invite. As the world continues to shift into a more digital space, so must our ability to create authentic connections via digital platforms.