Impact videos can play a key role in driving donations for your nonprofit organization. Learn how to leverage this powerful tool for a fundraising strategy that changes the game.
No matter your mission, nonprofit organizations all have one thing in common: fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. This vital part of the nonprofit ecosystem can make or break your goals, so it’s important to nail down a strategy that helps your fundraising campaigns flourish. The recipe for success? Impact videos.
Impact videos are the secret sauce of all the best fundraising campaigns. In fact, 57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation. This is because impact videos help organizations put a human face to their mission and forge lasting emotional connections that turn passive supporters into donors.
We are so confident in the effect these videos have that we have figured out how to maximize their impact, whether they are shown on a website, social media, during a virtual event or in person at a gala. Read on to learn more about how to incorporate this vital tool into your fundraising efforts.
What Is an Impact Video?
Impact videos use storytelling to evoke strong emotions and drive viewers toward a specific call to action. In the case of nonprofits, this call to action is usually to donate or otherwise financially support the organization’s mission.
Typically running more than a couple minutes, these videos are a great avenue for nonprofit organizations to clearly communicate their mission and impact while also taking viewers on an emotional journey. An effective impact video will make use of compelling statistics, strong testimonials from people whose lives have been affected by your organization, and footage of your organization in action. The goal is to really pull at viewers’ heartstrings and communicate the urgency of your mission so that people will feel the need to support the work you’re doing right now.
How Does Video Fit Into Your Fundraising Efforts?
Let’s be real for a second. The choice to donate to a cause doesn’t just come out of the blue. What drives people to put money into a nonprofit is emotion. When they choose to hit that donate button, it’s because they feel like they are directly making a difference in real people’s lives. Impact videos are one of the best ways to make people feel like their support truly matters.
This emotional connection is possible because impact videos allow your organization to put the people and communities you’re serving front and center and let them speak for themselves. This, in turn, speaks to the influence of your organization and the contributions of donors.
An effective impact video will feature personal stories from people that can speak to the real-world daily effects of your nonprofit organization’s efforts. They should be willing to be vulnerable with viewers as they share how your mission has touched their lives, even if it means shedding some tears on camera. This kind of raw, unscripted emotion is what pulls at the heartstrings of viewers and pushes them to donate.
Yakkety Yak’s Director of Production Megan McDonough knows how impactful video storytelling can take your fundraising efforts to the next level.
“Video as a medium is one of the most captivating ways to engage an audience’s senses,” Megan says. “Seeing the feeling in a person’s eyes, hearing the catch in their voice—these things help capture attention in what can be a crowded fundraising space.”
As you plan your next big fundraising campaign, think about the stories that really encapsulate the purpose of your organization. Once you find the right people to tell those stories, all it takes is a little video magic to bring them to life and start drawing people to your nonprofit.
Check out three great examples that demonstrate the power of impact videos below.
Create a Story for Your Fundraising Campaign
Impact videos should fit seamlessly into your fundraising strategy around peak giving times like holidays or anniversaries. Not only can a compelling video serve as a strong kickoff to your campaign, it can also provide a storyline that connects smaller pieces of campaign content and draws even more donors to your cause.
“We always tell our clients to think about how they might expand their video’s reach past the initial event,” Megan says. “Since we often capture so much rich content that can’t make it into the final cut, we love to repurpose it into smaller clips for social or email campaigns to continue the impact long after the event.”
Our video for the American Migraine Foundation’s 2021 Giving Tuesday campaign used testimonials to convey the devastating impact migraine has on millions of Americans and demonstrate how the Foundation is helping them live better lives. Its punchy tagline, “Putting Migraine on the Map,” led the way for more campaign pieces that reminded people of the video’s emotional message and compelled them to take action.
The American Migraine Foundation helps support millions of Americans who live with migraine by providing free, reliable resources and funding research that makes advances toward new treatments and, one day, a cure.
Show All Sides of Your Cause
The longer run time of impact videos allows nonprofits to give a more in-depth look at the real-life stories and emotions at the heart of their organization. When viewers see how real people are affected by a cause in their everyday lives—the good, the bad and the ugly—they have a chance to connect with this cause on a deeper level.
For our client, the American Brain Foundation, we made an impact video following the stories of four different families touched by brain disease. As individuals and their family members share their perspectives, we get to see the many sides of brain disease—the fear that comes with diagnosis and the grief of losing a loved one or a familiar way of life, but also the hope that blossoms from finding an organization that is committed to helping. These emotional stories generate empathy from viewers, who then realize the very real impact their donation can make in the lives of others.
The American Brain Foundation believes that finding a cure for one brain disease will lead to finding improved treatments, prevention and cures for multiple other brain diseases. They work toward this goal by funding innovative research that covers multiple disease areas.
Demonstrate the Core Purpose of Your Organization
People are more likely to feel connected to a cause when they can put a human face to it. An impact video provides a great opportunity to dig into the history of your nonprofit organization and show how far it has come to honor the people that inspired your efforts in the first place.
The impact video we created for Little Heroes League guides viewers through the story of Livi, a little girl who was born with multiple serious health conditions. Throughout the video, viewers see how Livi’s family never stopped fighting for her, despite all the challenges, stress and tears that go into caring for a medically complex child. When her family shares their mission to ensure children like Livi and their families get the same great care they received, it compels viewers to empathize with the core purpose of Little Heroes League and, hopefully, choose to make a donation.
Little Heroes League helps families give their medically complex babies the best quality of life outcome by providing carefully coordinated, personalized care and free resources.
Want help reaching your fundraising goals with a strategy that changes the game? Contact Yakkety Yak to learn how you can incorporate impactful video storytelling into your fundraising campaigns today.
