Fundraising videos can be a powerful nonprofit tool. The combination of images, dialogue, and music makes video a uniquely compelling medium—one that can capture imaginations and stir emotions.
It’s not surprising, then, that nonprofits leverage video to communicate with supporters and the public frequently. What might be a bit more surprising to the casual observer, though, is the wide variety of ways nonprofit videos can communicate and inspire.
To illustrate how you can use fundraising videos to advance your mission, we’ve featured 11 of our all-time favorites below (in no particular order).
Fundraising Video Examples
1. First Descents
Short nonprofit videos are an excellent way to give people insight into what your organization does. Take, for example, this video from First Descents.
In just over two minutes, the viewer learns about the organization’s purpose, meets the founder, and gets a feel for the nonprofit’s principles and programs. Even in the absence of words, the images depicting the programs give viewers a sense of the people involved and what matters to them.
2. Falling Whistles
We love this video from Falling Whistles. It tells the organization’s founding story powerfully and connects you to the symbolism behind its name. The video also pulls in viewers right away and establishes an emotional connection that invites you to join the movement.
3. The Girl Effect
This video from Girl Effect presents the problem the organization addresses. We’ve categorized it as an awareness video because it doesn’t really delve into the organization’s programs specifically. Instead, the video educates the audience on the scope of the wider problem (and the corresponding opportunity for impact) using text, numbers, and illustrations.
It then introduces Girl Effect as a part of the solution and invites viewers to its website to learn more. With nearly two million views on YouTube, it has raised considerable awareness.
4. Mama Hope
To raise awareness about a cause, you often need to demonstrate the problem. However, that doesn’t mean awareness videos must be sad to make a point. This nonprofit video from Mama Hope uses humor to call out media-driven stereotypes of African men in a playful way.
Through its creativity, the video helps to deconstruct those stereotypes and promote the organization’s fundamental message of educational empowerment.
5. Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project
What we love about this video is its use of literary devices. It draws in viewers immediately through personification. Actors connect the viewer to the subject impacted by the cause—a subject you might not expect to relate to but find you do.
The video also uses repetition, another literary device, to make simple declarations all the more powerful. In just two minutes, the viewer develops a strong understanding of the problem that Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project addresses. The call to action? Getting the word out.
6. Rainforest Alliance
Sometimes you want to do more than create awareness—you want to inspire action. This funny and clever video from the Rainforest Alliance urges viewers to take meaningful but manageable action to help preserve our planet’s rainforests. Viewers walk away knowing what they can (very easily) do to support the cause.
7. Tomorrow’s Youth Organization
As a donor, it can be difficult to understand the impact of your financial gift. Here, Tomorrow’s Youth Organization demonstrates how video can help bridge this emotional gap.
This short video highlights one boy’s story to illustrate the life-changing effect the organization’s programs have. In this way, potential donors understand the significance of their contribution. This clarity strengthens your relationships with donors and can help them understand the impact of different levels of support.
8. Robin Hood Foundation
Nonprofit videos don’t have to be elaborate or full of special effects to work well. This well-produced and clean video from the Robin Hood Foundation is anything but flashy. What sticks out is how the foundation uses video to tell the beneficiaries’ stories.
Firsthand testimonials like this can go a long way in making your organization’s impact more tangible for supporters.
9. charity: water
Every September, charity: water launches its big fundraising campaign. This campaign video helps to orient and inspire fundraisers to get involved. Apart from the stellar production values and the personalized delivery from the charity: water founder Scott Harrison, what we love about this video is how it makes the campaign goal explicit and tangible for fundraisers.
After watching this short video, there’s no doubt why everyone is fundraising.
10. Invisible Children
Just as video can be great for launching a major fundraising campaign, it can also be the perfect way to wrap one up. This video from Invisible Children followed the massively successful “25” campaign.
Not only does the video get you excited about what the nonprofit achieved, but it also leaves you feeling energized and ready to tackle the next challenge—whatever that might be.
11. Love146
We noted above how the charity: water found Scott Harrison delivered the video personally. This video from Love146 takes a similar approach. Founder Rob Morris explains the powerful story of how the organization came to be—this is an excellent example of nonprofit video storytelling.
By combining the organization’s story with a personal delivery from one of the founders, the video makes the cause more relatable than it otherwise might be.
Video Fundraising Tips
Below, we’ve compiled a list of video fundraising tips we gathered from the video examples. Consider this your fundraising video takeaways:
Make video part of your broader fundraising strategy: Make plans to amplify your campaign with articles, webinars, social media, and email. Fundraising videos require a major investment but are just one element of your collective marketing strategy.Take advantage of fundraising tools: Make it easy for viewers to donate with simple landing pages, QR codes, and text-to-donate options.Build trust from the get-go: Don’t wait to build credibility with your outro message. Start things off with who you are and why viewers should care. Use a fundraising video script: Build and follow a video script. You might want to go off the script, and that’s fine to do occasionally but focus on creating a polished message.Replicate your successful fundraising with templates: Replicate your success and follow a similar format if a campaign does well. There’s no shame in scaling what works—just look at GEICO commercials.Mix up your video content: Consider launching thank you videos or explainer videos. Not every video campaign needs to build awareness or ask for donations. Add video to your crowdfunding campaigns: Empower your crowdfunding supporters to add a video to their donation pages and promotional efforts.Optimize your video for different social media platforms: Crop and split your primary video asset to perform well with different formats and lengths.
See How Video Fundraisers Can Transform Your Campaigns
Want a firsthand glimpse at how your nonprofit organization can get started with video marketing? Register to watch our Video Marketing 101 webinar, where you’ll learn:
What the benefits of video are for nonprofitsHow to use video in your marketing strategyWhat to include in your videos to appeal to donors and pull at their heartstringsHow to approach video production and appeals