Thanks for joining what has turned into quite a discussion. I would encourage anyone to come and see what you have been up to. It’s a truly mind-expanding experience.

All the best,

Simon

We spent a lot of time asking givers about their needs – and the single feature of almost every piece of major research (public, private charity commissioned research, sector bodies ect) and our work lead by McCann Erickson Advertising was the overwhelming desire to a. know their money made a difference and b. to see proof if possible (without spending lots of money). (and we’ve also learnt a lot of other stuff).

So we set about trying to explore whether we could help charities meet that need. The background of many of us but by no means the majority is in media; looking round the office we have a singer, recruitment consultant, a peer, retail guru, a woman who got red bull started, a student of astronomy, my official Jewish mother and a chap who sold Dunhill goods to name a few of the ecclectic backgrounds) A year of working with charities to pilot low cost storytelling absolutely demonstrated the most valuable insight and help we could provide was in storytelling, making vivid the amazing work and passions of the charity sector for givers.

Finally we turned to a different collaboration of smart IT / net / social media brains to conjour up an online experience which not only starts to meet giver needs, but allows what you care about to be a social experience. (and for me that’s the most exciting part of the journey).

…. phew. So to date it’s been a 350-400 person collaboration and we will have to get round to taking one big photo.

In the meantime, we’d be happy to invite you to one of our regular webex briefings or if you want to come in with charities you work with we’d love to see you. Email either the normal change@seethedifference.org email or Jill Ross, who can arrange that for you at jillr@seethedifference.org.

… and of course join the facebook group and help us keep developing. (www.facebook.com/seethedifference.org)

dom

Thanks for your comment – we have all been admiring your website.

I take your point about great content shining through and tt certainly doesn’t matter about video’s being rough around the edges.

The important thing is that people recognise when they have great content, and equally that they recognise those times when they don’t.

All the best,

Simon

Story.

As a writer/director who has worked with a number of charities, I can’t stress enough – whether it’s a feature film, a 3 minute video or a 30second ad – you have to have a story. And you have to have the skills and toolset to know how to to tell a story well. For me, that is where a professional film-maker is worth their weight in gold. A good film-maker will help shape your film and deliver an engaging piece that communicates precisely the right message. And a lot of the time, it takes someone outside of the organisation to be able to tell precisely what to show and what to leave out in order to achieve those goals.

Excellent blog post.

Joe Shaw
http://www.joe-shaw.co.uk

Online content production (charity or non-charity, video or non-video) is no different. The logistics may differ – it is a saturated space, the content needs to be shorter and snappier etc. but the challenge is the same – you need to find ways of making a connection with your audience. This of course is not an exact science.

Child’s i Foundation has used video content from the outset not only to inform our audience of the work we are doing but specifically to engage our community, make them feel part of the charity and enable them to influence decisions. It is part of our promise of transparency.

When we launched a year ago our mission was to set up a babies home in Uganda for abandoned and orphaned children. Since then we have been in a constant dialogue with our supporters and donors and collaboratively our goal has evolved into establishing a ‘baby abandonment project’ (essentially a prevention as well as cure scheme). We would not have achieved this level of interest, support and engagement without the use of video content – particularly during our last fact finding trip to Uganda. Video has helped us build trust and allow our supporters (worldwide) to feel part of the project.

I love the idea behind Akvo and I think this is where is is going but there needs to be a balance of professionally made content and raw, real, unedited, footage. It is all very well having content but if as Simon rightly pointed out if there is no story or hook then no one will waste their time watching it no matter how worthy the cause.

We have done things wrong, some things right, some of our videos aren’t works of art but it isn’t about that for us. We have played around with different videos and have a few examples of professional and pointing and shooting and dumping it on a timeline and uploading!

Celebrity lead Buy a Brick Campaign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIGOh7FgtD4&feature=player_embedded

Professional shot and edited video outlining our mission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bw4MG7nXZA&feature=player_embedded

Holding a Flip camera up and giving donors an unedited stream of consciousness from our planning trip to Uganda
http://www.youtube.com/user/childsifoundation#p/u/22/Zqa0WYGdhBU

All in all I am very excited to see the launch of See The Difference. It will enable more people to tell their stories in engaging ways. Not everyone will get it right first time but that doesn’t really matter. In my opinion great content when it does happen always shines through.

Thanks

Lucy Buck
http://www.childsifoundation.org
@childsi

Every day here at See3 we live the issues you mentioned and that were mentioned in the comments. We have clients without a clue, who lack budgets, who want to talk about details instead of the emotionally engaging stuff. And we try to help them. We also know something about these platform for nonprofit media.

I was a founder of DoGooder.TV, which was the first such place for nonprofit video and launched around the time of YouTube. Today we also have CauseCast, the newcomer with some Hollywood and venture capital power behind it. We also have a zillion portals for nonprofit fundraising and the problem with all of these, I think, is that there is little traffic and even less community at these sites. So without critical mass, it’s hard to have an impact. You have to make that emotionally compelling video. But you also have to have a strategy for people to see it.

Thanks for the conversation.

Michael Hoffman
See3 Communication
@Michael_Hoffman

Interesting post, but you got to the point, for me, at the end.

A good film is about good story telling. I’ve been doing a little bit of filming with work over the past couple of weeks and it’s surprised me how 90% (or more) of the work isn’t lining up a nicely framed and in-focus shot, but working out how you’re going to tell a story (with a beginning, middle and end that makes a point and gets people to feel things).

This is such an overlooked skill and charities need to invest in this area, even if in the end they go and shoot it themselves on their phone.

If organisations don’t, then all we’re going to end up with is a Youtube for charities – 99% blurry, boring rubbish, probably with some kittens falling over.

Thanks for the reply. I’m not sure we disagree as much as you think. I’m not arguing for video’s to be ‘polished’ and ‘snappy’. I am arguing that they need to be engaging. It’s simply a fact that people’s online attention spans are pretty short these days. As far as I’m concerned you can make a brilliantly effective piece on a mobile phone – the fact that’s it’s shot in such a low-fi way may be the core of its appeal.

Can anyone make a film? Yes. Can anyone make a good film? I don’t think so.

Too many people are making video without considering what their audience want to watch. Just because you’re passionate about a subject doesn’t mean that your video will be interesting or communicate well. It isn’t easy to make compelling film. The chances of someone with no experience doing it well are infinitesimally small. If your cause is important and you want other people to care about it, my advice is to get some help. Good intentions just aren’t good enough.

I wish you and Akvo all the very best.

Simon

I particularly agree with your point about See The Difference. It seems the organisation is packed full of media and management types but fundraisers are conspicuous by their absence.

We know that the issue is going to be driving traffic – having a great website isn’t going to raise money.

And we know fundraising is not just about getting a good story out – we need to answer donor needs. And I don’t think See The Difference have the right balance yet.

Anything that brings more donors to charities should be welcomed as should anything that increases engagement, I just seem to get the feeling a naked emperor might be shuffling around somewhere.

Best of luck to them though.