youtube
There are a whole host of new tools available through YouTube that can help you engage your audience.
You can drive sign-ups and donations straight from your videos, find skilled video-makers through the Video Volunteers program, and even create choose-your-own-adventure style videos.
In partnership with YouTube and ReadyTalk, we've enlisted Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits and Activism Manager at YouTube, to run you through the possibilities at our (free for everybody!) 2010 NTC preview session, "Activating Your YouTube Audience". You should join us!
> You should register for this FREE workshop here.
Flicker photo: mastermaqEvery year at the NTC, we partner with See3 to bring you the DoGooder Nonprofit Video awards. You may remember "Children Need a Bailout" from 2009, or "Breathe In, Breathe Out," from 2008. We're at it again in 2010, this time with more YouTube-y goodness!
Check out today's announcement from See3:
Flicker photo: noticeljWhat's your big idea for changing the world? Is it about housing? Food distribution? Mosquito nets? Whatever your idea, you now have the chance to share the stage with leaders from around the world and make your case.
I'm in sunny San Francisco for the National Conference on Volunteering and Service this week. It's one of those events I'm delighted to speak at because volunteers are at the center of social change: It's the folks who pick up paintbrushes, organize community meetings, and meet with their elected officials who make so much good stuff happen.
The last few administrations have begun their terms by issuing calls to service, but it's never felt more real than now. Obama's call for service is being met with enthusiasm and engagement like I've never seen. I think they're doing a bang-up job of using media to drive the message home, leveraging media outlets from the TV networks to YouTube.
In fact, leveraging media is something many nonprofits need help with. The costs of video production and distribution are so low at this point, every nonprofit could become its own media channel -- if it knew how.
That's where you come in.
If you have a video camera and some know how, YouTube and the administration want you to become a Video Volunteer:
I am a child of a certain time and place, a time and place where "dude" and "awesome" were considered perfectly acceptable words. I've weaned myself of "dude" -- except in reference to The Dude, of course -- but I can't kick my "awesome" habit.
Fortunately, neither can the vlogbrothers. This week, they're launching the second Project for Awesome, in association with YouTube. Your challenge? Make a video asking your friends, colleagues, college roommates, and people on the street to support a cause you care about. The brothers will be guest-editing the YouTube homepage to feature their favorite submissions, and your video could be among them.
Last week, I had the great pleasure of speaking at the 2.0 nonprofit event in Washington DC, which was hosted by Idealist and the National Human Services Assembly. (NTEN community participant Jon Camfield has some good notes from the event.)
The fine folks at Google were big sponsors of the event, hosting us all at their DC offices on the first day for a tour of Google services and their nonprofit programs. They had lots of staff on hand throughout the program, which is how I met Ramya. She's the new Nonprofits and Activism Manager at YouTube. She'll be working in the YouTube Nonprofit Program.
You can learn more about Ramya on her channel at http://www.youtube.com/agentchange. You can also send your thoughts, opinions, ideas or examples of brilliant uses of YouTube to her at agentchange@youtube.com.
Your guide to resources that will help you put technology to work for your cause.
Get the Most Out of Your Online Campaign
> While more Americans are learning about this year's electioneering from their daily newspaper than the Internet, social media tools have gained traction. Wired recently took a look at one campaign's use of new technologies in "The Tech of Obamamania". You can get the NPTech slant on the election from Care2's Election Blog.
> Of course, most nonprofits aren't trying to win an election, but many of the fundraising and organizational principals remain the same. And while there's been a lot of buzz about the death of social networking -- be sure the check out Slate's "The Facebook Philanthropos" -- Beth Kanter assures us that the reports are overblown. We just need to think more strategically about how we're using all the new toys.
> In that spirit, you may want to take a look at the online campaigning overview on CNN -- yes, CNN! (Sometimes, sound bites are helpful.) -- before checking out two posts on the Wild Apricot blog: "7 Tips to Make Your Charity Badge a Success" and "Online Fundraising 101". Network for Good's study on "The Wired Fundraiser" is also an excellent resource.
Organize Volunteers Online
> Having trouble keeping your supporters' version of your message in line? Beth's got you covered: "My Organization's Fundraiser Was Abducted by Aliens!"
> And while you could just start your own social networking site, with your own rules, wouldn't be easier just to get the recording of Peter Deitz's excellent webinar, "Sharing the Message: How to Work Effectively with Your Organization's Wired Fundraisers". (Might this be a good use of NTEN's new webinar MultiPasses? Yes, it might.)
> Wait, what's that you say? You have to organize real, live people? Oh, boy. Fortunately, NTEN Members enjoy a discount on Mission Research's GiftWorks, which has a Volunteer Management component. The World Cares Center offers trainings for working with volunteers in disaster situations. And Coyote Communications has a good section on volunteer management, including an overview of available software options.
> If you just want to volunteer yourself, you've got a lot of options, like Network for Good, VolunteerMatch, and the unfortunately named Nabuur.com.
Rock YouTube
> So, you want to rock YouTube harder than the dueling 1984 parody ads created by rogue supporters of the Clinton and Obama campaigns? First, get your organization signed up for YouTube's nonprofit program. Then, follow Holly Ross's advice and check out Project for Awesome.
> This guy's got an oh-so-meta series on gaining YouTube subscribers. You can also dress up your video using one of the many tools available or by following some tongue-in-cheek advice from across the pond. Just take care: as NPR reports, somebody may put the "anti" in "social media" by critiquing your video.
Monique Cuvelier, Talance, Inc.
Back when everyone was saying Al Gore "invented the Internet," no one rolled their eyes more than the Brits. Back then, the very notion of Internet-based technologies was enough to send British eyes into one-eighties, never mind the marriage of politics and social media. The idea of the Queen appearing on YouTube? Patently ridiculous.
What a change a few years can bring, because there she is, on YouTube's Royal Channel, with her annual Christmas speech and video clips of Prince William flying a plane.
With the next general election looming in 2009, politicians are beginning to mirror their American counterparts in hopes of winning more votes.
Brian Reich, EchoDitto
We are only part way through the 2008 election cycle and there have already been dozens, perhaps hundreds of articles written, TV hours spent, and blog comments posted about the role that the internet and technology are playing in this election cycle. The general consensus among the pundits seems to be that this is the year that technology, particularly social media, has had a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential election contest.
Unfortunately, that consensus is wrong and those pundits don’t know what they are talking about.
