Lights, camera, impact: How nonprofit video inspires action

Almost all the newest social media platforms serve content in one medium and one medium alone: video. Over the last decade, it’s become almost too easy to shoot, edit, and post a video.

There’s a reason for every piece of content your team builds, but video can set you apart for one very important reason: people gravitate toward people. And a video is one of the best ways to connect outside of being in the same room with someone.

This is reinforced by recent research by Nonprofit Source. A pretty astounding finding: “57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation.”

The real exodus from traditional media channels to digital may have begun a decade ago, but the movement isn’t over. Nonprofit Source found: “In 2015, 18-49 year-olds spent 4% less time watching TV while time on YouTube went up 74%.”

Start with a plan

With almost anything, it’s best to make a plan before jumping in. In life, it’s a lot more effective to think for 10 seconds before heading out. This might save you hours of circling back.

At the heart of an effective nonprofit video strategy is an understanding of the end goal. Are you looking to get in front of a new audience? Or are you hoping your current audience will become recurring donors?

Match the medium to the mission. A fundraising ask to a current supporter may take longer than an introduction to someone new. And a volunteer may have the time to watch an hourlong video.

But that’s only the first of many choices. Where are you going to post these videos: TikTok, YouTube, Instagram?

We can’t fully build out your nonprofit’s video strategy over the next couple hundred words, but by taking one step back and setting it up right, we think you’re going to put yourself in a stronger position when you do hit record.

Two things you’re going to want to include in your plan:

1. Expect specific results: As much as you can, tie your expectations to real numbers. Do you want 100 volunteer signups or would you be happy if 20 supporters reshared your post? Even if you don’t hit your numbers the first time, at least you knew what you were expecting, and maybe you built yourself more realistic benchmarks in the process. But you’re never going to succeed if you don’t spell out what success looks like for your organization.
2. Orchestrate your campaigns: None of us are most effective alone. And your nonprofit marketing campaigns are no different. Instead of each of them working in isolation, build new synergies. Have your email campaigns feed into your ad campaigns, which then feed into social. And think about ways that you can build momentum as the year progresses, so that GivingTuesday and year-end reach all-time highs.

Lead with people, not programs

Video is near the top in terms of nonprofit storytelling formats. And that’s because more than any other medium, you can highlight the people that make your organization tick.

Most of your blogs or emails are going to answer a question or highlight a program. And you should definitely include people in these formats too, but video content for nonprofits puts your people directly under the spotlight.

Potential donors and supporters get to see who your people are, and this gives them the opportunity to see themselves in those same places.

In any story, it’s important to create some structure. Make it clear what the problem is, show how your people are responding, and then invite people to join the community.

Some stories take 1,000 pages while others are only a few sentences. Think of video primarily as a short-story format. People don’t always have the space in their life for a 20-minute video, but if you can explain the problem, solution, and invitation in 90 seconds (or maybe even 30 seconds), you’re going to reach a lot more people with your mission.

Lower-budget, higher-impact

Just because you work at a small nonprofit doesn’t mean you need to accept small returns on your video investment.

Trust has been moving in the wrong direction over the past decade. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that even businesses were more trusted than nonprofits. That’s not good!

One of the easiest ways to start gaining some of that trust back is to start looking a little more human. And this is going to happen automatically when you shoot at a lower budget.

All your videos don’t need to be perfectly lit with perfectly acted parts (but please don’t use this as an excuse to not plan ahead!). People want to see who you truly are!

You no longer need to pay for super expensive video equipment. Almost all of us already have it right in our pocket: yes, that handy smartphone!

You’ll still need to plan carefully, gather enough natural light, or consider investing in a few small lights. And you still will want a quiet space where you aren’t going to overhear other people’s conversations. Treat it like a real movie and call out, “all quiet on set.”

But a lot of those smaller hiccups can be fixed during the editing process. Canva has great video editing tools for nonprofits, and CapCut is another budget-conscious choice. 

At the end of the day, don’t overthink video. Come up with a good plan, find a quiet, well-lit room, and start recording.

Pro tip: When you do all that hard work setting up a video shoot, make sure to record vertical and horizontal orientations so you have options when you do get to editing. 

Where do I post that?

This is a bit of a trick question. Once you’ve made a video, why not put it absolutely everywhere? And we really mean that. Below are just a few places you can start:

• Website: Maybe every video shouldn’t be up top on the homepage, but if you took the time to build great video content for your nonprofit, then make sure it goes somewhere!
• Email: There’s an email for everything, which means whatever video your nonprofit just made, you can definitely share it during your next ask or impact story or thank-you email.
• Facebook/Instagram: Spend some time on a short caption, and include closed captions so that everyone can know what’s going on.
• YouTube: Do a little SEO research and add the right keywords in the title and description for your video, and also link straight to your donation page, if that’s what you’re looking to boost!
• TikTok/Reels: This is where you can really be yourself. Let supporters into the behind-the-scenes, share some real challenges or volunteer moments, or just start filming while people are hamming it up.
• LinkedIn: Most people on LinkedIn are looking to further their career. But some companies may be open to forming strategic partnerships with your nonprofit if you were to engage them with a cool video on the platform. Think of sharing leadership or impact stories to start building those bridges.

Pro Tip: You should always lean into closed captions and accessibility when building out video. You’re going to open up your message to a whole wider audience by widening the filter.

How good is my video?

Like every digital marketing channel, video has a million metrics you can choose to zoom in on. But like any marketing campaign, some numbers are more relevant than others. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these are some of the key things to keep an eye out for:

• Views: This is usually the first thing you’ll see when you start tracking performance, and it’s certainly useful, but a view doesn’t necessarily mean it was enjoyed.
• Watch time: This is beginning to give you a sense of how people are reacting. You’re going to want everyone to watch it all the way through, but if you get somewhere between 40% and 50%, you’re trending in the right direction.
• Click-throughs: This is probably the second most important metric you can trace. When you get someone to follow through because of your video, you’re more than halfway there.
• Conversions: This is when they do what you were hoping they’d do. And although every campaign has a different goal, if your goal is to get more registrations or donations, then knowing exactly how many your campaigns influenced is the most important number related to that campaign.

Pro Tip: Turn those metrics into insights. An example could be: people who viewed the impact video gave twice as much as those who didn’t.

The point of all these numbers is to learn what worked and what didn’t. This way, next year is going to be even better.

Maybe it won’t happen like this the first time, but over time you could be making videos like this one at charity: water (ok, this one feels like a Hollywood movie, and it also broke the rule about being short).

If you’re thinking about adding video to your nonprofit’s toolbelt, we’d love to talk through strategies for nonprofit video storytelling. At Feathr, we love seeing nonprofits of every shape and size see bigger wins with their marketing efforts.

And if you’re looking for creative ways of following up with your next beautiful video — like showing ads to viewers who watched more than 50% of your YouTube video — then book a demo with us today!