What Makes a Successful Fundraising Video?

Nowadays, it seems that every nonprofit wants to tell their story online through video. A powerful video can forge a strong, long-lasting relationship between you and your supporters. Consequently, you can hold your target audience in thrall within three minutes or less.

Yet what purpose does a fundraising video actually serve? Is it merely all about raising awareness or engaging your target audience?

Once you put your fundraising video out there, be prepared for the consequences. In any case, see to it that the video is designed to deliver the results you want so all the time, money, and effort that went into its making are well justified.

A fun, informative video can certainly raise awareness, maybe even attract donations. However, when it comes to fundraising, raising awareness should only be a distant second to showing that you care. Showing that you deeply care and are committed to your cause provokes generosity on a large scale. If your nonprofit does work that matters—e.g. improving people’s lives and making a positive mark on society—then you’ll have no trouble creating a video with compelling, emotionally charged content.

Your video has the power to move people to give, so give them a reason to do so. Show your donors that their contribution is necessary. Once you’re able to do that, your video will have helped you achieved your nonprofit’s ultimate goal: to bring money into the organization.

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eBay's team got to work building a fundraising program that could unleash the widespread generosity of its broad online community.