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YouTube Debuts Nonprofit Program

Non Profit PR — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:39:46 +0000

Organizations Can Now Apply for a Designated Nonprofit Channel and Collect Donations Through Google Checkout for Non-Profits

San BRUNO, Calif. – September 27, 2007 – Hundreds of nonprofits currently leverage YouTube, the leader in online video, to raise awareness of their causes. Today at the Clinton Global Initiative, YouTube announced the YouTube Nonprofit Program, a way to make it even easier for people to find, watch and engage with nonprofit video content on the site.

YouTube’s 2007/2008 Clinton Global Initiative commitment enables nonprofit organizations (in the U.S. those with 501c3 tax filing status) that register for the program to receive a free nonprofit specific YouTube channel where they can upload footage of their work, public service announcements, calls to action and more. The channel will also allow them to collect donations with no processing costs using the newly launched Google Checkout for Non-Profits. YouTube’s global platform enables nonprofits to deliver their message, showcase their impact and needs, and encourage supporters to take action.

“Video, unlike any other medium, allows nonprofits to give a tangible demonstration of their efforts, connect with people and exponentially widen their reach,” said Douglas Staples, Senior Vice President, Strategic Marketing & Communications from the March of Dimes. “We are excited to be an initial participant in the program. We’ll use our YouTube channel to reach out reach out to an audience of all ages and engage them in our mission, which is to give every baby a healthy start, and we encourage other nonprofits to do the same.”

YouTube Nonprofit Program participants will receive:

• A premium channel on YouTube that serves as a nonprofit’s hub for their uploaded videos. Through the channel, people can connect with a nonprofit via messages, subscriptions, comments and more. Nonprofits will also receive enhanced channel branding features and increased upload capacity.

• Designation as a “Nonprofit” on YouTube that clearly identifies organizations as a non profit for YouTube community.

• The ability to embed a Google Checkout donation button on their channel and video watch pages, allowing people to quickly and securely make a contribution directly from YouTube. Starting today, nonprofits who offer Google Checkout for Non-Profits as a donation option — whether through YouTube or on their own sites — will receive 100 percent of donated funds, as Google has committed to processing all donations for free through at least the end of 2008.

• In the coming months, nonprofit channels will have a centralized area on YouTube, making them and their videos more easily discoverable.

“When YouTube was founded we dreamed that people would someday leverage the site to make the world a better place,” said YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. “It is an honor to have great organizations and individuals utilizing the YouTube to raise awareness of noble causes and we are thrilled to offer a program that helps them thrive and inspire change.”

At launch there will be a dozen nonprofits participating in the YouTube Nonprofit Program including:

24 Hours for Darfur • American Cancer Society • Autism Speaks • 92nd Street Y • Asia Society • Strong American Schools’ ED in ’08 • Friends of the Earth • International Rescue Committee • March of Dimes • YouthNoise • The ONE Campaign • The Clinton Global Initiative • World Vision Australia

Application Process

Nonprofits can apply for a non-profit channel type by going to www.youtube.com/nonprofits

About YouTube
Founded in February 2005, YouTube is the leading video community on the Internet and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips on www.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, blogs, and e-mail. YouTube has quickly become the leading destination on the Internet for video entertainment. YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, Inc.

About the Clinton Global Initiative
President Clinton started the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2005. A non-partisan catalyst for action, CGI brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI consists of approximately 1,000 members from all over the world who commit to create or support projects within one or more of CGI’s annual areas of focus. In 2007, the areas of focus are education, energy & climate change, global health, and poverty alleviation. and filling out a short application, which will be processed by our grants team. This page will also contain information on how to take advantage of this new channel type, as well as some tips for how to use YouTube effectively for advocacy and fundraising.

Everybody’s Talking About You — Why Your Nonprofit Needs to Listen, and Listen Hard

Non Profit PR — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:59:10 +0000

By Nancy Schwartz, GettingAttention.org

What happens when control of your nonprofit’s message (frankly, always an illusion) passes from your organization, and the traditional media, to your audiences? Well you better figure it out quick, because it’s happening right now.

Every nonprofit I know has centered its communications strategy around a brand (whether defined as such, or not), expressed through a graphic identity and a narrative one — positioning and key messages. We’ve trained our leaders and staff members to keep on message, and ensured that our print and online content does so as well.

That’s the right way to start. But it’s only a start — now more than ever.

The shift is all about decentralization. In the past, your audiences have gathered their news from you (via direct communications) and the media (your conduit). Not that message control was completely in your hands. Journalists and letters to the editor often reframe, or even dispute, your messages. But that could be addressed, as long as you tracked (and responded to) coverage.

Now these approaches are being superceded by what’s happening at the edges of increasingly ubiquitous networks. As your audiences combine powerful online tools and innovative “social networking” approaches (peer-to-peer information sharing), they create online content on your nonprofit and its programs. While the audiences for this content are still relatively small, it is likely they will become mainstream. For many 18-30 year olds, they already are.

Two Key Alternative Info Sources

Here are the two core genres of alternative news and information sites that have evolved outside of traditional media, and, in many cases are driven by a self-defined community.

Aggregators:

Sites such as Google News and Huffington Post are aggregating news produced by nonprofits and traditional media, and repackaging it by topic or point of view.
Alert services such as Google and Yahoo Alerts deliver links to online content on user-defined words and phrases, directly to users’ email boxes.I have Alerts set up on the following words and phrases:

Nancy E. Schwartz
nonprofit communications
nonprofit marketing
Getting Attention
Nancy Schwartz & Company

I use this input to shape blog and e-news content, track coverage of Nancy Schwartz & Company and Getting Attention, and see what’s going on in the world of nonprofit (and broader) marketing. And I respond (via a comment to a blog post or an email to an e-news editor) when it makes sense to share my point of view or correction.
Blog readers (I use Bloglines) that allow your audiences to easily aggregate content from a variety of sources (but mostly blogs at this point).I use Bloglines to track bloggers who write in the marketing and nonprofit marketing arena, so that I can keep up, and join the conversation with a comment when it makes sense.
Email mailing lists that enable any self-defined group of individuals to discuss your organization, and to post this conversation online. Our block (Owen Drive) has an active mailing list where neighbors talk fast and furious on everything from school board elections to the forced eviction of old-time small businesses at the local strip mall.

Participatory Communities – Think Idealist.Org, TechSoup, Nonprofit Blog Exchange…Broadband networks, wireless access and new online- publishing tools all contribute to the emergence of audience-generated news, information and opinion. Blogs and message boards are the most visible form right now, serving to connect folks with common interests and sometimes perspectives. Email and IM (instant messaging) also accelerate audience-to-audience information flow.

Picture:

A program participant blogging about the strong facilitator, or the sloppy handouts.
A frustrated online advocate complaining about the glitch in your nonprofit’s system that prevented him from easily registering his protest on your key issue of the moment.
A satisfied donor with the information she receives about your nonprofit’s new programs, and related use of recent gifts, shares that information on a community bulletin board.

What’s happened is that audiences — starting with teens through 30s — have become dissatisfied with traditional media and are becoming more active participants in the exchange of news and ideas. So the dissemination model of marketing and communications is transformed to conversation.

Why Your Nonprofit Should Care Very simply…

Your audiences are now participating in shaping the way your nonprofit is perceived via joining in blog and message board conversations, among others.
Their content may be viewed as being just as valid as yours is, and is just as easily found via online search engines and links.
As a result, your nonprofit has less control than ever before — on how the organization is perceived.
Your communications model has to change.

What You Should Do About It Lots. Scan. Listen. Participate.

Full Listing of Nonprofit News Sites

Non Profit PR — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:34:00 +0000

U.S. Nonprofit News Sites

AScribe is a service for distributing “news in the public interest.” The website includes a log of current releases and a search tool for sifting through past announcements from research institutes, universities, hospitals and other organizations plus a listing of upcoming commemorations and other observances that might be occasions for making newsworthy announcements.
– http://www.ascribe.org/

CharityChannel. A US-based subscription website with a wide variety of charity discussion forums, offers a US news service.
– http://www.charitychannel.com/charitynews/cnews-us/index.asp

Charity Navigator. Summaries of recent news and analysis of U.S. financial information about charities and nonprofits.
– http://www.charitynavigator.com

CharityWire offers subscribers to the CharityChannel website a page for posting press releases and other announcements.
– http://www.charitychannel.com/charitywire/index.asp

The Chronicle of Philanthropy. A biweekly newspaper focused on the nonprofit sector. Maintains a site with articles from current and past issues, links for nonprofits, job opportunities, conferences, grant opportunities and deadlines and other material. Many articles and some other items are only available to print subscribers, however. They also produce an email newsletter with some of this information; particularly grants, conferences and a table of contents for the print publication.
– http://www.philanthropy.com

Contributions Magazine. A print publication that posts its content online as well; especially useful on fundraising and grantseeking.
– http://www.contributionsmagazine.com/

Foundation News & Commentary. The Council on Foundations publishes a monthly maqazine and posts the articles online.
– http://www.foundationnews.org/

The Grantsmanship Center has a web site for their magazine with articles online.
– http://www.tgci.com/magazine/archives.asp

HandsNet. A nonprofit network for nonprofits in human services. The website offers summaries of news items and alerts and, in most cases, a source for further information. There is also a fee-based “news clipper” service that delivers updates by email.
– http://www.handsnet.org

Harvest Today. A service from the National Philanthropic Trust that summarizes relevant news from over 200 sources.
– http://www.harvesttoday.org

Nonprofit Newswire distributes news releases on behalf of nonprofit clients. The website includes a searchable database of past releases.
– http://www.nonprofitnewswire.com

Nonprofit Online News. A weekly online news publication by Michael Gilbert covering issues, technology and communications from a nonprofit point of view.
– http://news.gilbert.org

Nonprofit Quarterly. A magazine about the nonprofit sector published by Third Sector New England; some of the content is also available online.
– http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/

Nonprofit Times. A newspaper on nonprofit management; much of the content is also available online.
– http://www.nptimes.com

OMBWatcher. News about federal government policies and programs with a focus on nonprofit advocacy.
– http://www.ombwatch.org/article/archive/9

On Philanthropy. Several e-newsletters including insightful commentary on philanthropy, nonprofit management, and public perceptions of the field are available from Changing Our World, Inc.
– http://www.onphilanthropy.com/

Philanthropy Journal. A nonprofit news website; also offers a weekly e-mail bulletin.
– http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/

Philanthropy News Digest. The Foundation Center circulates news about foundations and significant donations, including occasional announcements of requests for proposals (RFPs).
– http://www.fdncenter.org/pnd/