Tyler Jameson, Senior Program Director for Youth and Sports at the Rowan-Cabarrus YMCA, is one of ... [+]
For many nonprofit employees, creating a single video represents a challenge.
But for Sarah McLellan and the team at the Rowan-Cabarrus (N.C.) YMCA, 725 videos is just another day at the office.
McLellan, the organization’s Director of Development and Community Engagement, is among a growing number of nonprofit leaders around the country using personalized video to thank donors. And at this YMCA near Charlotte, the video movement has become a team effort.
“Every staff member who’s done a video campaign once is always happy to do so again. I have many of them writing notes to donors, sponsors and top prospects and they’ve found the videos to be much easier and more likely to start a dialogue with the recipient,” McLellan said via email. “I’ve been at the Y for three years ... and many of our staff have come a long way. They’re starting to see that investing a little time into this type of high-impact work ultimately helps their program, their budget and their success.”
McLellan says that personalized video has been the best way to connect with donors of all ages.
“You know when you see a commercial or interview and you just get a ‘vibe’ off the person on the screen? We want our parents to have that opportunity to hear from youth development leadership in a way that makes them confident in our staff and programs,” McLellan said.
Personalized video isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon. In 2014, Nike leveraged personalized user data to send out 100,000 videos to Nike+ members.
And in 2012, nonprofit Water is Life took a different spin on personalized messaging, building an award-winning awareness campaign about #FirstWorldProblems.
And these days, face-to-face communication on social media isn’t confined to ephemeral platforms like Snapchat or Instagram. Madalyn Sklar, founder of the world’s most popular Twitter marketing chat, #TwitterSmarter, emphasizes the value of using video to build relationships with your audience through Twitter. Her community often communicates publicly using the #VideoReplyDay hashtag.
“Personalized video is an amazing way to connect with people,” Sklar said. “You'll make a memorable and lasting impression every time you send a heartfelt video message. And the best part, it's super simple and easy to do.”
But today, nonprofits are finding success by leveraging personalized, human-to-human videos at scale.
Josh Hirsch, MS, SMS, the Director of Mission and Communication for Susan G. Komen Florida, says he, his staff and volunteer fundraisers have sent hundreds of personalized videos over the last year.
"Personalized video has allowed Susan G. Komen Florida to set itself apart from other nonprofit organizations by providing an elevated level of donor stewardship,” Hirsch said. “When was the last time your organization was thanked for sending a donor a thank you note?"
To keep their videos streamlined and organized, Hirsch and McLellan both use CauseVid – an automated video platform that allows creators to incorporate music, graphics and even donation links onto pages where the videos are hosted.
“From a technical standpoint, we just create the campaign in CauseVid (create email template, choose the landing page, pull the recipient list from our database, send a test email, and hit ‘go’), then clip recorders begin recording the videos,” McLellan said. “Most first-time recorders want me to review their video before they get too far into the queue, but the veteran volunteers and staff jump right in. It typically takes anywhere from 1-2 minutes per video to record and submit, leaving some room for the occasional mistake.”
Hirsch lauded the straightforward nature of the CauseVid interface.
"The ease of using a cloud-based platform makes it simple for non-techie individuals to create personalized donor videos," he said.
And when it comes to the broader success of the concept of personalized video, McLellan said the real key is the team-wide buy-in.
“Once we set out to use videos intentionally, it’s a matter of keeping staff committed to finishing what they started. Everybody has an overflowing plate and if this type of continuous engagement isn’t woven in to the way our staff at ALL levels are thinking, it isn’t sustainable,” McLellan said. “Most staff will tell you that it’s a lot easier, faster and more ‘fun’ than sitting down to write notes on a weekly basis. Especially when we do more focused campaigns ... it’s a win-win.”
