Film and Video as Fundraising Tools

Films can be powerful tools for NGOs.

Whether you work for an advocacy organization or you provide a service, you should consider producing a film or video to describe what you are doing. It could be a very powerful tool to raise visibility, and possibly to raise funds.

But before hiring a director, you should answer four strategic questions:

1. What audience are you targeting?
This is the most important question to ask because the answer will determine what kind of a video or film you should produce and its format. Is it for fund raising or consciousness raising? Will the audience be supporters, prospects, legislators or the local population?

2. How will you distribute your film or video?
Handing out DVD’s to prospects is only a first step, and often not the best one. Donors, and in many cases supporters, often do not have the time or the inclination to pop a disc into their computer and give it 20, 30, 60 minutes of their undivided attention. A better strategy may be to invite people to a showing in a home, a house of worship, or at your headquarters as part of a larger event. In that case, you should produce it for a room, not a computer screen.

3. Should you produce collateral materials?
Yes, but the style depends on the answers to the first two questions. If the film is for fund raising, it will show the work you do and how the money is spent. Your printed materials should give more detailed opportunities to give. If you show your movie at an event, a poster or flyer with stills from the video will be needed to publicize it.

4. How much should you spend on the project?
It is usually the first question I hear, but I intentionally saved it for last. A high quality video can be made for a relatively small amount of money with a high definition digital camera and a computer that runs off-the-shelf video editing software. For an NGO, smaller and cheaper is usually better – the focus is on your work, not on your film making. One way to judge how much to spend is to learn what similar-sized organizations have spent on videos and asking them if they achieved their goals: was it money well spent?

Let us know your experience with film and video, and post below to let us know about any videos you think were especially good at transmitting an NGO’s message.

Becky Usry - Nov 23, 2005 10:32 am (#1 Total: 20)
Sociologist, Ph.D.


Does anyone know about hidden camera type documentaries in regards to revealing facial identities? Our idea was to hide a camera on individuals to show how they are treated in various situations, but we aren't certain whether we have to have permission to show a person's face on camera. News media show people without their permission every day. Thanks, Becky Usry

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 27, 2005 12:06 pm (#2 Total: 20)


I will check this out for you, but I need to know how you intend to use the pictures. Will they ever be used commercially?

Incidently, I think this is great research. When you complete theoproject, let us know about it so we can see your results. Are you planning on testing the different reactions to men and women, children and adults. Once when I was a water agency commissioners, I was touring dairy farms looking at potential watershed pollution. I had with me the county environmentla officer, a woman. The farmers were very creful about where they guided me, but treated her as if she were invisible and she wandered the entire farms...writing up notes for later citations. She was the one with the power!! I was there to talk about getting them state grants.

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 27, 2005 2:33 pm (#3 Total: 20)


Check out mediarights.org for info on using this film

http://www.mediarights.org/news/articles/using_grassroots_documentary_films_for_political_change.php

Karin Hillhouse - Nov 28, 2005 11:03 am (#4 Total: 20)
Ashoka - Changemakers.net

Thanks, Patrick for hosting this all-important topic.  As citizen sector organizations increasingly focus on the potential of using film and video to support their specific program goals, it's useful to think about the documentary medium beyond its "marketing" value. 

Put another way, marketing goals may be best served if one's film is informed by creative intentions rather than by fundraising ones.  In other words, aim to make a film that people want to watch for its compelling storyline and its potential to inspire and increase the viewer's understanding, empathy, engagement in effecting positive change, and so on.

The organization and its investment in film production will be rewarded to the extent that the work is able to stand on its own merits, apart from its fundraising value.  In large measure this truism holds because audience members of every stripe want to believe that they are discovering a gem, not being pitched a marketing commercial.

Ashoka's Changemakers Library has a large http://www.changemakers.net/library/fieldlink.cfm?field=Documentary documentary collection of materials aimed at engaging/changing hearts and minds situated on the social, cutting edge of things.  I'm guessing that at least some of the examples there may help in framing the particular approach, message, and content to best convey an organization's mission and work. 

A compelling demonstration of what I'm talking about is the work of the organization http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/home/ Kids with Cameras which famously produced the Oscar-winning film Born Into Brothels.  A Q&A with the film director in Washington provided the useful information that the film and the organization grew together in a chicken-and-egg way to great impact and marketing reach.

I'd love to learn about more resources through this discussion to add to that collection.

Thanks, Karin

 

 

Becky Usry - Nov 28, 2005 11:53 am (#5 Total: 20)
Sociologist, Ph.D.

Thank you! The subject is how developmental and other disabilities makes a person a non-entity. People who experience disabilities commonly experience invisibility, too! We are thinking of using a documentary to further the human rights movement among and by people with disabilities.

Best wishes, Becky Usry

chonita - Nov 28, 2005 2:05 pm (#6 Total: 20)


Hello,

I am a PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University. I am suer youwill be interested in this: Would you be so kind to distribute this?

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alphachimpstudio - Nov 29, 2005 6:45 pm (#7 Total: 20)
Alphachimp Studio Inc.


The idea of putting together a professional quality documentary and DVD can be beyond both the financial and technical means of most social entrepreneurs. The upside is that the price of professional-grade software and hardware drops, and the processing power of the average laptop increases. Most video-editing software now comes standard for PCs and Macs.

I have been working with the Pittsburgh Social Enterprise Accelerator on developing both a blog and podcasting plan that is building quite an affordable knowledge base of stories. There is rarely a more powerful tool than the human voice telling a compelling story in simple, but vivid language.

The trend in the venture capital world now requires ventures to submit an MP3 of their business plan instead of a 80+ page PowerPoint deck.

The move towards listening to podcasts on mobile devices--including the car--makes for a more intimate space between the narrator and the listener.

Free software from SoundForge (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) makes for easy recording and output to MP3.

Check out IT Conversations (http://www.itconversations.org) which is a community-driven and produced by an all-volunteer group of 40+ engineers and editors around the globe.

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 30, 2005 10:05 am (#8 Total: 20)


check out microcinema international < www.microcinema.com > . They have a huge library of independent films and they are a wonderful distributor for films like these. The founder, Joel Bachar, is self-taught, has been been through the the trials of non profits and independent film makers, and a very innovative resource for independent film makers and advocacy film makers.

Also, check out undergroundfilm http://undergroundfilm.org at UC Berkeley. Run by Alex Cohen, formerly an executive with Dreamworks, UF makes films by independent available on the web for all to see.

Finally, check out <www.bravenewfilms.org> Robert Greewald's site for distributing his films "Outfoxed" and "The High Cost of Low Prices". He has put together a good model for blending film and social activism at low cost with him impact.

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 30, 2005 10:09 am (#9 Total: 20)


The emergence of the ipod as a platform and itunes as a channel is indeed revolutionizing communication. I now listen to most of my editorials from the NYT and WP and other papers on podcasts. I am pleased to hear about mp3 submissions...it is a very efficient way to do things. What excites me about podcasting is that it is a highly democratic media...low barriers to entry. One thought however, is language. Will podcasting follow other media forms in creating a general English world and many worlds of local languages. Actually, in terms of preserving local languages, that could be a very good thing.

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 30, 2005 10:13 am (#10 Total: 20)


Karen, do get in touch with microcinema interntional..joel's email is joel@microcinema.com. They are a supplier to netflix, among others, and I can see some of your library being popular with many people in the IGO world...and you can make a little money.

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 30, 2005 10:15 am (#11 Total: 20)


Becky, you might also contact micromedia. I suspect that there is an excellent market for your film. Joel also supplies chools, universities, and will provide shipping, etc. servicesif you generate a market among organizations.

Patrick O'Heffernan - Nov 30, 2005 10:21 am (#12 Total: 20)


I recently met a film entrpreneur who is developing a plan and technology to make short dramatic series available on the web in a format that is translated on the fly into the language of the viewer. He thinks he can achieve the kind of impact and audiences that telenovelas have achieved on television, only he can do it on the web with cliff-hanger series that relate to people's lives. He can avoid the tedious rights clearance process of television, and keep ad revenues without sharing them with local stations or sat networks. He feels there are stories that cross all cultures (which the telenovelas have proven there are). And he thinks advertisers wil flock to an online global marketplace and place short ads before the stories. Any comments on the idea?

Karin Hillhouse - Nov 30, 2005 1:00 pm (#13 Total: 20)
Ashoka - Changemakers.net


Thanks for the lead to this great site:

http://www.itconversations.com

tutormentor - Nov 30, 2005 5:02 pm (#14 Total: 20)
Cabrini Connections Tutor/Mentor Connection

In 1988 during a holiday party I was telling a volunteer that I'd like to write a book, using all of the raw material I had collected from 13 previous years of leading a tutor/mentor program. She said, "why not a documentary?".  I immediately added up the potential costs and launched my objections. She said, "I can put this together at no cost to you. I'll give you a plan next week."  Ten months later the 30 minute documentary titled Cabrini Green: What you Don't See, that aired on WTTW TV in Chicago. The project cost was about $30,000, but she raised this all via in-kind donations from friends in the industry.

This week in http://msg.uc.iupui.edu/TMC/html/index.php I'm hosting an econference and one of the discussion leaders is an assistant professor from William Patterson University in New Jersey. She built a web site for a non profit in Central America and the web site is used to raise funds for the charity. So far it has raised over $12,000.

Both of these represent ways third party volunteers have offered their time/talent to create a video and a web site for a charity.

If we can collect enough of these examples they become an Idea Library for people at colleges and in businesses who are looking for a project, but don't have an idea of what to do.  If we can also create a database of agencies who need such support, we could link those who can help with those who need help.

That's what I'm trying to do to support the growth of volunteer based tutor/mentor programs.  The challenge is reaching into the colleges and other places where people might be inspired to use their talent to help charities.

Social Edge represents a meeting place, but the number of people who come here looking to volunteer time (or donate dollars) to help a charity is too small.  I've searched the Internet for forums that might be better meeting places, but so far, have not found any. Thus, we're trying to make our own portal more of a meeting place for people who want to help.

A few years ago when George Lucas was filming the second wave of Star Wars movies I sent an email to his office saying, "Luke Skywalker had a mentor. Why cannot every other kid in America?"  My goal was that he put a trailer at the end of his movies to make such a suggestion.  It did not happen, but if it had, think of the result.

New movies are being created every day.  What can people who visit this discussion do to motivate movie makers to create trailers, or incorporate content, that motivates the audience to volunteer talent to help charities?

Dan Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com

Patrick O'Heffernan - Dec 1, 2005 11:02 am (#15 Total: 20)


microcinema international and underground films, emntioned aabove, are a great resource. Also check out the environmental media fund at www.environmentalmediafund.org if you are interestedin environmental films

Village - Dec 1, 2005 1:28 pm (#16 Total: 20)
Village Enterprise Fund

Very interesting discussion! I think the messages really show the array of possibilities -- from the more traditional film to digital video to podcasting, etc.  A quick and dirty way to test the waters is to shoot a video clip that can simply be played in Windows Media Player for a small audience or a few prospects.  We have an intern in Tanzania who has shot a piece like that for us, which combines video and audio with village music.  It's quick, thoughtful and very effective.

Barbara Lamb Hall

Village Enterprise Fund

Jeanluc - Dec 3, 2005 12:14 pm (#17 Total: 20)

Patrick O'Heffernan - Dec 5, 2005 10:05 am (#18 Total: 20)


I am amazed at the variety of activist films. See www.bravenewfilms.org for a very good example of how to distribute. I posted a powerpoint on alternative distribution for activist films on the Better Media section of www.omidyar.net. If there is interest, I can post it here

Paul O'Hara - Dec 6, 2005 10:41 am (#19 Total: 20)

Ola from Dublin, Ireland.  Speaking of films as powerful tools for NGO's ... is The New Heroes documentary available for airing in other countries?   If so, who can be contacted?

Any help appreciated :)

Patrick O'Heffernan - Dec 7, 2005 10:19 am (#20 Total: 20)


I don't know if the films are available outside the US, but I will ask. In the meantime, good to hear from Ireland. I was there last summer and will be going next summer and my duaghter is determined to study theater at Trinity. I guess you can tell from my name where my family is from.