San Diego Grantmakers regularly publish a feature called San Diego Giving Stories. These profiles of local grantmakers offer a glimpse into the many ways institutional philanthropy is making a difference in the community. Even here in Virginia, separated by the width of the country, these stories are still touching and encouraging. It’s amazing how an individual’s story with its specificity and own quirks can bring the idea of philanthropy to life.
For the last year now, many have been talking about the “new normal” as we all adjust to what portends to be a new economic reality. But, if we sat down to define the new normal, it’s likely that we would all define it differently.
In The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Revolutionary Thinking for a New Age of Prosperity, Matt Miller, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a contributing editor to Fortune, suggests that just as we share language with differing meaning, we also share broad concepts that we define similarly, but that they simply are not true. They may have been true at one time, but now they are more mythic than real. Continue reading →
I’ve had video on my mind lately. A guest post at the Communications Network Blog by Helen Lowe, president of Catalytica and former head of visual communications for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called “Which Stories Are You Likely to Remember?” sealed the deal for me this morning. It’s a compelling, if not scientific, argument for using video to tell your organization’s stories.
We recently launched the Forum’s YouTube Channel with videos of presentations from Foundations on the Hill. It was our first foray into filmmaking so we kept it pretty simple. Other regionals have been working with video much longer and have developed a more sophisticated style. For example, Minnesota Council on Foundations recently had MCF diversity fellow Tawanna Black lead a conversation on encouraging diversity among positions of power within philanthropic organizations, with several other good examples on their YouTube Channel.
What I like about this video is that it shows a narrative of events. You get the feeling of what it was like to be there in person. It’s important to note that the video contains very little actual video. Most of it is photos set to music. That goes to show that you don’t need fancy video equipment to create an engaging multimedia presentation. Animoto is a service that I like for creating video slide shows from photos. There are others, such as Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker. Just look around and find what tool suits you best.
Video doesn’t always have to tell a story; sometimes video can be very practical. Take Iowa Council on Foundations‘s tutorial on how foundations can use Issuu.
Joseph Piearson does a great job explaining how the service can be used, while the video show each step. By the end, I feel pretty confident that I could use Issuu to do some cool things for my organization. You can find even more at ICoF’s YouTube Channel.
You may have noticed that all these examples come from YouTube. There are other video hosting services, but YouTube has a few distinct advantages. First, it’s the largest video distributor on the planet. If you want your video to be seen and discovered, it’s good to go where the people are. Second, YouTube offers a nonprofit program that is easy to sign up for and lifts the limits imposed on most video sharing sites (such as file size or video length). Thirdly, a nonprofit YouTube Channel allows you to insert what they call “Call to Action Overlays.” You’ve probably seen these in YouTube videos before in the form of ads. As a nonprofit YouTube user, you can add your own overlays with links to your website or information about a cause.
Other services that you might consider include Vimeo, DailyMotion, and Archive.org. [Note to KM Partners: All of these services, including YouTube, are embeddable in our shared CMS.]
Are there other regionals or regional association members using video to tell their stories? If so, how? Can you point me to any other effective examples?
If you’ve been hesitant to include video in your communications, what are the major barriers you face?
Get yourself over to SECF’s Philanthropy South blog for FOTH testimony from Helen Ishii, Director of Member and Government Relations at SECF and a six-time FOTH veteran.
San Diego Grantmakers regularly publish a feature called San Diego Giving Stories. These profiles of local grantmakers offer a glimpse into the many ways institutional philanthropy is making a difference in the community. Even here in Virginia, separated by the width of the country, these stories are still touching and encouraging. It’s amazing how an individual’s story with its specificity and own quirks can bring the idea of philanthropy to life.
Guest Post by 
In 
FORUM'S Forum 