Charity videos held back by cultural bias

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 20 Oct 2011

Charities are not yet embracing online video as a way of communicating because of cultural hang-ups about the way to use the medium, an expert has told a conference in Holland.

Michael Hoffman, chief executive of See3 Communications, said that while many charities are using online video, “I don't believe organisations have internalised this in a serious way yet."

Speaking to fundraisers at the International Fundraising Congress, Hoffman said that charities will increasingly have to incorporate video into their communications and give supporters more insight into the work that is being done.

“Your donors expect to see the work you're doing,” he said. “People are much more interested in process than we give them credit for.

“If we internalise what people expect, it's going to change the way we operate.”

But, he said the prevailing culture in many charities to use video to talk about the organisation, and viewing it as an 'extra' activity rather than part of the process, is holding many organisations back. "We don't have the cultures to do video production in a regular way," he said

Hoffman called on charities to use video content from around the web, not just produced in-house, so as to establish themselves as a filter and expert for supporters interested in their causes. “We need to also be curators of content as well as creators,” he said.

He added that blind pursuit of having an online video go “viral” was likely a waste of time. Random YouTube users should not be the target of a charity video, he said, rather charities should be talking about making “social video” which will appeal to, and be shared by, people with a potential interest in the charity.

“The internet is essentially becoming interactive TV,” he said, and charities need to start to embrace the opportunities it offers.

Follow Fundraising editor Celina Ribeiro as she tweets live from the IFC in Holland @Celina_Ribeiro_.

Who's Who: Celina Ribeiro

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