YouTube has opened up live streaming to charities using its package for non-profit organisations.

Organisations in the US, UK, Australia and Canada can sign up to the scheme. The American Foundation on Equal Rights launched the new feature last weekend with a live play called '8', which illustrates the issues surrounding the Proposition 8 trial about same-sex marriage.

To create a live event users need to select the ‘LiveStreaming’ option from the ‘QuickLinks to Partner and Ad Programs’ menu. YouTube expects that charities will be able to use the feature to, “engage live audiences in charity concerts, conferences, and other special events to raise awareness about their causes and drive donations in real-time”.

YouTube for Nonprofits is part of the Google for Nonprofits package. It enables charitable organisations registered with the Charity Commission, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator or the Inland Revenue to get premium branding and increased uploading capacity, a listing on a dedicated non-profit videos page and the ability to add a call-to-action overlay on videos.

UK charities who have already embraced the YouTube programme include WaterAid and Beatbullying. At the time of going to press Youtube was unable to confirm how many UK charities were using the programme.

Last year a live video streaming website for fundraisers, Save Patches, launched with 11 charities on board. So far there are 16 registered on the website and when civilsociety.co.uk looked this morning there were no videos listed to be streamed.