Google Trends: getting a handle on topical conversations.

Post by Daniela McVicker

Content creation is a critical part of getting exposure and spreading awareness for your nonprofit’s message. While content creation may sound challenging with a limited staff and resources, it can pay off in a big way if you use the right tools.

Below we outline seven tools and resources you can use for free or minimal cost as part of your organization’s content creation strategy.

Google Trends

1Let’s start with the basics. Google Trends is a tool that helps us find the inspiration we need for writing appealing and interesting content.

Our target audience will want to read about topics they’re interested in. This means we need to do some research to see what are the trending and most searched topics or keywords — and how it may tie to your nonprofit’s mission.

Google Trends is a tool that can help us do just that. You can:

• search for a term or topic
• analyze the interest for that term by region and period of time
• find out which subregions are interested in the term the most
• get the data necessary for choosing the perfect topic

This tool will make the brainstorming phase more guided and results-oriented. It helps you arrive at a decision about which topics to focus on and backs it up with evidence and data.

BuzzSumo

2Similar to Google Trends, BuzzSumo is another tool that can help us understand which topics are trending online. It can also help learn what people are searching for the most.

The tool allows us to:

• explore ideas and get inspired
• track the current situation within our cause or niche
• find influencers and see what they’re doing
• analyze popular articles and posts to get insight

The tool does all the analysis and all that’s left is to draw conclusions and apply them to your content. It’s a valuable tool that provides the right data for your content or marketing team to draw from.

Canva

3When we search the Web, we look for interesting blog posts or social media posts to read. So your content team will want to make sure your posts are accompanied by an appealing visual.

A visually arresting image can make potential readers stop scrolling and pay attention. This is why it’s highly important that you make your content rich in visuals.

The No. 1 tool people from around the globe enjoy using is Canva, a free graphic design tool.

Canva makes it easy to:

• create stunning social media posts
• create attention-grabbing infographics
• make your content visually rich
• add brand identity to your content

The tool is easy to use. It has endless options and features that are simple to master. So it’s a worthy addition to help with executing your content creation strategy.

Grammarly

4If we want people to take us seriously, we need to act like true professionals. That means that the quality of our written content needs to be a top priority.

A tool that analyzes and helps you polish your sentences, Grammarly should be a part of your team’s content workflow.

Here’s what Grammarly does:

• corrects spelling mistakes
• corrects grammar mistakes
• suggest sentence structure corrections
• suggest synonyms
• gives an analysis of the written content

Every nonprofit needs content that is impeccable and highly professional. All we have to do is upload the Word document to Grammarly. Then, we correct the mistakes and download the improved version. While the basic version is free, Grammarly Premium costs $19.98 to $29.95 per month.

You have other options as well, such as the online service Top Writers Review, which can provide professional help for more demanding tasks.

Hemingway

5Another brilliant tool you might consider to make your content more readable and suitable for your target audience is the Hemingway app.

The app lets the users paste the text and then analyzes the following features:

• readability
• number of adverbs
• passive voice usage
• complicated phrases
• sentence structure
• sentences that are hard to read

The tool suggests changes to beef up content to make it leaner, to the point and digestible.

Pixabay

6When we think about content rich in visuals and appealing to the eye, we can’t imagine it without beautiful images. Not every nonprofit can afford to hire a professional photographer who can create images specifically for its needs.

Luckily, there are royalty-free images you can use, and Pixabay offers a wide range of these photos.

All you have to do is:

• visit Pixabay
• type the term you’re looking for
• choose an image you find most suitable to accompany your content

A wide range of royalty-free images is available for you to snag, download and use in your content.

SE Ranking

7SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the key elements of any content creation strategy. When writing articles or blog posts, you’ll want the content to rank high in Google searches. This will bring more organic traffic and expand the number of people who’ll see your post.

That means that we have to pay attention to SEO and how to improve our content to make it perform better.

SE Ranking is a tool that can help improve your SEO efforts and make the content more SEO friendly. Here’s what it does:

• analyzes keywords
• provides insight into search volume and popularity
• suggests other similar keywords
• shows popular keyword ads

By using this tool, you’re gaining valuable insights into the terms that help you gain more visibility for your content.

How about you? What strategies have you used to streamline your content production process?

The post 7 tools to make content creation for your nonprofit easier appeared first on Socialbrite.

You already know that Facebook Live lets any nonprofit live-stream fundraising events, breaking news, impact stories, and more, directly from their Facebook Page.

But did you know that Facebook lets nonprofits add a donate button to their Facebook Live broadcast?

How to Use Facebook Live to Raise Money

If your nonprofit is based in the US, and your Facebook Page is verified, you can fundraise within a Facebook Live broadcast.

For example, in this screenshot from Facebook, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals adds the donate button feature to their Live broadcast.

Two things to remember about fundraising with Facebook Live:

1. Your Page needs to be verified. This feature is still gradually rolling out on iOS to admins of verified Pages in the US.
2. Your nonprofit must be approved to accept Facebook payments. You can apply here.

To add the donate button, click on more options at the bottom of the screen (“…”). Next, select your nonprofit from the options (as shown above).

Viewers can donate to your cause during the live broadcast, and supporters who missed the live broadcast can always donate from the broadcast recording.

But is just having a donate button enough? Of course not! Fundraising is about building trust, sharing stories of impact, and growing a community of supporters.

Here are a few pointers as you fold Facebook Live into your fundraising plans.

Use Facebook Live to tell donors about the impact THEY made

More often than not, donors hear about impact second-hand (through your newsletter, website, etc). Rarely do they get to witness, first-hand, the impact of their support.

Facebook Live is a super effective way to bring the impact to your supporters.

For example, Best Friends Animal Society introduces their cutest residents to supporters from all over the world. Without Facebook live (and other live broadcasting tools), supporters would have to travel all the way to Utah to witness, first-hand, BFAS’s impact.

Make donors the heroes

If you want your donors to give over and over again, you need to tell them the truth: that for your nonprofit, they are the true heroes.

Feature donor stories in your broadcast. Tell your viewers the impact that one donor made. Recognize and praise this donor sincerely. Viewers will no doubt want the same praise and recognition.

For example, Stand Up To Cancer broadcasted news about a high school raised money during a “Sports Day For Charity”.

Don’t ask people to “Donate”

This one sounds a bit unintuitive, but let’s face it, asking people to donate money to your nonprofit is a buzzkill.

The reason why is that the word “donate” doesn’t place the donor in the role of the hero.

Instead, ask viewers to make an impact that’s meaningful. For example, ask them to “Give clean water”, “Feed hungry children”, “Stop human trafficking, etc. Each of these asks is associated with a problem that donors ultimately want to solve.

Tell donors when you’re going live

Facebook live isn’t that exciting if no one shows up. Make sure your core supporters show up when you go live.

• Post an update on your page the week before and the day before
• Send an email to your email list
• Share your broadcast date / time in your email newsletter
• Tweet about it immediately before you go live
• Facebook Live Tip #6: Make an outline for your broadcast

Call out commenters by name

The cool thing about Facebook live is that you can see comments as they’re posted real time during your broadcast. Engaging commenters real-time increases engagement even further, creating massive reach for your broadcast.

• Call out commenters by name
• Read their comment
• Reply to their comment
• Say thank you

Ask for action

As your broadcast reaches more users, your viewer count will increase. This is your captured audience. Seize the moment to ask for action!

• Ask participants to follow
• Ask supporters to support an issue
• Ask supporters to sign a petition

Share the recording with your supporters

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into your first Facebook a live broadcast. Congratulations! Make sure this investment goes further by sharing it with your supporters.

• Send a follow-up email to subscribers
• Link to your recent broadcast in your newsletter
• Reshare the broadcast on other social channels
• Embed the broadcast in a blog post

Remember, if you have added the donate button to your broadcast, it will exist in the broadcast recording. As you continue to broadcast stories of impact, you’ll accumulate a whole series of fundraising videos on your Facebook Page.

Repurpose the recording

When you finish a live broadcast, save it to your mobile device. Then open the file in your favorite video editing software and create several videos to be used on other social networks.

Select key moments that are less than 60 seconds but still convey a powerful story. These short videos can be used on Instagram (which requires videos to be less than 1 minute), YouTube, Facebook, etc.

Get inspired by these creative ideas for Facebook Live

If you’re not sure what topics or events you should broadcast, check out this list of 35 Facebook Live ideas for museums, animal shelters, youth organizations, and more.

The post How to use Facebook Live to raise money for your nonprofit appeared first on Socialbrite.

Live streaming has been thrust into the limelight recently with the release of Periscope — a free mobile app that allows any user to live stream from wherever they are. The whole concept of Periscope is to virtually place you somewhere in the world you would never be if it weren’t for the app.

Even as a nonprofit techie, I tend to look at new apps and platforms with a bit of skepticism because I don’t always think nonprofits should jump on the bandwagon of the next new shiny app that promises a lot and underperforms. That said, I do feel it’s important to keep updated on new tools, make an educated decision on whether it’s right for your nonprofit, and have a strong reason either way as to why or why not your nonprofit is using that social tool. I’ve noticed that having a well prepared answer at the ready is especially handy at board meetings when conversations start to drift to why your npo isn’t leveraging a certain social platform.

So when Periscope came along, I did what I normally do — I downloaded it to my smart phone and started playing with the app and paying attention to how others were maximizing its potential. I quickly realized Periscope could be a powerful broadcasting tool for nonprofits.

But how do you know if it’s right for your nonprofit and if it is, how do use it effectively?

THE GOOD (and what you need to know to get started):

• Periscope is a free downloadable mobile app that works with either iPhone or Android
• It’s Twitter owned, so you can sign up using your existing Twitter account and have instant access to all of your Twitter followers.
• You can share live broadcasts with your Twitter/Periscope following and the app sends a notification to your followers that you’re streaming live.
• There’s a very small learning curve on this app. I found it very simple to set up my account and start streaming.
• When you’re watching a live stream, tap on the screen to give the broadcaster hearts. On Periscope, hearts act as applause or ‘likes’ to show the broadcaster you like what you’re seeing. Visually, the hearts float up the right-hand side of your screen when you’re streaming. Hearts also measure popularity on Periscope.
• There is a chat function that lets you interact with your audience, and them with you. In shoty, viewers can comment on your livestream. It’s really great for Q and A’s and commentary in real time. You also have the ability to turn comments off.
• Once your broadcast is over, your analytics come on the screen and show you number of views, retention rate, duration of video, and number of hearts received. So great for data-driven organizations!
• When you end your broadcast, you can save the video to your camera roll and share it or watch it later.
• The lock button allows you to live stream a video for only certain people to watch. If you want to live stream an event for only your team or small supporter group to see, you can choose which people will be able to see your broadcast.

THE BAD:

• It just launched in March 2015, so it is still a little buggy.
• Your livestream is only available for 24 hours before it disappears on Periscope, so make sure to download it if it’s a video you want to keep.
• Periscope shoots only in vertical mode, not landscape, which has now become intuitive for anyone shooting any type of video on their smart phones. Lets hope that changes soon.
• Periscope needs better immediate control over trolls, spammers, and innapropriate comments during a live broadcast. As it is now, you have go to the user’s profile and then press the block button. This is too complicated when you’re in the process of broadcasting live. If Periscope doesn’t find a better remedy for this soon, it is going to be a dealbreaker for many, many nonprofit users.
• It forces you to begin your broadcast with only the option to shoot outward facing. So, if you’d like to begin your broadcast by speaking directly to camera, you can’t. You have to start outward facing, then double tap the screen to switch it inward facing. We should have the option to start a broadcast using whichever view we prefer.
• The ability to comment is limited to the first 200 people viewing the broadcast. Viewers can tap hearts but not comment if they are late to the broadcast and the livestream has over 200 viewers.

5 WAYS NONPROFITS CAN MAXIMIZE PERISCOPE

1) Live streaming from “the field”

If the connectivity is there, we just opened up a great way for communications and program officers to broadcast field visits abroad and beneficiary interviews (when appropriate). The same goes for local nonprofits who really have the capacity to live stream important “mission moments” that might otherwise go unshared.

2) Q and A’s

Periscope offers a great new way to connect with your supporters by having the ability to conduct livestream Q and A’s with your program participants, executive director, program director, celebrity ambassadors, and others. The chat function allows Periscope users to ask questions or post commentary as you’re live streaming, so it’s exceptionally interactive and fast. Think about Periscoping in a series, like doing a series of fun ‘Meet the Staff’  Q & A’s, or designating a portion of your weekly staff meeting to a Periscope Program Update and short Q and A afterwards. That’s a great way to let your supporters know ahead of time what you’ll be doing and what to expect.

3) Events Broadcasting

Periscope is a great way to let your supporters in on events that they’re interested in but can’t attend. That $500/plate gala dinner can now be accessible via Periscope. How great would it be to have a staff correspondent at your next gala, benefit, fundraiser or conference that’s in charge of showing viewers around and chatting with honorees and guests? It’s a fantastic way to share these exclusive events with your community.

Attending a rally, friendraiser, or other on site event for your nonprofit – bring your supporters along with a live stream on Periscope.

Another way to break the fourth wall, is to do an office tour led by your staff and interns. Showing the inner workings of your organization and the people behind the status updates has been shown to increase engagement and trust for nonprofits.

4) Crowdsourcing

If you’re looking to get some quick feedback on a new project, logo, initiative or maybe just some input on what your supporters like and would like to see more of, Periscope is a great tool to survey a clearly social media savvy focus group.

5) Announcements

Have an announcement to make? Did you just receive a big grant from USAID or added an awesome new hire to your team? Expanding your work to a new country? Added a new program? Did you host a contest and want to announce the winner? You can use Periscope to go live with your big news and involve your community in the excitement.

Nonprofit Best Practices for using Periscope:

• Be prepared BEFORE you click the “Start Broadcast” button. Given it’s an amateur live broadcast you do get some leeway, but try to be as steady with the shots and as well-prepared as possible. You don’t have to script the broadcast but remember that you’re telling a story. So what is the story you want to tell? Why have you asked people to come and watch this broadcast? What value does it have? What’s in it for them? Make sure you can answer these questions. Also, provide some guidance to your viewers as to what type of questions or feedback you’re looking for. Viewers may be hesitant to use the comments on Periscope, so make it ok by prompting them. Any good story has a beginning, middle and end to it, so it’s a really good idea to create a bullet list of what you want to happen during each stage of the broadcast, to ensure everyone on your team is on the same page. Above all, remember, all good media production rules still apply.
• Title your live stream broadcast well. Tell us what it’s about in a concise way.
• Be wise about using your hashtags to promote your live stream. Hashtaging allows people to find your stream via Twitter when searching that topic.
• To reach as wide an audience as possible, share the broadcast and location on Twitter. You’ll be able to reach far more viewers, and having the video present on Twitter gives it a much longer shelf life.
• Use the top third of your mobile screen, as  the comment function will block the view of the lower part of your broadcast.

Final Thoughts:

I think Periscope is one of the latest platforms to come along that has the greatest potential for nonprofits. Live streaming can take engagement to a whole new level and if the bandwidth is there, give nonprofits and global NGO’s the ability to share the on-the-ground work that is being done. Perisope has the potential of upping the levels of engagement, transparency and trust. From another perspective, I wonder how many nonprofits will be comfortable with the risk inherent in livestreaming? While we’re seeing so many nonprofits using social media wisely and experimenting, most nonprofits still want to have tight control and management over any content they produce. As we have seen in the past, nonprofit teams that are more comfortable with risk and social sharing will help pave the way for other organizations who will wait until the app is less new and seemingly less risky. Ultimately, lack of complete content control and the inability to quickly seed out inappropriate comments, will present the biggest barriers for a nonprofit’s use of Periscope.

Lastly, from a citizen reporting and journalism perspective, Periscope is and will continue to be a real game changer. I believe we’ll be seeing much more ‘Periscoping’ in parts of the world seeing political and social unrest — giving us unprecedented access into areas otherwise unseen by most.

I will be featuring nonprofits and NGOs using Periscope on this blog, so please let me know in the comments below of any npos you know that are using Periscope to engage their supporters.

*Blog post updated on 7/5/15.

The post Periscope for Nonprofits: A Quick Guide & Review appeared first on Socialbrite.

5 things to keep in mind to build deeper relationships

Guest post by Michael Hoffman
CEO, See 3 Communications

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, educators, Web publishers, general public.

Understanding what you need to do with video on mobile devices starts with a basic understanding of the principles of mobile marketing. Because mobile devices have a small screen and often more limited download speed and bandwidth restrictions, you are better off delivering a more focused and simplified experience in your mobile content.

Following are some things to consider when integrating mobile into your video and content strategy.

What it’s like to watch video on a smartphone

1The good news for nonprofit leaders is that technology companies have done most of the work in making video work for smartphones. Playing a video from YouTube, Facebook, or many other websites on a mobile device is often seamless. Pressing “play” triggers the built-in video app, which then fills the screen and plays the video.

If you embed videos on your website from YouTube or Vimeo, or even private label services such as Brightcove and Kaltura, your technical needs are, for the most part, solved for you.

But having something “play” for you does not necessarily mean it will do what you need it to do. While there are people who watch TV shows and football games on their iPhones, most of the video watching on smartphones from nonprofit organizations will be bite sized. Your 7-minute dinner video is not a great candidate for smartphone consumption.

In addition, if you have a substantial amount of video content being consumed on a smartphone — which you should be able to tell from your website analytics — you should consider the following:

• Screen size – The screen size of the phone is smaller than a computer and much smaller than a TV. Video ideal for a phone will often use more medium and close shots so the details are visible on the small screen.
• Sound – Smartphone users are often listing to the video in a public place and often without a headset. Having a video that works even if you don’t catch every single word is more likely to impact the smart hone viewer and is a good idea in general because we live in a world of constant distraction.

Don’t forget everyone else

2While smartphone adoption is increasing rapidly, there are plenty of people – your constituents included – who do not yet have smartphones or data packages. Many teens and low-income families, for example, cannot afford the smartphone plan, no matter how much they really want one.

The guaranteed way to reach people on their phone is through text messaging. But what does that have to do with video?

When several New York-area Planned Parenthood Federations wanted to reach youth at risk, they knew that both video and texting were key to that audience. We worked with them to develop a program that used short online video stories to encourage text-based opt-in from the youth.

The videos ended a short story before the dénouement, and in order to find out what happened, you had to text in.

Youth video + texting campaign – Planned Parenthood of New York

In this case, engaging video was key to the execution of a mobile strategy.

A pathway for user-generated content

3When we discuss video and mobile, we are often focused only on consumption. But we can’t forget that the iPhone in your pocket is also a top-notch video camera – far better in many ways than the camcorders of yore.

One look at the aftermarket for camera add-ons for smartphones shows how serious these little devices are today. Tripods and steadycams, external mics, professional lenses — you can pretty much get anything you need to turn your pocket camera into a professional tool. And there are an increasing number of apps for video editing that make the phone a complete video system.

Even for the casual user, these phones turn consumers of content into producers of content. This mixing of roles is a central quality of the Internet era. Tapping into the creative talents and inspiration of your constituents is part of being a successful “networked nonprofit” that Beth Kanter and others write about.

Imagine knowing that many of your most active and motivated donors and advocates are walking around with a high quality video camera – all the time! How are you tapping into this potential to tell the stories of your constituent heroes?

The growth of mobile video services

4Smartphones allow users to take video and easily share the video through the services connected to their phone. For example, after taking a video on an Android phone, the share button allows for a one-touch upload to Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Picasa, text messages, email, Twitter, Flickr – nearly any service to which the user is connected.

There are an increasing number of smartphone apps that make taking and sharing video even easier. For example, consider Vine, a service that allows for a maximum of 6-second videos to be uploaded. These (very!) short videos loop and allow for Twitter users to capture and tweet snippets of their lives.

Tout is a video service that allows for the recording and sharing of 15-second videos. It is trying to be a “Twitter for video,” and media companies and brands are using the service to get their constituents to go that extra level of engagement.

My company, See3, is also launching a service for the nonprofit community called Propeller. Like these other services, Propeller will allow for users to upload short videos, in this case a relatively lengthy 21 seconds.

Beware the shiny objects

5There is, rightfully, a focus on mobile communications as more and more people use their phones to access everything from email to video. At the same time, we do not help our causes if we focus more on the technology than the relationships to our constituents.

We live in an attention economy, where time and attention is in the shortest supply. We need to focus not only on the solicitation of funds and actions from our constituents, but in building deeper and longer lasting relationships. Mobile video is a perfect platform to steward a relationship with a constituent over time, to deliver bit-sized and snack-sized video content that lets your donors and activists know that their efforts are paying off.

At the same time, we can use these devices as a tool to activate our constituents to work on behalf of the cause. By creating personal videos about their connection and passion for the work, they will feel more invested in the outcomes and become a recruiting center for their own social networks.

Photo of shiny object by PurpleLorikeet (Creative Commons)

Related

• Video & storytelling tutorials (Socialbrite)

• Mobile articles & tutorials (Socialbrite)

The post Adding mobile to your video & content mix appeared first on Socialbrite.

Guest post by Annie Lynsen
SmallAct

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, digital marketers, educators, Web publishers, Instagram users.

Since Instagram launched its new video service in late June, users have shared tens of millions of videos on the network.

Lots of nonprofits are rocking Instagram, and several of them have started experimenting with the new, 15-second video feature to tell their stories in a new way. 

Check out five good Instagram examples from nonprofits below. (Clicking each screenshot will take you to the video; Instagram doesn’t support embedded videos.)

1The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art posted a sneak preview of an exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. This is a great way to get people excited about up-and-coming programs!

2charity:water posted a glimpse into the lives of people who just got water taps at home. Connecting your donors to those whose lives they’ve changed is a fantastic use of video.

3UNICEF USA does a sneaky teaser for their upcoming Trick-or-Treat campaign. This kind of video, though simple, helps build excitement for the organization’s forthcoming efforts and helps donors and members feel involved.

4National Geographic uses Instagram Video to create a stop-motion animation piece showing how one of their photographers packs his camera bag. Showing a tiny slice of the work you do is a great idea – in this case, photography buffs (particularly those on Instagram) will be interested to see all the equipment a National Geographic photographer carries around.

5Heal the Bay posted a short video showing the surf at Venice Beach Pier, to get people excited and remind them of their mission to create safe, healthy, clean beaches everyone can enjoy.

Have you seen any great examples of nonprofits rocking Instagram video? Post them in the comments!

The post 5 nonprofits using Instagram video appeared first on Socialbrite.

Should your organization incorporate audio into your digital communications toolkit?

Guest post by Will Coley
Producer-Founder, Aquifer Media

If nonprofits want to learn how to create content that both engages audiences and creates devoted supporters, we need look no further than the gold standard offered each day by public radio. Think about it: Radio producers can create stories that keep us in the car for “driveway moments” even when we’ve reached home, just so we can hear the ending.

Public radio has created legions of devotees who give money for something they can already get for free. At the same time, we’re in the middle of a renaissance of digital audio online and via mobile technology.

To take advantage of this exciting and pivotal moment, nonprofits should consider adding audio storytelling to your digital communications toolkit. Here’s why.

Listening (or why audio is special)

Listen to this 3 1/2 minute clip from WNYC and think about what you can see in your mind’s eye.

Can’t you almost see what reporter Marianne McCune is experiencing? Radio requires listeners to use their imagination, bringing us emotionally closer to the story. Add to this that audio is often more intimate than other media. We often listen alone or on headphones, putting these voices directly inside our skulls. Audio is also better suited to our busy multitasking lives: I can listen at the gym, while washing dishes or checking email.

Another thing to consider about the WNYC story above: I doubt that Margaret Maynard would have let the reporter into her apartment with a video camera (she was in her house dress after all). A microphone is far less intimidating and in some ways offers a level of confidentiality. Without a camera in the way, it’s far easier for the interviewer to maintain eye contact with the person being interviewed. Because of this, I think people open up in different ways and get to the heart of the story even more quickly.

Storytelling

Listen to this one-minute “sonic i.d.” from Atlantic Public Media on Cape Cod.

Even in these 60 seconds, there is an anecdote that reveals the mechanics of effective storytelling.

Our brains are hard-wired for stories: We can’t stop ourselves from listening or watching a compelling story. But what is a good story?

Ira Glass says that the structure of every story on “This American Life” is a “series of actions where someone says ‘This happened, then this happened then this happened’ and then there’s a moment of reflection about what that sequence means and then onto the next sequence of actions.” This “moment of reflection” also interests Harvard professor Marshal Ganz because it reveals shared values that knit us together. Because of this, he argues the personal stories of individuals responding to challenges (“Story of Self”) is the bedrock of effective community organizing.

Character is most important to independent radio producer Samantha Broun, who has worked on multimedia projects with nonprofits. “I have found that the most powerful testimonial I can provide for nonprofits is a story of someone (a character) whose life has been effected by that organization. No talking heads. No scripted bits. But real, raw, emotional tape from a person whose life has been changed.”

To tell the story of your organization’s work, look for the individual experiences of a program participant or a supporter that illustrate the values you’re working for. At the same time, respect their ownership of stories and think of “facilitating” others in telling their stories directly to a larger audience online.

Producing

Listen to this story I made about Antoine Jenkins canvassing for Barack Obama in Las Vegas, Nev.:

Like many other radio producers, I used a digital recorder, headphones and an omnidirectional microphone. Many reporters are now using smart phones to record audio, especially in situations where bulky recording equipment isn’t feasible. SoundCloud’s app on iPhone and Droid is an incredibly easy way to record and post directly to the Web and other social media (think Instagram for audio). This could be a great tool for nonprofits to use at community events or gatherings.

Here are two practical tips I’ve learned from recording interviews:

1. Get close to what you’re recording but not too close. It’s best to place your microphone or smartphone four inches below the mouth of the interview subject, aka ice cream cone distance. This helps you avoid recording the popping that the P sound often makes.
2. Be aware of surrounding noise. Ambient noise can often be an important part of radio stories, especially when you’re capturing live action. But for interviews not directly related to action, it’s best to record in a quiet non-echoey space and later gather ambient sounds. Carpets and drapes often help absorb sound. Wearing headphones helps ensure that you get great sound with digital recorders.

To edit the audio you gather, you’ll need audio editing software. GarageBand and Audacity are free. I use Hindenberg but many radio producers prefer Pro Tools or Audition. To learn more about producing great radio stories, check out Transom.org and Rob Rosenthal’s Howsound podcast. Rob teaches the excellent Transom Story Workshop (which I attended in 2011 to start learning the art of radio storytelling).

Sharing

Listen to this one-minute story “First Love and 27 Other Firsts” by my radio-producing friend Whitney Jones.

This story has been a hit on Cowbird, an online story sharing community. Whitney also shared it on SoundCloud and thePublic Radio Exchange. You can embed tracks from these sites on other websites like blogs.

As part of a project funded by SoundCloud, I embedded stories on this website to honor Studs Terkel’s book. I see these as “audio blog posts” or “audio posts” rather than a “podcast.” Not only does it sound less intimidating and time intensive, a “post” or “story” implies a one-off that’s part of a larger content strategy using other media. Also with SoundCloud, listeners can subscribe for updates via RSS and iTunes.

Public Radio Exchange is a great platform to get your stories directly on public radio. Whitney sold his story to the Public Radio Remix, KFAI and Third Coast Festival/Re:sound. Obviously stories from your organization won’t sell if they’re straight up promotions or advocacy. To help navigate journalistic concerns, you could invite an experienced independent radio producer to help tell your story and market it through PRX.

So in short: Just do it! Experiment! Start listening, storytelling, producing and sharing audio stories and see if something miraculous happens.

For an even more audiovisual presentation of this information, check out this Prezi.

Related on Socialbrite

• 8 great examples of nonprofit storytelling
• 10 secrets to video storytelling success
• Creating video and media: A roundup of resources
• How to find amazing, powerful stories for your nonprofit video
• How nonprofits should be using visual storytelling
• Visual storytelling checklist

The post What nonprofits can learn from public radio about storytelling appeared first on Socialbrite.

Overseas projects to focus on mobile, data, journalism

On Monday I’ll be heading to Stanford University to help judge News Pioneers: Media innovations from Europe.

The participating teams are in different stages in their projects or start-ups. A few already have a working product and a growing customer base. Most, however, are just at the starting point in their development work. Stanford is bringing in a number of new media veterans to offer feedback and guidance to the teams about how to develop their project with innovative new media approaches. I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about each of these interesting efforts.

Nearhood: Helping local communities to flourish

1The founders of Nearhood believe that local is the next big trend in globalized world. But today digital services for local communities are still underdeveloped. Nearhood collects together locally relevant information to be easily accessible by local residents, creates a social platform which strengthens local communities and opens new, efficient and real-time marketing and sales channel for locally operating businesses. The Finnish startup aggregates local information using both volunteer editors and machine intelligence. They say, “By opening our platform to other services, we aim to create an ecosystem of local digital and physical services. Local isn’t just about discussions, it is also about services.” Practical. I like that.

OnDisplay: A weekly dose of art with a social layer

2OnDisplay is a mobile gallery aimed at creating a new forum for art criticism. It combines art journalism, art education and audio guide into an application that is simple to maintain and easy to use. It offers reviews of individual works of art hand-picked by professional critics. In addition to written articles, the application lets users view the artwork and listen to an audio guide specially produced for each work. The location and visitor information are also available through the OnDisplay interface. The first phase of the project creates the mobile application in cooperation with the local critics, galleries and museums in Helsinki. The second phase will open the application for user-generated content, developing the portal of arts criticism into a social media of visual arts. There are thousands of artworks displayed annually in Helsinki, and OnDisplay wants to find and display the works that may change your life.

Pallopostia: A news service for children

3The Pallopostia project aims to create an open, safe, free, easily accessible digital news service for children ages 6-17. Accessible via mobile devices such as tablets and touch-screen-phones, Pallopostia will bring the world closer to children in small, discrete pieces. At its best, it will help children in building their identity and self-esteem. It will serve all children in Finland and eventually it can be launched in other countries as well.

Infogr.am: New tool for data journalism

4Infogr.am is a Web-based tool for creating infographics. Aimed at newsrooms, journalists and bloggers, it provides a variety of super-easy data visualization tools for online and offline publishing. Infogr.am is working on new interactive ways to present data in online news media. With data becoming more visual, Infogr.am’s a solution for interactive visualizations.

Long Play: Platform for long-form feature journalism

5Long Play is a new kind of digital publisher. LP publishes one well-developed piece of long-form narrative journalism per month. Its “singles,” made up of long-form features and investigative reporting, are longer than magazine articles but shorter than books. LP is also an experiment in finding a new business model for investigative journalism, which is suffering in the age of severe newsroom cuts. LP uses a crowdfunding mode: They sell their works directly to readers for the price of a cup of coffee. Says the Long Play team: “We believe that there are enough people who are willing to support the production of high-quality journalism with a few euros every month.” LP currently publishes in Finnish, and they plan to translate some of their stories into Swedish, English and other languages.

Sounds interesting, no?

News Pioneer Innovation Challenge

The event is organized by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation, which runs the Uutisraivaaja Innovation Challenge in Finland.

Here are the details:

Where: d.school, Stanford’s Institute of Design

When: 6 to 7 pm Monday, with a reception at 5 pm, and a tour of the d.school afterward for judges and guests by Justin Ferrell, the Fellowships director at d.school; Justin was formerly director of digital development at the Washington Post.

If you’re interested in attending, please email Tanja Aitamurto by today.

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Uncovering the mystery of virality

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, marketers, Web publishers, video producers.

That’s right. A video of goats yelling like humans gets 12 million YouTube views in a month.

When nonprofits ask me how to create viral content, I talk about videos like the one above, which probably makes them wonder why they hired me.

The truth is, I have no idea what makes anything go viral. The common ingredients of viral content are well documented, but there seems to be something magically delicious and fantastic that’s hard to pinpoint. And that gets me excited!

The science behind viral content

Scientific research on what makes content go viral has found:

• Length matters. Longer articles tend to be shared far more often than short ones
• Emotions matter. You share content that makes you feel anxiety, awe and anger far more than you share content that makes you feel sad.
• Controversy matters. Blogs posts written about controversial topics get twice as many comments.
• Being useful matters. Content that is interesting or has immediate utility gets shared more.
• Humor matters. Humor is the single most common element of most viral ads. So shut up and be funny!

The viral content checklist

There’s also this amazingly useful “viral checklist” from Carson Ward:

• Did you sufficiently cover the topic? Is it long enough? (24)
• Does the content inspire a high-energy emotion like awe (16), anger (18), or anxiety (18)?
• Did your tone convey emotion? (12)
• Is it practically useful? (16)
• Is it interesting? (14)
• Is it surprising? (8)
• Does the author have fame/credibility? (8)
• If it’s supposed to be funny, is it actually funny? Are you sure your friends aren’t just being nice? (?)

(Next to each question there’s a maximum score to help prioritize the most important factors.)

The fact that the answers to these questions are largely subjective complicates matters that much more. You see, human beings are infinitely complex and dynamic.

So even the best attempt at creating viral content might still end up falling flat.

The secret behind viral content

The secret is that everyone is just as befuddled as you are. And yes, the experts are confused, too (even though many won’t admit it).

But confusion can be immensely beneficial.

Confusion is proof that you’re seeking, stretching, trying, testing and learning, which is way more interesting than a video of goats yelling like humans.

What do you think are some critical elements of virality?

The post The secret behind creating viral content appeared first on Socialbrite.

Photoshop Express, Pixlr, FotoFlexer allow editing on a budget

Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, cause organizations, social enterprises, businesses, Web publishers, bloggers, social media managers, individuals.

By Lindsay Oberst
Socialbrite staff

Good photos are powerful. A good image captures interest, creates connection and provokes a reaction, which can then inspire action. All organizations need quality images that inspire people to act — to share, to like, to comment, to give.

Newsletters, websites and Facebook pages with photos that could be improved — maybe cropped tighter or made brighter — can be that much more powerful. Plus, if your nonprofit wants to impress on Pinterest or Tumblr, knowing how to enhance images and add words and other elements to your images is essential.

So how do you edit photos when you’re not a designer and don’t have access to pricey programs like Adobe Photoshop or Aperture from Apple, and when you only occasionally need to edit images online?

You’ll be happy to know that while Web-based photo-editing tools were once limited, now many websites provide basic editing options such as cropping and resizing. Some even offer advanced editing options such as layers. Plus, most of these tools are free and easy to use.

Photo basics and editing tips

Before we get to the photo editing tools, let’s touch on some basic things you need to know to change your images into wow-worthy creations.

• Image resolution describes the detail an image holds and refers to the number of dots, or pixels, in a linear inch of the image, measured in dots per inch (dpi) or pixels per inch (ppi).
The browser extension Measureit! is useful for measuring the pixel width and height of any elements on a Web page.
• Most Internet images are 72 or 96 dpi (mostly depending on whether you’re a Mac or PC). However, dpi doesn’t apply to the Web (contrary to what most people say). Don’t worry about dpi or ppi for Internet images — image resolution has nothing to do with how an image appears on a screen — but you do need to be concerned with the pixel dimensions of your image. For example, on Facebook, the largest possible image size is 720 x 720 pixels.
• Print images should be at least 200 or 300 dpi.
• File size measures the size of a computer file, in kilobytes (KB) or megabytes (MB). Web photos should generally be no larger than 100KB. Saving photos as JPGs is preferred for digital images because it compresses while also maintaining picture quality.
• When editing online photos, the Chrome, Safari and Firefox extension Measureit! is useful for measuring the pixel width and height of any elements on a Web page.

11 good online photo-editing tools

These are the best tools that we’ve found for editing images online. Know of others? Please add them in the comments below!

Photoshop Express

1Photoshop Express is good for simple edits. To use this Flash-based service (not to be confused with Photoshop Elements), sign up for a free account or test drive the service first. Then you can upload a photo (must be a JPG) from your computer.

The layout is simple and grey, and you can edit fullscreen. Basic edits (crop, rotate, resize, auto correct, exposure, red eye, touch-up, saturation), advanced edits (white balance, highlight, dodge, burn, sharpen, soft focus), effects (crystallize, pixelate, hue, tint and others) and graphics (text, bubbles, frames and others) are available. Sharing to Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and others is easy.

Photoshop Express apps exist for Android and Apple, too. Free.

Good for:

• Basic editing
• Beginners

Positives:

• Allows you to view the original as you edit

Downsides:

• Small font selection for adding text
• Requires you to sign up and provide your birthday

Pixlr

2Pixlr is a more advanced, Flash-based editor, which offers most of the basic Photoshop functionality at no cost. You can even layer images on top of one another or use other effects to transform your photos. To use this tool, choose the express version or the advanced one. Both have fullscreen options.

The basic editing tool, Pixlr Express, is simple and easy to use, with big buttons that allow you to make changes with one click. Make adjustments (crop, resize, auto fix, color splash, vibrance, white teeth, touch-up, airbrush and others), add effects (only a few), overlays (space, smoke, vignette and others), borders, stickers and text (only seven font options).

The advanced editor, Pixlr Editor, is quite similar to Photoshop in layout, with areas including navigation, layers and history. Make adjustments (hue, levels, curves, exposure and others), add filters (sharpen, noise, halftone, tilt shift, blur and others) and create layers. A wand tool and a lasso tool are included, as well as a clone stamp tool, red eye reduction and others. Can save in a variety of formats: JPG, PNG, BMB, TIFF and PXD.

Pixlr also offers apps for Android and Apple. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• People looking for cheaper programs similar to Photoshop
• Creating collages (with Pixlr Express)
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Keeps high-res photos the same quality after editing
• Tutorials are available if you’d like to learn more about using Pixlr
• No log-in required to use
• The Pixlr Grabber for Firefox and Chrome allows you to choose online pictures or screenshots for editing using Pixlr Editor

Downsides:

• Pixlr Editor requires editing knowledge or time to learn how to use it
• Pixlr Express doesn’t have the ability to share to social networks after editing your image (the advanced editor does, though)

Pixlr-o-matic

3Pixlr-o-matic is made by the same company as Pixlr and allows you to add filters (a la Instagram), overlays and borders. Images are saved as JPG. This Flash-based service is also has apps for Android and Apple and an Facebook app. And it can be installed as a Chrome Web app. Free.

Good for:

• Adding filters, like retro and vintage
• Adding creative borders

Positives:

• Easy to use, although the buttons are not named

Downsides:

• Doesn’t have a fullscreen option
• Doesn’t offer simple editing, like cropping and resizing
• Can only save to your computer

Splashup

4Splashup is an advanced Flash-based editor that allows you to open an image from your computer, Facebook, Flickr and others. Its layout is similar to Photoshop, with layers and filters (but not as many options as Pixlr). The interface is grey, with moveable boxes. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• People looking for cheaper programs similar to Photoshop
• Multiple saving options: save as a JPG or PNG and choose photo quality. Also shows you photo size.

Positives:

• Allows you to edit multiple photos at once
• Can edit a webcam image

Downsides:

• Navigation is not as easy as other tools
• Opens a new window for editing

FotoFlexer

5FotoFlexer is an editor with basic and advanced options. It can edit fullscreen. Offers basic edits (auto fix, fix red eye, resize, flip and others), effects, decorations (text, draw and others), animations, beautify (fix blemishes, smooth wrinkles) and layers, with a layout that is easy to use, yet different than layers in Photoshop. Edit photos from Facebook, Picasa, your computer and other places, and share to a variety of social-networking sites and email when you’re done. Saves images as JPG or PNG. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced image editing
• Creating collages
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Can upload any size photo
• Has a low-bandwidth interface
• Has a white background (most other tools have boring grey ones)
• Has a large selection of font options

Downsides:

• Takes a minute to save the photo
• Not as easy to use as other tools

Ribbet

6Ribbet is a Flash-based editor built on the same platform as Picnik, which used to be a top online editing tool before it shut down. Most of the options are free, with some only available in Ribbet Premium. Currently, the premium version is free, but it will cost money in the future. Once you upload an image, the layout of interface is very simple and clean, with rounded buttons and colorful pictures.

Allows for basic edits (crop, rotate, exposure and others), a large variety of effects, touchups (blemish fix, airbrush, sunless tan, mascara, lip color, cloning and others) and creative frames. Can edit images from websites using a Chrome bookmarklet. And saving to your computer, Flickr and Facebook is possible. Save images as PNG or JPG.

Good for:

• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people
• Creating collages

Positives:

• Has a more-pleasing layout with a white background
• Has a large number of fonts for adding text to images

Downsides:

• May charge money for certain features in the future.

PicMonkey

7PicMonkey is a well-designed image editor, with beautiful graphics and a clean layout. Some former Picnik engineers decided to create this tool, which is Flash based and offers basic edits (rotate, crop, sharpen, resize), effects (some good ones like the HDR one), touch-ups (blemish fix, teeth whiten, lip tint and other ones in the paid edition), text (with many font options), overlays, frames and textures. Many features are free, but for $4.99 a month, users get ad-free editing, 40 percent more effects, double the touch-up tools and more.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people
• Creating collages and cards

Positives:

• Beautiful layout
• Simple to use
• Can easily share to social-networking sites, including Pinterest, or save as JPG or PNG

Downsides:

• Advanced features and extra effects cost money
• Free version has ads

LunaPic

8LunaPic is an editing tool with a variety of animations, which could be good for Tumblr images. You can also easily share to social-networking sites, including Tumblr. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• Creating slideshows
• Creating collages
• Making images with animations

Positives:

• Has some unique editing features, including reflecting animation and the ability to create a Twitter image mosaic
• You can see each image in your undo history
• Offers some tutorials within the editing interface
• Can save to many formats: GIF, JPG, PNG, PDF, AVI and others
• Doesn’t rely on Flash

Downsides:

• Layout is distracting and not easy to use
• Lacks cancel buttons

iPiccy

9iPiccy is an online editor that offers basic and advanced edits, with the added ability to upload photos to a photo basket. Offers fullscreen editing, along with basic edits, many effects (pop art, HDR and others), touch-ups (blemish fixer, shine remover, wrinkle remover, hair color, clone tool and others), layers, paint tools, frames and textures. Can save as JPG or PNG. Free.

Good for:

• Basic to advanced editing
• Creating collages
• Adding watermarks to your images (using saved photos in your photo basket)
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Layout is simple with colorful buttons

Downsides:

• You have to give iPiccy permission to store files on your hard drive

Sumopaint

10Sumopaint is an online editor with a layout and menus similar to Photoshop. It has a free version with basic editing tools, a $9 version with 35+ more filters and tools and a $19 version with the 35 extra features, along with a desktop app for offline use. This Flash-based tool has a gray interface and layers. You can crop, rotate, use a magic wand or a lasso and many other tools. An iPad app is also available.

Sumopaint also has a strong community of users at Sumo.fm, which allows users to share images and interact with one another.

Good for:

• People looking for cheaper programs similar to Photoshop
• Basic to advanced editing

Positives:

• Can save as JPG or PNG

Downsides:

• Only allows you to open file from computer or a URL
• Doesn’t have any photo-sharing capabilities
• Doesn’t have font preview when adding text
• Doesn’t allow for full-screen editing

Citrify

11Citrify is a basic editing program that allows you to adjust (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, resize, rotate, sharpen), touch up (airbrush, blemish, glare, red eye, toothbrush, wrinkle) and add a limited amount of effects and stickers. Saves images as PNG. Free.

Good for:

• Basic editing
• Beginners
• Touching up and correcting imperfections in photos of people

Positives:

• Easy to use

Downsides:

• Editor opens in a new window
• Can only open a photo from your computer
• Can only resize photos smaller or bigger, not a specific size
• No sharing features

What other online photo editing tools do you use for your nonprofit?

Related

• 7 image editing tools to create top-rate visual content
• Top 10 sites for free or low-cost photos

The post 11 free & inexpensive online photo editing tools appeared first on Socialbrite.

How to edit video in house with tools that fit your expertise

This is the second of a three-part series on nonprofits’ use of video. Also see:
• Part 1: What to consider when investing in video
• Part 3: Video for your cause: Getting giddy over Viddy

Guest post by Kyle Henri Andrei
Idealware

Before the digital revolution, videos — like still photographs — were actually shot on film. Editing them involved cutting out individual frames and splicing the filmstrip back together, a tedious and expensive process that resulted in lots of little plastic squares on the cutting room floor. You also had to move through all previous footage to reach the scenes you wanted to edit, more or less requiring you to edit the film in the order in which you shot it.

Today, software makes editing digital footage faster, easier and much more affordable, and puts it within reach of anyone with a personal computer. Even better, digital video editing is “nonlinear,” which means you can access the scenes you want to edit directly. This helps speed up the process, especially for a short, Internet-ready video for which you just need to trim off the ends and add a title screen or two.

Video editing: Tailor your video to your audience

You’ll never shoot a perfect video from start to finish in one take. A phone might ring, the wind could pick up, the sun could cause glare, or a dog might start barking. Editing lets you cull the best parts from several takes and combine them into one — or, more simply, cut the bad parts out of a single take.

How much do you need to edit your footage? It depends on what type of video you’re making, or who your audience will be. A video to show your donors at a fundraising gala may require a professional touch, but a guerrilla- or documentary-style video — a quick and simple one designed for the Internet that forgos high production values in favor of a spontaneous look and feel — doesn’t need to be polished and perfect. You might just add some titles or credits and trim out unnecessary bits, like when your talent forgot a line or stuttered while speaking.

It is possible to over-edit your video. All of the software options we discuss come with special effects that can enhance your video. Don’t overuse them — a little goes a long way. Some effects look cheap and gimmicky and will distract the audience from your message, while others — like dissolves, which let you transition between clips, and fades to black — can be used safely with some regularity.

Different tools offer different approaches to editing and degrees of usability. Let’s look at them one at a time.

The free tools: Free video hosting and remixing

There are several free or very low-cost solutions that let you make short videos or slideshows with minimal edits.

Animoto: Quick, easy & slick slide show

1Free for nonprofits, Animoto is not technically video-editing software but a website that allows you to create professional-looking slide shows quickly and easily by uploading and arranging your photos. The site also includes a library of licensed, rights-cleared music you can add to your slideshow, as well as a variety of themes and backgrounds. Although Animoto won’t solve all your video needs, a polished slideshow can be a great way to thank donors, volunteers and other supporters online or at a gala or other event.

YouTube: Basic editing features do the job

2YouTube, the popular streaming video site, now provides a handful of editing features. You can add up to seven of your previously uploaded videos into a basic timeline, trim them and add transitions, titles and other effects to create a new video. These features probably won’t be the best choice for those planning on creating a lot of videos but are a compelling option for organizations that need to edit videos infrequently.

In addition, mobile devices that shoot video, like smartphones and tablets, have started to offer basic editing functionality, and mobile apps can add more features. However, the built-in microphones are designed for phone calls, not videos, and the audio quality suffers as a result. Some small cameras also allow you edit videos on-screen and offer higher audio and video quality than smartphones. They might be attractive low-cost options for beginners looking to make a few short videos.

Beginner tools: Free & pre-installed? Go for it!

These are generally free or low-cost options that may already be installed on your computer. They’re good ways to get your feet wet with video editing.

Windows Movie Maker: A good introduction to editing features

3Windows Movie Maker (pre-installed on all Windows PCs, or a free download from Microsoft) is a good tool for people just getting started with editing, and the prevalence of Windows computers means you may already have it in your home. Movie Maker handles basic tasks well, like trimming clips and adding titles, transitions and soundtracks but offers limited file options for exporting edited videos or converting clips and files from one format to another.

iMovie: Get in the serious lane

4Apple computers have a long history of being used for creative purposes, including editing video. iMovie (pre-installed on Apple computers, or $50 as part of iLife), pre-installed on all recent Macs, is a surprisingly powerful and easy-to-use editing program designed for beginners. While Apple computers have grown in popularity, they are still uncommon in nonprofit offices. If your organization has one, this is a logical choice for editing your videos.

Adobe Premiere Elements: A step up from Movie Maker

5With an interface similar to iMovie’s, Adobe Premiere Elements ($99 retail, $15 on TechSoup) is an affordable and beginner-friendly editing tool. It’s a step up from Windows Movie Maker that offers more advanced functions and allows for importing and exporting many more different video file types. While iMovie users should have little trouble adjusting, Premiere Elements requires a longer learning curve than Movie Maker.

More advanced tools

While more expensive and technically demanding than the beginner tools, these options also provide more powerful features and greater flexibility for experienced and power users.

Adobe Premiere Pro: A good choice for professionals
6A significant step up in price and features, Adobe Premiere Pro ($799, $60 on TechSoup as a component of Adobe CS5) has little in common with Premiere Elements and uses a substantially different interface. It works well with other Adobe products, including the Creative Suite and After Effects, which, if used correctly, can create high-quality special effects for your video. Several blockbuster Hollywood films have been edited using this software, which means it’s certainly feature-rich enough for most nonprofits.

Final Cut Pro X: Top of class

7Final Cut Pro X ($300 for Apple computers) has long been the leading alternative to more expensive editing software like Avid, and a logical progression from introductory software like iMovie. With the release of Final Cut Pro X, Apple has geared the professional-level software to a wider consumer base, simplifying the interface, which will be familiar to iMovie users, and making it more accessible to the average nonprofit user. (The previous consumer-level, discounted version, Final Cut Express, has been discontinued by Apple, but can still be found for under $200 on some websites and continues to be supported.)

Other high-end solutions

If you’re skilled or savvy enough and have high-end video production needs — and a budget to support them — there are numerous video solutions available on the market. Avid Technology makes the most well-known, including the core of its product suite, Media Composer, which costs several thousand dollars and requires a powerful computer to run it properly. Avid also has a range of lower-priced solutions, but if your need for video editing is sufficient enough to need such tools, you’re likely better off contracting a professional video editor.

This article originally appeared on Idealware and is republished under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial No Derivatives license.

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