A scaled solution for nonprofits looking to create video content

By Kyle Shannon

Stories are the lifeblood of social organizations. To a large degree, your ability to tell stories is directly proportional to your ability to succeed and grow. While charts and graphs of success are important, the stories of people you impact is the best proof there is.

Video is an increasingly powerful and in-demand way to share these stories, and yet a major challenge remains. How do you increase your ability to produce video content without dramatically increasing your budget?

If you want to create video, you effectively have two major options. There’s professional video, which is typically high quality but is limited in its scalability. It can be expensive, slow and logistically complicated.

On the other side of the coin is user-generated video, which seems great in theory. It’s authentic, often engaging and you can have as much as you want, since there are now billions of devices with high-quality cameras. The problem? User-generated video is completely out of your control, and the storytelling quality is unpredictable at best.

There is another option. Think of it as professional user-generated video. By using the best attributes of both professional video and user-generated video, you can create a hybrid approach to creating video content. Storyvine is a Guided Video platform that is designed to live in the space between the two worlds of Pro and User-Gen video, and will be discussed here, but there are numerous tools that can assist in the activities that must be managed to effectively scale video storytelling.

Here are two examples of Pro-UGC Video created using the Storyvine platform. The first video is from the National Association of Public Charter Schools:

Here is a grassroots presidential campaign video created with Storyvine:

Content strategy is key

Regardless of which tool(s) you use to create and manage your video content, it’s critical to understand that “more video” is not a strategy — video is simply a tool. Your content strategy should emerge organically from your goals as an organization. What are you trying to accomplish? What are your major initiatives? How are you measuring success? Who are your stakeholders and what do they need to feel taken care of and connected to the organization?

Answers to these questions will lead naturally to important content strategy questions. Who’s stories do we want to capture? Why will they share them with us? Who are the audiences for these stories? What are the communications initiatives we have in place that this video content could augment? And finally, whose job is it to create, capture, curate and connect these stories with relevant audiences?

Now you’re ready for the 4 C’s of creating video content in a scalable, sustainable way:

• Create
• Capture
• Curate
• Connect

Here’s a 3-minute video on how to create a video on Storyvine.

Step 1: Create the story program

Once you understand the kind of stories you want to capture, you can design everything from the kinds of question you want people to answer, to the visual design and branding of the videos that will be produced, to the communications you will share with your constituents to let them know their voice is important and might be reaching out.

By asking the right questions and eliciting a series of answers, you end up creating content that is consistent and well-structured. Here are some questions you might ask to get things rolling:

Intro: Share your name, location and why you got involved.

Q1: What was you most impactful experience with the program?

Q2: How has being involved with the program changed your outlook about it?

Q3: Give a shout-out to someone you engaged with who made a difference.

With Storyvine, we create a story template that consists of a VideoGuide (the coaching prompts) and a visual Storyboard of what the final video will look like. The video segments are captured via an iOS or Android mobile app that prompts the user what to say in a step-by-step capture process. The videos themselves are then “automagically” edited into a fully branded video within minutes.

Outside of Storyvine, you can use this same structured approach to improve the quality and consistency of your video content.

Step 2: Capture the video content

Because smart phones and tablets are so ubiquitous and contain high-quality cameras, you can capture content at events by having your team members capture the raw assets of answers to the prompting questions you created, or even have people film the clips selfie-style. There are a number of techniques to get the people you want to film to increase your ability to capture the stories you want.

Friends and close colleagues

With video, most people have a basic fear of looking silly. No one wants to go first. That said, once people see that others have done it and realize it’s socially safe, they’re much more willing to participate. So leverage the relationships you have with your friends, colleagues and even superfans whom you can cajole into getting the ball rolling. You can then show off their videos as examples for others to follow.

Events

Even though events can be noisy and chaotic, they are also often high concentrations of people who’s stories you want to capture. With a little bit of pre-planning, your team at the event (or even volunteers who can be trained at the beginning of the event) can “wrangle” participants at the event and capture more content than you can imagine.

Here’s a good example that was captured an education-centered event:

A lot of Storyvine clients use events as the launchpad for creating their first video content.

Gamification

We’ve had good success with clients creating “Video Challenges” where Person A films her story and then “calls out” Person B to film his. It works. So do friendly competitions for most creative stories.

Deadlines & assignments

Let people know they have one week to capture their content, and follow up with them one day before the deadline. Also, let Sally know that it’s her job to film two people this week, and hold her to it.

Build it into a process

This is by far the most effective approach. Let’s say you want people in your org to film testimonial videos. Build the video capture task right into the process, like so:

• 1. Sign person in.
• 2. Make sure person is taken care of.
• 3. Sign person out.
• 4. Ask if he or she will give us a testimonial.
• 5. If yes, film him or her.

Another variation on this theme is something like “It’s Thought Leadership Thursday”… make the creation of content an event.

Step 3: Curate the stories

If you successfully increase the quantity of video content, you now have a new challenge on your hands. Namely, who is looking at what was created and what are the criteria to determine which videos should be shared far and wide.

Our experience has been that when you use a tool like Storyvine to increase the number of videos, not every video will be perfect — and that’s OK. We see a normal bell curve of quality with the videos that come into the system. If 10 videos are created, one might not be usable, most are fine to really good, and one or two are terrific, maybe brilliant.

The highest-quality stories can even be elevated and leveraged into other kinds of content, like compilation videos of the best soundbites for a website or gala presentation.

Here are two examples of compilations created from the structured approach to capturing content as I just described. Age of Agility is a four-minute short from America Succeeds:

I Stand with PP is a 75-second short that shows the power of Planned Parenthood:

Step 4: Connect the stories to relevant audiences

The final step is relatively straightforward. In a world with as many digital channels as we have today, there are increasing number of options where you might share your newly created video content. Short videos might be used as “snackable” social content on Twitter or Instagram. Videos longer than 60 seconds might live on your website or your YouTube channel. Business-focused social networks like LinkedIn are featuring more and more video, and it’s often longer-form video.

Especially when it comes to fundraising and development efforts, don’t be shy about sending a video link directly to a person whom you feel will relate to that story. “Here’s a story of one of our people I thought you might enjoy.” That kind of personal outreach and connection will go a long way to keeping donors engaged.

Experiment and see what works for your organization. Compelling video stories will drive social engagement, and when you find a kind of video that works, make more!

Kyle Shannon is the co-founder/CEO of Storyvine, a Guided Video platform and allows companies and organizations to create professional, authentic video content … at scale. You can find him on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @kyleshannon.

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If you’re anything like me, then that week before New Year’s Day can sometimes throw you for an existential loop.

All those end-of-year memes on social media seem to be true, given the amount of laugh emoji responses from my friends and family that they’ve received. Truth!

We all want to begin the New Year feeling full of energy, clarity, and direction, but it’s not always how we start off.

One of the ways I try to ground myself for the New Year (while still enjoying all the cheese and champagne), is to fill out my yearly personal strategic planning chart.

I spend a lot of my time as a consultant creating strategic plans, so it’s a format I’m familiar with and with a little simplification, readily lends itself to a personal plan.

While some people enjoy vision boards (which are awesome!), there’s something about a strategic plan that for me feels more tangible.

And I need tangible these days.

So below I’m sharing my personal and professional strategic planning process.

By the way, I’m still working on mine, so don’t feel like you’re in any way behind. Truth be told, I usually get to finishing mine around mid-January.

So we’ll just work on it together! Much more fun that way, anyway.

Five areas of focus

My plan is be focused on five key areas of my life:

Personal – my personal goals, which focus on the intellectual and physical aspects of daily life

Family & friends – the goals I have for my relationship with my husband, my daughter, my parents, and my close friends

My business – what realistic and bold goals will I reach with my clients and partners

Leadership – what goals and objectives do I need to set to develop myself as a consultant and servant leader in my field(s)

Community – What are my community-centered goals focused on mentoring, advocacy work, and elementary school volunteering

Charting my plan: (Don’t make it complicated!) You want to be able to post this up on the fridge if you’d like. 

The Plan

Get the Google Docs version of the chart here!

As you can see from the chart, I’ve really tried to simplify the plan. The simpler the plan, the more you will look at it, the easier it will be to achieve or at least get closer to your goals.

And that’s genuinely the aim. I never really get to doing everything on my plan – especially my personal goals (working on that!), but it’s there for me to guide me back during times I feel I need to get back on my path.

Some people like to create a mission and visions statement for themselves before they even start their strategic plan, and that’s great.

I’ve found it helpful to wait until after I’ve finished my strategic plan to create my mission and vision statement since a lot of the priorities are already written down for me after filling out the plan.

I’m thinking of creating a three-part series this month on personal strategic planning.

The next two posts would be about writing your mission and vision statements, and the third and last post would be about how to hold yourself accountable to your goals.

If this sounds like something you’d like to learn more about, let me know in the comments below and I’ll get to work!

Happy planning and give me a shout @CarolineAvakian if you have any questions!

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This week I was re-inspired by technology. It sometimes feels like we spend a lot of time criticizing or glorifying tech, and honestly neither of those descriptions seem or feel right most of the time. But Trickle Up, an international nonprofit, told me a story this week that reminded me of the basics of why technology applied wisely, in collaboration, and with great heart, can be the thing that transforms and improves so many aspects of people’s lives.

The story goes something like this: (via Trickle Up) 

As Lopamudra Manjhi unboxes her smartphone, a smile appears on her face. She delicately holds the phone in her hands, a little uncertain of what to do next.

Over the next couple of hours, she learns. Lopamudra then confidently demonstrates how to switch the phone on, make a call, take photos and videos, and keep it charged. In between, she also manages to take a selfie. “I can do so many things with it,” she says.
Lopamudra is among 1,800 participants in a pilot project, “Mobile Connections to Promote Women’s Economic Development” (M-POWERED), aimed at empowering women living in extreme poverty in eastern India with custom-designed mobile technology. With newfound access to information about weather predictions, market prices, and best practices in cultivation, women become more successful farmers and marketers, and are better equipped to meet their family’s basic needs.

Watch the video to see all of it in action:

Facebook is previewing new page templates for nonprofits. If you manage your nonprofit’s FB page, you might have received one or several notifications about it. Here’s a great post that explains it all.

How do you excel in a time when modern strategic communications is so rapidly evolving? This piece by The Communications Network talks us through this process: How to Build an Effective, Modern Communications Shop

Still looking for a Father’s Day gift? These fancy and soft socks from our friends at Conscious Step are a great option. I have a pair that I love and can tell you they definitely don’t stink – see what I did there? :) Through partnerships with three of the world’s most impactful organizations, their sock box supports the movement against illiteracy, supports solutions for the water crisis, and provides treatment for child malnutrition.

In case you missed it, earlier this week I wrote about The Hidden Magic of Conferences.

The title of this post made me laugh and the piece within is quite insightful.
How Many Times Can You Mail Your Donors Before They Rise Up and Kill You? Worth a read.

You’d Be a Better Communicator If You Weren’t So Afraid of Embarrassing Yourself is an interesting piece by the Science of Us that gives you some key takeaways, advice, and techniques applicable for anyone who has to give a presentation at work, or just wants to connect with their dinner date.

A thoughtful piece on how Diversity Without Inclusion Is Only Skin-deep, and can certainly be applied to nonprofit-landia, which can often pride itself on wanting and demanding diversity in the workplace, yet lacks the tools for proper integration and not just representation.

The 2017 Global Trend in Giving survey gives us a better understanding of how donors worldwide prefer to give and engage with nonprofits, NGOs, and charities worldwide. You can help out and take the survey here. They also shared their 2017 Global NGO Online Technology Report here.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Caroline Avakian

The post My Friday Edit: Restoring My Faith in Tech appeared first on Socialbrite.

Relief Web, a humanitarian information source on global crises and disasters, and a digital service of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), recently released four mobile apps that aim to serve different members of the humanitarian aid community.

Each of these app aims to solve a problem or address a challenge that will meet specific needs of humanitarians.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the apps:

ReliefWeb Crises App

– Information gathering and making sense of a fast-paced humanitarian crisis can be challenging. This app provides key figures, access to latest reports and maps, real time financial status, as well as a comprehensive overview for each crisis. All of this is kept updated in real time.

– The app allows you to quickly compare different crises and gather the history of each event, so you can follow the evolution of a situation. Some recent examples: Haiti’s Hurricane Matthew and the crisis in Syria.

Headlines App

-Humanitarian situations evolve rapidly. Headlines App provides a general overview of the latest humanitarian developments globally.

– It is a tool that allows you to follow a person or location, i.e., “Ki-moon”, “Aleppo”,
“Gender”, “Refugees”,etc., and see what has been published on ReliefWeb that matches your search.

Videos App

– Videos allow you to get a much better sense of how things look in the field better than most reports usually can. It is a resource for complex , quickly changing situations, such as the ones in Syria and South Sudan, as well as for sudden onset disasters.

– Video is becoming a preferred reporting format for humanitarians, but prior to this launch there has been a gap in specialized video platforms that can gather these videos quickly and make them easy to access. ReliefWeb editors select relevant videos from more than 300 humanitarian sources, organize them, and make them available.

Jobs App

– Job finding can be challenging in the humanitarian system due to short-term appointments, short application deadlines, and fast paced recruitment. However, finding the right people quickly is key to the success of any humanitarian operation. The Jobs App provides access to most available jobs in the humanitarian sector.

– You can create a job search that matches your interests and skills and see when there are new jobs matching your search, i.e. communications officer, jobs in Sudan,
internship, etc.

All the apps allow you to bookmark reports to read later, and importantly, to share their content via social media.

Mobile visitors to ReliefWeb have increased significantly in the last few years, according to Adrian Ciancio, product manager at the digital humanitarian information service. “In 2015, mobile visitors to our site increased by an overwhelming 71%, of which over 90% were new visitors. Although we have a mobile version of the website, we believe that the apps allow us to package, curate, and organize content in ways that better serve the needs of our audience,” Ciancio said.

The team will also be conducting an impact evaluation on all the apps and plans on gathering user feedback in the upcoming months to improve and expand on the apps.

You can download the apps here: http://labs.reliefweb.int/apps

This piece was originally published on The Huffington Post

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By Caroline Avakian

Content marketing has risen to the forefront in recent years as an important tool (if not the most important) in the nonprofit communication toolbox. It’s about creating great content on your blog, through social media messaging, email, quarterly and annual reports, case studies, whitepapers, etc.

At its core, content marketing is about communicating wisely with your supporters. The nonprofit, social enterprise or organization is providing value by creating and sharing information, innovative ideas, and insights that makes your supporter smarter and in the know. You become a resource. The result, much of the time, is that you earn the trust and loyalty of your supporters and donors. You no longer interrupt them with “messaging” but invite them into a conversation they find value in, that resonates, that they deem worthy of sharing with others, that makes them come back and ultimately invest in you.

The issue with creating great content is that often change-makers and nonprofit leaders are unsure about how to activate the most powerful resource they have: their intellectual capital. Nonprofits can be treasure troves of insights, experience and expertise, just waiting to be unleashed and shared with the world, but often the best of ideas and expertise lies dormant within the walls of an organization.

The Readiness Dance: Share your insights despite the misgivings

There are many reasons why organizations keep their most valuable thoughts and findings internal. I call it the Readiness Dance. People will say, “Our data isn’t completely ready yet – we’re not 100 percent clear internally on our direction with this project,” or something similar. While I completely advocate for presenting breakthrough insights that are research-based and clearly thought out — in fact, that is the essence of true thought leadership — very often it’s more about that “readiness” variable. It’s less about how analyzed the data is and more about how comfortable and confident we are in sharing our ideas and insights with the world.

When nonprofits hone in on their years of experience, research, collaborations and discoveries, they can advance their mission by using those same valuable thoughts and insights to lead. Many people call this thought leadership, and I’d like to see more organizations build their capacity to lead with their thinking.

Especially for smaller to medium-sized nonprofits, thought leadership can be one of the most effective and least expensive ways an organization can build awareness of their cause and support for their ideas and programs, and influence the communities they need to reach, including decision makers, policy makers and donors. By harnessing the power of their collective insights, an organization can shape its thought leadership to inspire and move its supporters to action.

While building a thought leadership program for a nonprofit should be thought of as an organization development exercise and not just a communications/PR job, communications teams often and appropriately lead it.

Below is a short primer to help you get the conversation started with your team. I recommend getting your group together around breakfast (or Google Hangout!) one morning and running them through this little primer. I promise it will get the conversation started and make for an interesting talk about how you approach your work and the insights and ideas that lie just below the surface.

Start with the big idea or revealing insights

Every big idea starts with a vision. It has a strong viewpoint and brings new insights and problem solving to an issue. Ask yourself what original, innovative and valuable perspective you and your organization bring to the table. What do you want to achieve from it?

Overcome culture shock

Effective thought leadership programs are an organizational development function, not just a public relations function. Powerful thought leadership campaigns need to be embedded into the culture of an organization to be truly successful. Teams need to be on board with sharing those ideas and insights with the world. They are your greatest ambassadors. Does your culture support that? If you encounter resistance, ask them what about it makes them uncomfortable?

Tell a great story

Concentrate on telling one focused and clear story and communicate it using channels you know your audience engages with. Social media, online communities, associations, traditional media and speaking events like panels and conferences are all fair game.

Become a resource

People don’t like to be sold things, for the most part — even when what you’re selling is a noble and brilliant cause. That said, they do buy into solutions, expertise and problem solving. Share your insights. Spread your idea. Offer guidance and people will follow.

Inspire action

Powerful thought leadership can inspire people to act. Whatever your idea is, make sure that it is actionable. What do you want people to do? Be brave. Ask for what you want.

What are some of the ways your team is leading the conversation on the issues that drive your cause? I’d love to hear some examples. If you’re not quite there yet, I would love to hear what some of the barriers are that you’ve encountered.

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Snapchat is a mobile app that lets users share photos and videos that are deleted in 24 hours. Snapchat users share snaps (temporary videos and photos) privately with a few friends, or as stories with all their followers.

What people love about Snapchat

You might be wondering why someone would use a social network that deletes everything they share.

If you’re wondering this, you were probably born before the internet. You never had “that talk” with your parents about being safe online. And you never had to worry about a potential employer digging through your Facebook updates. Which is why millennials love Snapchat.

The best thing about Snapchat is that all posts are deleted by default. So snappers don’t need to worry about an everlasting online persona.

Snapchat explains:

Our default is delete. Conversations are ephemeral unlesssomeone chooses to save or screenshot them. And if they do,we do our best to make the sender aware. Just like a face-to-face conversation content stays impermanent unless someone goes out of their way to record it.

How nonprofits use Snapchat

There aren’t many nonprofits using Snapchat. But the ones that are using it are pretty damned creative.

For example, DoSomething.org recently published a series of snaps promoting their Everyday Superheroes campaign1. The campaign, which ends March 31st, encourages participants send a card to someone who makes the world a better place.

Their snap story begins with Ricky looking for a special way to show his appreciation for Puppet Sloth:

Ricky is encouraged to download an Everyday Superheroes card and give it to Puppet Sloth:

Puppet Sloth loves his card:

Everyone is happy:

Finally, Snapchat followers are encouraged to be part of the story by joining the Everyday Superheroes campaign:

How does this campaign benefit the organization?

• They stay top of mind with followers on their turf (Snapchat).
• Their followers are reminded that DoSomething.org is cool and creative brand.
• They grow their list (emails and phone numbers) as followers join the campaign.
• They leverage exclusivity and urgency (snaps are gone in 24 hours).
• Participants share the campaign with their friends with their own creative snaps.

So should Your Nonprofit use Snapchat?

During a recent Hump Day Coffee Break we discussed three questions you should answer before jumping on the Snapchat bandwagon:

• Are YOUR people there? Do your supporters, donors, and volunteers use Snapchat? What percentage of your audience is comprised of millennials?
• Do you have the bandwidth? Do you have the time and resources to manage yet another social network?
• How will you add value? What will you share that’s useful? What will you share that’s entertaining?

Here’s the recording from the Snapchat training: 

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In a perfect world, all of your fans would see all of your posts in the news feed. But this is not a perfect world, and your Facebook posts are rarely seen by the people who’ve liked your Page.

Yes, it might seem unfair, but when you get right down to it, Facebook users are the ones telling the news feed algorithm what they want in their news feeds, not Facebook.

The bottom line is that posts that are relevant, useful, and / or entertaining get more Newsfeed exposure.

A Simple Facebook Checklist for Writing Better Page Posts

Here’s a simple Facebook checklist you can follow for improving your organization’s engagement and reach on Facebook:

1. Don’t ask for money, just yet

As with belly-to-belly fundraising, it’s never a good idea to have to ask for money the first time you meet someone. The same is true on Facebook.

Before you post anything on Facebook,  remember that it’s a friend network. People are there to connect with their friends, not brands or charities. In fact,“supporting my favorite nonprofit” isn’t even on the list:

2. Answer the WIFM question

Make sure your content focuses on WIFM – “What’s in it for me?”

Supporters are more likely to engage with your content if it benefits them. Your content must be valuable, useful, and hopefully entertaining to your supporters.

Be like American Rivers, and remember – it’s really NOT about you.

Learn more: 5 Content Marketing Ideas that Inspire Action (With Examples)

3. Make your post about your community

Remember, the reason why people support your nonprofit is because they view you as a partner, an agent of the change they seek. But they want to be the hero!

Take the focus off your organization and put it on the heroes in your community.

Learn more: 10 Tips for Turning Photos Into Powerful Stories

4. Tell powerful stories

Your supporters are hard-wired to act when emotions are triggered.

The New York Times did a study on the top emotions that encourage sharing. What they found was that the top three emotions are anger, awe, and anxiety.

Before you publish your next post, ask yourself: How does this update make me feel?

Learn more: 10 Tips for Turning Photos Into Powerful Stories

5. Make your appeal conditional (IF)

It’s better to ask people to “share if”, then simply commanding them to share.

Adding a condition “if” puts ownership on the Facebook user. This turns the the call to action into an opportunity for people to share an important part of their lives, and feel included in the group.

For example, 350.org’s update above says “share if you think it’s time we declared our independence from fossil fuels.”

6. Optimize it for the news feed

Use Insights to understand what type of content performs best with your fan base.

After you log into Insights, click on the posts report and note the characteristics of your tops posts.

Pay particular attention to the post type that gets the most engagement, as well as the topic of the post. You can also get clues from the comments on your top posts.

Learn more: Three Most Useful Reports In Facebook Insights

7. Recycle past top-performing posts

Another way that you can find engaging content is to recycle top-performing posts from your page.  This strategy is almost guaranteed to get your fans liking, commenting and sharing. After all, they loved this content before.

Learn more: Recycling Facebook Page Content Works – And Here’s Proof

8. Be obsessive about replying

When you reply to comments on your updates, or tag users who have commented, notifications are sent to these users. This brings them back to the update to continue the discussion.

Make sure that you’re getting notifications for your page. You can get notifications on Facebook or by email, by visiting the notifications area in the settings area of your page (as shown below).

Learn more: 13 Super Creative Ways to Boost Facebook Page Reach – Without Facebook Ads

9. Enhance your best posts with ads

Use targeted boosted posts to create even more engagement on your top performing posts. Using Insights, select the most relevant post as it pertains to your upcoming fundraiser, and target that post wisely.

The post A Simple Facebook Checklist for Better Page Posts appeared first on Socialbrite.

Facebook is testing a new fundraising app that just might make giving as “social” as liking, commenting, and sharing.

Called “Fundraisers”, the app will include a set of fundraising features for charities and nonprofits:

• Share fundraising campaigns with Page followers
• Use photos and video to tell fundraising stories
• Track progress toward a campaign or project
• Update supporters when fundraising goals are achieved
• Customize donation amounts
• Get donations via credit card or PayPal

But this isn’t the first time Facebook has dabbled with fundraising features:

• In 2012 Facebook recommended a few third-party apps for fundraising.
• In 2013 Facebook tested a Donate Button that never really took off.
• In January of 2015, Facebook launched a Call-to-Action button for Pages that includes a“Donate” option.
• More recently Facebook has partnered with large charities on campaigns like fighting Ebola (below) and the Nepal earthquake.

A Donate Button for the News Feed

Fundraisers puts the donate buttons where it matters – in the News Feed! This lets people donate directly from their news feeds instead of having to visit the Page (which rarely happens).

Below is a fundraiser for the Syrian Refugee Crisis that allows users to choose a specific donation amount. According to Facebook, users will be able to donate and share fundraisers in just a few taps.

And here’s a video demo of the donor experience:

Fundraiser is being tested with Mercy Corps, World Wildlife Fund, and 35 other nonprofits in the U.S. and will expand that list soon. You can sign up to get news about the rollout.

The post A Facebook Donate Button for the News Feed that Might Actually Work! appeared first on Socialbrite.

I’ve been getting so many questions, and there’s been so much interest in this new app from the nonprofit community, that I thought posting this video Q and A would be an additional way to get the Persicope basics down, as well as some best practices and ideas on how your nonprofit can put Periscope to work.

Is your nonprofit using Periscope? Let me know in the comments! I’m doing a series of early case studies on Periscope for Nonprofts, and would love to feature how your nonprofit is leveraging Periscope for social or environmental good.

The post (VIDEO) Leveraging Periscope App for Social Good appeared first on Socialbrite.

This past Tuesday, I attended the Social Media for Nonprofits Conference in NYC. There’s always great content and discoveries to be made at the #SM4NP Conferences.  They tour around the country and are focused on providing great content and practical, tactical workshops and tools that nonprofits can put to work the next day. Full disclosure: I’m on their Leadership Council but I still know a good conference when I see one.

One of my favorite presentations came from Jereme Bivins and Jay Geneske from the Rockefeller Foundation. They were presenting one of their latest projects: HatchforGood.org. I had known about HatchforGood for a little while now but hadn’t given it a deep dive yet, so I was super excited to get this in-person primer at the conference.

Well, it’s really pretty great and it’s free. As the site tells us, Hatch acts like a concierge, connecting you to a suite of tools and a growing community to help you leverage storytelling to drive social impact and improve the lives of the poor and vulnerable around the world. The concept being that nonprofit’s stories don’t just materialize—they’re strategically planned, they’re creatively crafted, and they’re designed to achieve measurable outcomes.

Hatch has five sections, each designed to help you strategically craft, curate and share stories to drive social impact. As you answer questions, you are provided with suggested tools, case studies and resources that are customized to your needs. These recommendations will always be saved to your profile so you can access them later.
As you build your storytelling profile, you can explore case studies, look for ideas from storytelling thought leaders and even contribute your own. These resources can also be saved to your profile for later use.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of Hatch is that it has an ‘Evaluation’ section, which helps you measure the effectiveness and impact of your work. That’s great news for data-driven organizations and an impetus for those who struggle with metrics to wrap their heads around the impact of storytelling.

Great storytelling tools that make us smarter as organizations don’t come around often so go ahead, sign up and see how others are telling stories. It may inspire you to explore new ways of telling yours.

Hatch is currently in Beta. You can learn more at HatchforGood.org

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