YouTube ups the ante for nonprofits

In the past I've talked about web sites like CharityDocs.org and DoGooder.tv as "YouTubes for nonprofits." Of course, all this time, many nonprofits have also been posting their videos to YouTube as well, although many felt that their clips were being lost among the millions of videos there.

Starting today, YouTube is upping the ante for nonprofits, to encourage them to use their site as means of communicating their mission and message to the general public. YouTube's standard slogan of "Broadcast Yourself" has now officially morphed into "Broadcast Your Cause". In addition to the regular channel features that any YouTube member has access to, nonprofits will now get:

• Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacity.
• Designation as a "Nonprofit" on YouTube that clearly identifies organizations as a nonprofit to the YouTube community.
• The ability to embed a Google Checkout donation button on their channel and video pages, allowing people to quickly and securely make a contribution directly from YouTube.
• Rotation of your videos in the "Promoted Videos" areas throughout the site.

More good new: Starting today, nonprofits who offer Google Checkout for Non-Profits as a donation option - whether through YouTube or on their own sites - will receive 100 percent of donated funds, as Google has committed to processing all donations for free through at least the end of 2008.

What? Your organization doesn't even have a video camera? Well, as a special bonus, the first 300 nonprofits to sign up will receive a free video camera.

To sign up for your YouTube Nonprofit account, go to youtube.com/nonprofits and follow the proper links.

Now, my excitement about this news doesn't mean I'm no longer interested in following CharityDocs.org and DoGooder.tv or that these sites are no longer relevant. I believe you should be producing and posting videos in as many venues as you can. These other, specifically nonprofit focussed sites are also tied to production services if you don't have the ability to produce a video in-house or know anybody who can do it for you.

Online video has become a vital communications tool. With today's technology it doesn't take much to get started telling your story in moving images. YouTube makes it easy to post and host your video on their site using their servers and then easily embed it into your web site with no additional server load.

So, what are you waiting for?

(BTW, if you're a small Silicon Valley or Santa Cruz based nonprofit and you'd like to explore some video ideas, drop me a line at ken at goldstein.net.)