Can a film help your non-profit? A great video can make you, a bad video can break you, but the most likely scenario is that barely anyone will watch it. That doesn’t have to be the case. Mat Hames, President and Creative Director of Alpheus Media looked at the most successful non-profit films, and analyzed what worked. We’ll also looked at some well-done non-profit films with less of an impact. We saw nine themes emerge about successful, impactful videos, and saw the best non-profit stories recently told on Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Vine, and other channels.

1. NOBODY WILL WATCH YOUR VIDEO, UNLESS…
9 T I P S F O R I M P A C T F U L S T O R Y T E L L I N G
M A T H A M E S — P R I N C I P A L A N D P R E S I D E N T , A L P H E U S M E D I A

2. EMAIL: MAT@ALPHEUSMEDIA.COM
TWITTER: @MATHAMES

4. What story should we tell?
How do we tell it?

6. T H E M O S T L I K E L Y S C E N A R I O :
N O B O D Y W I L L W A T C H Y O U R V I D E O

7. T H E R E A R E M A N Y P R A C T I C A L R E A S O N S
R E A S O N S
1 . N O B O D Y I S E N G A G E D W I T H Y O U O N L I N E
2 . I T ’ S S E L F - H O S T E D O N Y O U R L O W T R A F F I C S I T E
3 . N O B O D Y E L S E I S L I N K I N G T O Y O U
4 . Y O U H A V E N ’ T P U T I T O N S O C I A L M E D I A
5 . Y O U R V I D E O I S W A Y , W A Y T O O L O N G
6 . Y O U R V I D E O I S B O R I N G
7 . Y O U R V I D E O I S N ’ T O P T I M I Z E D O R T A G G E D
8 . Y O U R T I T L E A N D D E S C R I P T I O N A R E V A G U E O R
C O N F U S I N G
9 . Y O U D I D N ’ T P I C K A P E R F E C T S T I L L I M A G E F O R
Y O U R I C O N

8. I F M O R E
N O N - P R O F I T S C O U L D
L E A R N T H E B A S I C S O F
G O O D V I D E O
S T O R Y T E L L I N G ,
T H E I R W O R K M I G H T
M O V E P E O P L E T O A C T .

9. Q : I S A U D I E N C E
A T T E N T I O N
S P A N W O R S E
T H A N E V E R ?
T I P # 1
A : … I T
D E P E N D S .

11. Q : H O W I M P O R T A N T
I S T H E O P E N I N G ?
A : T H E O P E N I N G
I S C R I T I C A L .
T I P # 2

12. Q : H O W S H O U L D I
T E L L T H E S T O R Y O F
O U R O R G A N I Z A T I O N ?
A : T H R O U G H A
P E R S O N ’ S S T O R Y .
( N O T A N I S S U E ! )
T I P # 3

13. Q : W H A T D O E S
T H E A U D I E N C E
W A N T T O S E E ?
A : A F A R A W A Y
P L A C E , I N A F U N
W A Y .
T I P # 4

14. M A M A H O P E T R A I N S
E N T R E P R E N E U R S
A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
T O H A V E A N I M P A C T
I N T H E I R C O M M U N I T Y .

15. Q : W H A T H A P P E N S
T O T H E P E R S O N ?
A : T H E Y C H A N G E
A N D G R O W T H O U G H
O B S T A C L E S .
T I P # 5

16. Q : W H A T T U R N S
P E O P L E O F F ?
A : H E L P L E S S
V I C T I M S .
T I P # 6

17. Q : S H O U L D I
F O R G E T A B O U T A
C A L L T O A C T I O N ?
A : M A Y B E ,
M A Y B E
N O T .
T I P # 7

18. T I P # 8
C H O O S E Y O U R C H A N N E L

19. T I P # 9
K N O W Y O U R A U D I E N C E

20. R E C A P P I N G T H E T I P S
1 . A U D I E N C E A T T E N T I O N S P A N
2 . T H E A R T O F T H E O P E N I N G
3 . A P E R S O N Y O U C A R E A B O U T
4 . A S E N S E O F P L A C E
5 . T H E H E R O ’ S J O U R N E Y
6 . L E T Y O U R A U D I E N C E F E E L
W O N D E R
7 . C A L L T O A C T I O N
8 . T H I N K A B O U T T H E C H A N N E L
9 . K N O W W H E R E Y O U R M O S T
I M P O R T A N T A U D I E N C E W I L L S E E T H E
V I D E O

21. EMAIL: MAT@ALPHEUSMEDIA.COM
TWITTER: @MATHAMES