Make an Impact with Advocacy Videos

Let's face it, there are a lot of bad videos out there in the nonprofit/activist world. On one side of the spectrum there are the "doom-umentaries" -- videos that portray a social or environmental problem in apocalyptic detail, full of descriptions of disturbing trends that will certainly lead to global disaster. On the other side of the spectrum there are the nonprofit infomercials -- litanies of organizational activities and accomplishments that can cause heads to droop and eyelids to flutter shut during lackluster afternoon screenings.

But it doesn't have to be that way!

There is a third way to use audio-visual media to advance important social causes. I'm talking about advocacy videos.

Advocacy videos help viewers see a problem in a new light. They leave audiences feeling excited about taking action and joining others to make a difference. Advocacy videos are sophisticated exercises in persuasion; they make a strong argument, involve the viewer, and engage the audience in what happens next.

What we call an "advocacy video" is a short video form used by community and other nonprofit organizations to make a specific argument about a cause they are fighting for.

To view some examples of an advocacy video online go to the Media That Matters Film Festival or the Greenpeace .

For example, an advocacy video is longer than a public service announcement (or PSA, which is usually less than one minute in length) but well under a half an hour. Ranging from five to 15 minutes, advocacy videos provide a unique opportunity for your organization to raise important issues and convey key information to wide audiences.

Examples of a Successful Advocacy Video Campaign

In 1999, my company, Big Mouth Productions made an advocacy video for the Fortune Society, a nonprofit organization in New York City. Fortune Society helps ex-offenders re-adjust to life outside of prison. The organization pre-screens and counsels former prisoners and helps them develop marketable skills. At the time Fortune Society approached us, they were trying to encourage New York employers to hire ex-offenders. Although the program was effective in placing former prisoners in the workplace, Fortune Society staff found they were spending a large amount of one-on-one time with potential employers. This was consuming an inordinate amount of the organization's resources. They needed another way.

Fortune Society had identified enthusiastic employers who had very positive experiences hiring ex-offenders. They also had former clients who went on to become stellar employees. They reasoned that prospective employers could be convinced to take a chance on hiring an ex-offender if they could see and hear the first-hand experiences of their most successful cases. Since hiring their favorite clients and employers as spokespeople was a little impractical, a video seemed the best way to share the enthusiasm and real-life success stories with others.

Our camera crew interviewed several people who were directly affected by the Fortune Society program. We also interviewed the executive director of the Fortune Society, who described the overall mission and philosophy of the organization. The emotional testimony of these individuals, combined with some key statistics about ex-offenders in the workplace as well as footage of the ex-offenders at their current jobs, helped to paint a positive picture of hiring ex-offenders.

The Fortune Society then started using the video strategically for their programs. They set up screenings and discussions with groups of employers and answered any specific questions that they had. Fortune staff also brought the video to conferences to showcase their work to colleagues and funders. The video was a great success in helping the Fortune Society to bring on new employers as clients, as well to secure new funding for the employment program.

National Focus

Another good indication that an advocacy video might work for you is if you are organizing nationally around a particular issue. Take the example of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. In 2000, they conducted a campaign to raise awareness about and help stop predatory lending. Predatory lending is a practice whereby banks convince low and middle-income homeowners to refinance their mortgages at unfavorable terms, which often include hidden fees, balloon payments, and interest rate increases. Thousands of people have been ripped off by such lending practices, often resulting in families losing their homes. Low-income and elderly families are the most common victims. ACORN was organizing communities around the country to take action against their local predatory lenders. They felt that a video describing the problem would be helpful for three purposes:

1. It clarified the issue. The issue was complicated, and having a video that described it succinctly would help more people to understand the issue and focus on that issue.
2. It supported overworked staff. ACORN's campaign depended on the strength of its community organizers all over the country, and some of the organizers were more effective than others. The video would present a uniform message that could work in all communities and would strengthen the campaign in those areas where the argument needed to made clearer.
3. The national message inspired local efforts. People watching the video in Missoula, Montana, could see that the very same problems were affecting real people, even nice grandparents, in Philadelphia and Baltimore. This emotional reality helped galvanize them to take action, with the knowledge that they were part of larger efforts around the country. The predatory lending Video became a unifying force for ACORN's organizing campaign for the next 18 months.

Make a Plan

Is an Advocacy Video the right thing for you? Before you consider making an advocacy video for your organization, make sure you really need it and you know how you are going to use it.

Advocacy videos can be used for many advocacy strategies:

• attracting new members or constituents
• raising awareness about an important policy issue
• organizing community members to take action on a particular issue
• celebrating an important anniversary of an organization or program
• raising funds from targeted funding sources
• showcasing the work of the organization and its programs

Planning Tips for your video campaign:

• Video is a form that is well designed to convey simple, persuasive arguments.
• Choose a specific purpose for the video and design it accordingly.
• Decide how the video can be used most effectively before you begin production.
• Advocacy videos are much stronger when they don't stand alone. Make sure your staff members present the video at screenings, are prepared to answer specific questions and help lead discussions.
• Define your audience. Never say, "The tape is for everyone."

Pitfalls to Avoid

One key pitfall is that nonprofits frequently want an advocacy video to accomplish all the existing goals of the organization. An advocacy video is more powerful if it is specific in its message. Avoid making your video a laundry list of the organization's accomplishments, or a litany of problems existing in the community. The viewer will not be moved to action by a visual representation of an annual report. However, filming a person who works passionately on a specific issue and speaks articulately about its importance can be enormously effective at enabling viewers to perceive an issue in a new light. And that is empowering.

Always keep in mind that what an advocacy video can do best is convey the emotional power behind a nonprofit's mission and activities. People may read a brochure to learn lots of useful facts, but a video can make the viewer feel how important your work is. Video can make an emotional impression that your audience will remember more than the language of your mission statement. An advocacy video that just sits on the shelf or is put in the mail is not going to advocate very much to anyone. Make sure you have a distribution plan before you shoot.

Cost

The cost to produce an advocacy video varies widely, based on regional production prices as well as the specific need of your organization. If you are part of a national organization that wants to film interviews at programs all over the country, then your costs will go up substantially. On the other hand, if you and the video company can devise a means of generating information through a few interviews in one location, the cost can be much lower. The other factor that affects the price of the video is the length of the finished product. Many production companies charge $2,000 - $3,000 per finished minute, meaning that if the video is five minutes long it will cost $10,000 - $15,000 to produce. These are the "hard costs" of producing a video and they are not specific to advocacy video filmmaking. Some production companies that are small and have low overhead expenses, or that are committed to your mission may offer greatly reduced rates, so you should try to negotiate the price.

Generally, the other related costs of running a successful advocacy video campaign are not included in the production cost of the video, and you should therefore calculate them separately. These additional costs include tape duplication (which ranges from $2 to $6 per VHS) the writing and printing of discussion guides, and any Web-based use of the video. You should determine these costs by reviewing them with staff at your organization. The MediaRights.org Outreach Toolkit offers interactive budgets for outreach campaigns that can help you calculate some of these figures. You can also ask potential video producers to talk you through the production process and the budget.

Finding a Video Company

After you have determined internally that a video would be a vital support to your organization's activities and you have secured the necessary funds, you need to seek the services of a video production company that meets your needs. There are many companies that produce PSAs, educational, and industrial videos that are capable of making an advocacy video for you. Search the MediaRights.org Media Maker Database to find producers interested in social issues.

Style and Approach

There are two good ways to determine if the video company you choose will be a good fit with your work.

• Talk to the company about what you had in mind and see if it understands your organization's mission and can describe a video strategy that sounds compelling.
• Get a sense of the company's work by viewing its past educational or advocacy videos. This will give you a sense of the production values of the company and will help you to have a more specific conversation about the kinds of elements you might want to include in the video. While watching past work, you should consider: does it have graphics, interviews, music, and narration? Does it feel like a news segment or like a television commercial? Even if the video samples you view are not what you had in mind for your organization's advocacy video they will help you start a dialogue with the producer about your vision.

To Sum Up

Advocacy videos can greatly assist a nonprofit to achieve specific, strategic goals. The most common stumbling block faced by nonprofits considering making a video is lack of a clear purpose for the video. While the moving image is a powerful medium, it is not a panacea for the larger structural or programmatic problems of a nonprofit institution.

The video is also only as effective as the organization itself, and therefore a solid plan for how the video will be used is an essential component of any advocacy campaign. However, a well-planned advocacy campaign with a strong, emotional video can help to galvanize members of an organization and their constituents in a unique way. If the time is right and the money can be found, an advocacy video can launch your organization to new heights and save your staff valuable time and energy.