Is a Video Worth It for Crowdfunding? Here’s What You Need to Know

Nonprofits rely on video to tell their stories—except when it comes to crowdfunding. 

Videos pop up at fundraising dinners and recruitment events, on social media and in email pitches. They’re the go-to means to spark interest, set a mood, tell a story.

But crowdfunding campaigns barely seem to have video on their radar. Why?

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any reason that video should be inherently less valuable here than in any other context. It’s possible that organizations feel that a crowdfunding platform and team are already enough of an investment. But actually, the sense I get from clients and colleagues who work in this area is a lack of interest in video for its own sake. Sure, they’ll include a video somewhere, mainly because it’s expected. But they’re definitely not relying on it to build hype and drive up total donations.

This is such an aberration from the usual way of doing things that I had to take a closer look. Is there something about crowdfunding that makes video less worthwhile? 

Interestingly, when I dug into specific examples, here’s what I noticed.

The messaging isn’t there

Possibly because of their poor reputation among the crowdfunding crowd, videos that are attached to these kinds of projects don’t get a lot of resources. 

Sometimes, a campaign will just recycle an old video about the organization without making any effort to generate excitement or urgency for the current fundraising effort. Even newly produced videos are more likely to be broad and generic, maybe so that they can be recycled in turn down the line.

Crowdfunding is about creating an intense burst of excitement and momentum, sweeping up a community in a meaningful moment of action and achievement. You want the kind of energy that has people tracking the numbers, sharing the link and driving the totals as high as they can. Any video that’s going to be able to help with this will need to connect with viewers in a meaningful way. Why should they be personally motivated to get involved? Why is it important to give right now?

Wrong place, wrong time

Again, probably because video isn’t regarded highly in these spaces, there’s no guarantee that it will be placed prominently on a campaign’s landing page or social media.

Sometimes it is, but just as often, it’s embedded low on the page or made very small so it doesn’t seem significant enough to click on.

The problem with this, of course, is that a video tucked away on the corner of a website isn’t doing anyone any good.

A video on social media can attract interest and draw people in to learn more. A video in the center of the landing page where it draws the eye can elaborate on the importance of the project and convince site visitors to commit to a donation.

Seeing all this, I have to wonder if the lack of results from video in crowdfunding is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Somewhere along the way, people in this field began to invest less in video, and now, they’re taking the lack of results as proof that it was never worth much in the first place.

Does this ring true with your crowdfunding experiences? Or do you have another explanation to offer?

If you’re planning a crowdfunding campaign and want a video that actually drives donations, let’s talk. Serio Films specializes in nonprofit storytelling that moves people to act.