YouTube plus overlay ads plus non-profit equals big bucks! Last week YouTube launched a call-to-action feature for non-profit partners. This allows these organizations to include in-video clickable ads leading to their web sites.
Requirements are fairly simple according to YouTube:
Organizations applying for the Nonprofit program must meet the following criteria:
**Organizations must be U.S.-based nonprofits with IRS 501(c)(3) tax status
**May not be religious or political in nature
**May not be focused primarily on lobbying for political or policy change
**Commercial organizations, credit-counseling services, donation middleman services, fee-based organizations, and nonprofit portals are not eligible for the program
This is currently only available in the US and UK. The effectiveness is apparently very, very good – reputedly one of the partners raised $10,000 in one day using these ads in a video featured on YouTube’s home page on World Water Day.
The call to action in this particular video overlay says, “Give a person clean water. 100% of your gift directly funds water wells” and links to the proper donation page.
The YouTube blog has a post by Ramya Raghavan:
“The response from the YouTube community was overwhelming — thanks to you, charity:water was able to raise over $10,000 in one day from the video. That’s enough to build two brand-new wells in the Central African Republic and give over 150 people clean drinking water for 20 years!”
YouTube is encouraging other nonprofits to add a similar call to action overlay. Organizations can go to “edit video” and fill out the fields in the section marked “Call to Action overlay.” Simply add a short headline, ad text, a destination URL, and upload an optional image. The overlay will appear every time someone watches the video!
Tags: Call to action, charity:water, YouTube