Google for Nonprofits Newsletter - July 2011

[Leslie Hernandez]

Google for Nonprofits Newsletter - July 2011

Your monthly round-up of the latest news and notes from Google for Nonprofits.

July 29, 2011

In this issue By the way What's new Tools in action Expert corner Connect

By the way TOP

Greetings from the team at Google for Nonprofits! Hope you stayed cool through the recent summer heat wave. Dip into some refreshing product updates, insights from our YouTube expert, Ramya, and a Google Apps success story. Wishing you a fun and fruitful August.

What's new TOP

Ashoka Changemakers Competition Launched Media is an integral part of how people understand, access, and share information about the world around them. We’re working with Ashoka to find and support the best, most innovative ideas to help people around the world unlock the power of media and participate more fully in society. Ashoka’s Changemakers, with support from Google, will source innovations that will boost media access and participation globally. Submit your idea here. Open Data Comes to Kenya The Kenyan government recently launched an open data web portal making it the first country in Africa to publish over 290 datasets with no restrictions on access and use.  We were involved in helping bring several datasets to life using the Google Public Data Explorer. If you’re interested in using Google Public Data Explorer to visualize your organization’s data with features such as charts and maps that animate over time, learn more here. New Tips and Tricks Available for Google Docs This month, we’re introducing a number of enhancements to Google Docs and Sites. Although shortcuts have long been available in your Google spreadsheets, we've added a new menu to spreadsheets to make shortcuts easier to find. Additionally, you can convert PPTX files to Google presentations by either uploading the file from your desktop or converting the file from your documents list. To see even more tips & tricks, check out the full list of updates here. Google+ Advice for NPOs Due to strong interest in Google+ profiles for businesses and nonprofits, the Google+ team has refocused a few priorities and we expect to have an initial version of business profiles up and running for everyone, including nonprofits, in the next few months. In the meantime, we ask that you not create a profile for your organization using a consumer profile on Google+. The platform is not currently built for the business use case, and we want to help you build long-term relationships with your constituents. Individuals within your organization are welcome to create their own personal profiles and share information through those. Girl Power! Google Science Fair Winners Announced Google welcomed the 15 finalists of our first inaugural Google Science Fair to see who would take home the top prize. The results are in—and this year was all about girl power. Our top three winners by age category are: Lauren Hodge, Naomi Shah & Shree Bose. Check out some of the free Google tools useful for science and research projects of any size here.

Tools in action TOP

Samasource, a social business dedicated to reducing poverty by connecting women, youth, and refugees to digital work, relies on Google Apps & Google AdWords to efficiently run their operations & get their message out to the world. Check out this short video to hear how they use Google Apps to scale their impact. "The suite of Google products has really helped us get off the ground and not have to pay too much money to do that. One of the main things that we’re dependent on is the movement work into the cloud. More and more work can get done without having workers in the same location. Using collaborative lists and shared information is one of the ways that nonprofits can reduce the pain of having a highly distributed organization without a lot of funding to build specialized software." - Leila Janah, Founder & CEO, Samasource

Expert corner TOP

This month we caught up with Ramya Raghavan, YouTube Product Marketing Manager, to hear the latest and greatest in the world of online video &  how nonprofits can leverage YouTube to get their message out.

Q: Why is online video important for nonprofits? Combining sight, sound and motion, video has the unique power to stir emotion in the viewer and compel him or her to take action. Whether you want to increase donations or raise awareness, video can help you achieve your organization's goals. YouTube, in particular, has 40 million unique daily viewers so by uploading a video you are potentially exposing your organization and its mission to a vast new audience who might not have otherwise heard of your work. Q: What are some features in YouTube that nonprofits should know about? Last March, YouTube started offering everyone the ability to automatically create captions on their videos. So far, auto-captions have been generated on nearly 40 million videos, and the number of manually-created caption tracks has more than tripled. Last week, we rolled rolled out this feature to a new language — Japanese -- and are hoping to add more languages soon. YouTube also recently introduced a logoless player option. Many nonprofits have asked for a version of the YouTube player without a YouTube logo, so the video plays without any branding nearby. We’ve now added a simple option to do it. At the end of the video URL in your embed code, just add the code ?modestbranding=1 and the player will show without the YouTube logo in the control bar. Note that a small “YouTube” text label will still show up in the upper-right corner of a paused video when you hover over the player. Q: Can you share any cool stories of organizations using YouTube? InvisiblePeople.TV, led by Mark Horvath, is a great example of an organization using YouTube to tell the stories of people who often don't have a voice. Through their YouTube channel, Invisible People chronicles the stories of homeless people across North America. With over 300 videos uploaded - and new ones added every day - they are a great example of an organization that is consistently and thoughtfully using YouTube to spread a message. To learn more about their work, check out this blog post on the YouTube blog. I also love the story of "The Pink Glove Dance," a feel-good video from the staff at the Portland St. Vincent Medical Center. The video is arguably the most viral nonprofit video ever with over 13 million views and it reminds me that a nonprofit video can be fun. In addition, the video helps the viewer understand why their organization is so special. Q: Do you have any tips for an organization that's just getting started with YouTube? Tell serial stories. Engage viewers with a series of videos that tell a story around a specific theme, and keep them coming back for more. Once you've created a few episodes, put them into a playlist. This allows you to develop several video narratives targeted at particular demographics. A good example is Rainforest Action Network’s “Greenwash of the Week" series or "Oxfam's Green Granny" series. Respond to current events. Address relevant news stories by posting videos that explain your position. You can then embed them in emails to your supporters — a video message can be more effective than a text-laden email. Also, users are probably more likely to be searching for topics currently in the news and may be more likely to find your video organically through the YouTube search bar. You’ll want to be sure to tag your video with timely and relevant words. Make your audience part of the video. Using YouTube annotations, you can create a “choose your own adventure”-style video, which puts the viewer in the driver’s seat and allows them to decide their video “fate.” Two great nonprofit examples of this style are “A Different Ending," a campaign combating knife crime in the U.K., and “That's Not Cool," a campaign from the Ad Council about staying safe online. Q: Where can nonprofits go to find resources and support for YouTube? Visit the "Tips and Tricks" section at www.youtube.com/nonprofits or helpful advice that is geared specifically towards nonprofits. For general YouTube help, from the best file formats for uploading to how to caption your video, the YouTube Help Center is a great resource.

Connect TOP

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