Just hours after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, the American Red Cross has a video with images of the devastation up on YouTube. The video is currently being “spotlighted” by YouTube and appears on the front page which is sure to garner lots of views and more importantly donations.
The Red Cross participates in YouTube’s Nonprofit program so they get some special advantages other YouTube channels do not. Non-profit designated YouTube channels are allowed to provide links directly from videos and from the channel itself. They can solicit donations via Google Checkout.
Full benefits can be found at http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits and are summarized below.
Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacity
The option to drive fundraising through a Google Checkout “Donate” button
Listing on the Nonprofit channels and the Nonprofit videos pages
Ability to add a Call-to-action overlay on your videos to drive campaigns
Posting a video opportunity on the YouTube Video Volunteers platform to find a skilled YouTube user to create a video for their cause.