HI-TRANSFER

Last month we announced YouTube Next Cause: a new program designed to help nonprofit organizations that are already changing the world better use online video to drive action.

We were honored, inspired and deeply moved by many of the applications we received.

We are proud to introduce you to some members of the first class of YouTube Next Cause: 20 organizations who’ve demonstrated passion and huge potential for using YouTube to further their causes.

The organizations come from big cities and small towns across the country from Illinois to Colorado to Texas to California and many work all over the world. They also work on variety of issues from animal abuse to homelessness to poverty alleviation to children’s health.

 Check out these great organizations:

 

Autism Speaks
Children's Hospital Boston
IFAW - International Fund for Animal Welfare
Sunlight Foundation
BuildOn
American Heart Association
CARE
American Foundation for Equal Rights
Malaria No More
The Humane Society of the United States
The Pablove Foundation
COTS - Committee on the Shelterless
Durango Discovery Museum
Save Mount Diablo
Art Resources in Teaching
breakthrough
Per Scholas
The Supply
Born Free USA
The Lazarex Cancer Foundation

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates from the YouTube Next Cause channels, and learn more about other programs helping partners grow at the YouTube Creator Hub.

Jessica Mason, communications associate, recently watched “The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On”

Last year we launched YouTube NextUp to accelerate the growth of the next big YouTube stars. Then in October, we announced YouTube Next Chef and YouTube Next Trainer to turbocharge up-and-coming cooking and fitness channels by great YouTube video creators. We’re excited to share the latest addition to the Next Creator family of programs: YouTube Next Cause for nonprofits.

YouTube Next Cause is designed to help organizations that are already changing the world better use online video to drive action. At a one-day summit in San Francisco on April 2, selected participants will get access to everything from training in YouTube fundamentals, to promotion and community engagement tips, to one-on-one consulting sessions to grow their YouTube presence.

We’ve always sought to make YouTube a platform for nonprofits to broadcast their messages. And we’ve seen amazing things happen when the YouTube community comes together in support of great causes. With 4 billion views a day, we want to make sure nonprofits have the tools they need to reach the global audience on YouTube and turn video views into donations, volunteerism and awareness.

Applications for YouTube Next Cause are due on February 27, 2012 at 11:59PM PT, and the selected nonprofits will be announced on March 5. This program is open to organizations that are part of the YouTube Nonprofit Program (full eligibility requirements). You can apply online at: http://goo.gl/ODbI6.

Check out what nonprofits are doing on YouTube at youtube.com/nonprofits. And tune in around March 5 to learn more about some of the great nonprofit organizations chosen and what they’re doing to change the world!

 

Hunter Walk, director of product management, recently watched “Using YouTube with a Purpose - Helping Kids in Bangladesh.”

Nonprofits are an important part of the YouTube community, and their videos have educated and inspired audiences since the early days of the site. We launched the YouTube Nonprofit Program in 2007 to help organizations take their work to the next level, and since then, more than 16,000 nonprofits have joined the program. There are hundreds of nonprofit organizations with millions of views on YouTube, and dozens with more than ten million views, like Greenpeace, Khan Academy and UNICEF.

We’ve made a couple of updates to the program that we hope will help nonprofits use video in new and compelling ways.

• The Playbook Guide: YouTube for Good. This is a how-to resource specifically targeted at nonprofit organizations, with sections on how to create content, raise funds, connect with other community members and more.
• Improved features. As part of our new Channels design, we’ve made the donate button on nonprofit channels even more prominent, making it easier than ever to support the causes you care about.

If you’re a YouTube Nonprofit Program with other ideas about how we can make the program better, tell us your suggestions in the comments below! If you’re a nonprofit in the U.S., U.K., Canada or Australia and not yet a member, visit www.youtube.com/nonprofits to learn more and apply.

Valerie Streit, YouTube Next Lab, recently watched “Martin Luther King Jr. on NBC’s Meet the Press in 1965.”