I’ve just returned from a trip out to Rwanda with the medical non-profit organization, Team Heart. Their mission is to address and prevent Rheumatic Heart Disease in Rwanda and East Africa, which is a significant problem to the tune of causing 30% of all hospitalizations. Their strategy is to administer penicillin for prevention and operate on those who need heart surgery.
When I first met Team Heart I realized that their mission was multi-layered and that the language of medicine is not easily familiar to those outside of the medical world. I produced this video to help them explain their mission in an accessible and easily digestible manner.
For my most recent trip with Team Heart, my goal was to create a video that they can use for their fundraising efforts. Strategically, my aim for this work was not just to help people understand the mission, but also to build more of an emotional connection between the story and prospective donors.
Every messaging strategy mixes logic with emotion but I think when it comes to giving your money for good, the logic needs to hit a certain baseline threshold and then the emotion needs to be the ultimate selling point. Generally inspiration will always beat out urgency of the mission. There are lots of urgent causes – but inspiration is ultimately going to be what make people feel good about giving and telling their friends. For Sr. Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Chip Bolman, the patients inspire him.
Short term, I’ve been sharing photos on Tumblr and Picasa (hit me up on G+)… Mid term I plan to deliver a 5-10 minute video for fundraisers… As for long term? Dave Wilson, Chairman of Team Heart tells me I should think Sundance - but we’ll see about that!
Of course non profits do not need to hire a photographer / videographer to produce great content. Simply starting a blog, Tumblr or YouTube page can allow you to share great content frequently enough to keep everyone engaged with the mission. The key is to keep it simple and let the story tell itself. And as always, the more visual the better! Make sure to check out Team Heart's Blog.
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