The YouTube Nonprofit Program Just Got Cooler

Recently, we added two new product features to the YouTube Nonprofit Program -- the option for nonprofit partners to choose custom thumbnails for videos and the ability to link to external websites through video annotations. Here's a video walk-through of these new features:



If you're a member of the YouTube Nonprofit Program already, you're good to go. And if you're a 501(c)3 in the U.S. or registered charity in the U.K., you can apply to the program now at www.youtube.com/nonprofits.

Where Are the Wild Things? On YouTube.

The Wall Street Journal blog recently reported that in tough economic times, zoos and aquariums are turning to YouTube to introduce their animals and exhibits to new audiences. Some are getting incredible traction, like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, whose video about a fish with a transparent head has received over 1.7 million views and attention from National Geographic and Steven Colbert.

Also, as state and federal budgets are cut, other zoos and aquariums are using YouTube to launch advocacy campaigns to save their funding. The Bronx Zoo released two adorable PSAs featuring a porcupine whose "job" had been terminated. Here's one of them:



Says Luke Groskin who produced the Bronx Zoo videos, "we’ve amassed roughly 70,000 letters, emails, petitions" and in a recent follow-up email, "it looks very likely that NY state is going to restore all of our funding! We credit this likely turn around in part to our public awareness campaign - particularly the placement it received in YouTube."

YouTube Nonprofit Raises $10,000 for Clean Water in a Single Day

This week, we launched a new "Call to Action" feature for YouTube nonprofit partners, which allows them to drive traffic from an in-video overlay to an off-site page where they can collect donations, signatures or email addresses. Already, we're seeing nonprofit organizations use this new feature with great success.

On Sunday, to commemorate World Water Day, we featured a video from charity:water on the YouTube homepage, which used a call-to-action overlay to encourage YouTube users to donate money to build wells and provide clean, safe drinking water for those who don't have it.

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!

Feeling inspired? If you're a YouTube nonprofit partner, adding a call-to-action overlay is easy. Just go to "Edit Video" and fill out the fields in the section marked "Call to Action Overlay". Then click "Save" and the overlay should appear on your video. And if you're a nonprofit organization in the U.S. or U.K. who hasn't yet joined the YouTube Nonprofit Program, but would like to gain access to Call to Action and other special benefits, you can apply now at www.youtube.com/nonprofits.