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The Magnificent MagnusCards Launch: Photo and Video Package


Links to review:


My Role: Producer and director


Backstory: This large regional bank engages our team throughout the year for their video and photography needs. They recently partnered with a company to assist people with disabilities, like autism, understand and perform banking tasks. This project involved multiple media needs in one: a set of photographs to be used for the innovative digital step-by-step "card decks", a promo video for the launch of this new tool, and two behind-the-scenes vertical videos to highlight the product and partnership on social media.


I previously enjoyed spending an exciting weekend in Jackson, Mississippi for this client's Gameday Surprise at Jackson State University. The MagnusCards project was even more personal than usual, since I have a child with autism. I used my knowledge and experience with my daughter and previous work with individuals with disabilities to meticulously plan two days of work with the talent. This helped us be organized and methodical on set, providing a peaceful space for the talent to really shine.


Pre-production meetings and open communication on set allowed us to move quickly through the shot lists as we bounced back and forth between two talent. Wardrobe changes, plenty of breaks and even weather surprises were never a problem.


Challenges: Making a promo video for a product mid-development is always tricky, but we were also involved in making the actual product, so that was nice! I had to create several spreadsheets and collaborate closely with the three crew members overseeing the technical execution of each part of the project. We had three very different shot lists and only two days to capture everything.


A peek at one of three different shot lists.


Successes: We provided more than enough photos to fulfill the client's need for the "decks". They were able to use some photos in the promotion of the product as well, which we are very happy about. Their product launched the first week of October, with a press release and lots of happy comments on social media. I am proud to have been a part of this project, helping others live more independent lives.


Some of the card deck covers.


This shot was composed on set with nothing on screen. The app was added in post.


Promotional image being used on their landing page.





A Guide to Creating More Impactful Fundraising Videos

Updated: Jul 24


READ THE FULL SERIES HERE: https://courtneysandifer.substack.com


Sometimes they are heartfelt tear-jerkers and other times they are precise, calculated visual pitches. Video is one of the most powerful tools a nonprofit can wield while fundraising. I have produced thousands of videos over the past 15 years, and many, many of them have been for nonprofit organizations to use in fundraising campaigns. These videos are some of my favorite projects, although they are not always the easiest to pull off well.


I’ve decided to compile the things I’ve learned into four articles. This is not meant to be a “how-to guide” or a comprehensive overview of best practices. This is more of a “don’t overlook this!” series of tips and points to consider as you are planning and producing fundraising videos. Each article will discuss the different phases of production: pre-production, production, post-production and deployment / distribution. (I really wanted to use the word publishing here for the alliteration, but I digress…) Let’s jump into questions to ask yourself in pre-pro!


PART 1: Pre-Production

Do you have reference videos or inspiration imagery for the production team?

It seems simple, but by far the most helpful thing you can do to get on the same page with a video production crew is to show examples and inspiration imagery. This includes photos, graphics, websites, social media ads, Pinterest boards – anything visual, really. It’s best practice for anyone heading up a video project to draft a creative brief, with some standard information about the target audience, timeline, potential content and messaging. These are all great to have, but visuals can go a loooong way when communicating what you want.


Start now! Create a “video ideas” folder. Make a document with a list and collect links to all the things board members have sent you, links to videos you admired on YouTube, links to websites that seem to be doing a kick*$$ job fundraising. Save screenshots of social media ads and put them in the folder. If you need to, make a pdf of an impressive campaign email, so you don’t forget about it.


Before your project kickoff meeting, do your research and organize your thoughts. Look up some bigger nonprofits and see what they have created recently. Take all of your video ideas, the directives from leadership and distill them into the high points. Do you notice a theme in the content? Group stuff and put the organized ideas into your creative brief or a secondary doc or PowerPoint


Example: Here’s a Pinterest board I created to help brainstorm for a video I produced for a medical school’s center for humanities and ethics. The client came to me with visuals ready to go, mostly in the form of their quarterly magazine containing student art, poetry and photography. Our team was able to take that and run with it. This helped more with graphics than filming, since about half the footage was already created before we started working on it. But, if planning far enough ahead, your crew can factor in color palettes, shot styles and composition using your inspiration imagery. Watch the finished video here to see how this one turned out.



Where will your audience view the video?

Will they be a captive audience at a gala? Will they see it while networking on LinkedIn? Or will they see it as a paid ad while doomscrolling on their phone? These are all very different situations that require different tactics for the production and editing of your video. Be considerate of the audience as you go through the process. Here are a few points to keep in mind:


Intros: For events like a gala or luncheon, you will likely want a few seconds of an opening buffer to give time for the audience to settle and turn their attention. However, for YouTube and social media engagement, you’ll want to cut that intro out and get right to the story.


Pacing & Length: With your captive gala audience and even on YouTube, you are allowed to linger on moments to let emotions steep, have a longer runtime and slow the pace of your storytelling to fit a more heartfelt, cinematic tone. The general rule of thumb for these types of videos would be to fall in the three to five minute range.

If you are posting only on social media or embedding your video in a website landing page, consider cutting your video down to one to two minutes. The pacing should pick up. Be sure to hook the audience up front with something powerful that makes them want to keep watching. Trim out all “uhs” and “ums” and use more exciting and engaging visuals, less “talking heads”.


Captions / Subtitles: It may seem clunky to include subtitles on the screen at an event, but for big rooms where some of the audience may not be able to hear well, it would be helpful to put the captions visible and up at the top of the screen. The bottoms of screens are often obscured by the heads of other audience members, so I recommend the top. This is also helpful for any audience members that are hard-of-hearing. For online viewing platforms, you will want to add captions at the bare minimum as well. I’ll discuss accessibility more in my post-production article.


What will be the heart of the story?

There are a lot of tips I could give in the story-craft side of video production. Too many for this article! The most comprehensive advice would be to focus on the heart of the story you are trying to tell. My first keyword here is FOCUS.


Focus: Your organization likely has a broad range of services and many success stories to tell, but a good fundraising video will narrow down to one single statement. Try not to use this chance to re-tell your organization’s history, or go over every program or initiative. Dig in and find some emotion in the “why” of your organization.


If you want your audience to understand how big of an impact their donations make in the lives of your clients, tell a client story that illustrates this, and keep the focus mostly on this story. Program staff and graphics can add some context or illustrative elements, but don’t stray too much from the person or group whose story you are telling. This example of a video I produced for Habitat for Humanity is a good example of this:



If your goal is to encourage donors to stay engaged across a series of programs or initiatives, try focusing on a singular clear statement you want to make. And stick to it. You can thoughtfully script a video that tells this story in a focused way, so that you don’t get a rambling executive director or internal tension from trying to see whose initiatives will get more screen time. Check out this example from a large educational institution, where we answered the question “What is philanthropy” at their organization. We were able to highlight a diverse selection of their beneficiaries and keep the video focused and concise.



Overall, I would say my biggest tip is to do more brainstorming and planning before you engage the video production crew and go into production. This will help you understand what you really want, and it will help the crew understand what they are expected to do.


The next article will talk more about things to keep in mind during production, like who and what to put on camera.







Two Peas in a Pod: Evidence-based Policy and Heartfelt Storytelling

Updated: Jun 2



Link to read and watch:


My Role: Producer and writer


Backstory: Arnold Ventures is an evidence-based philanthropic organization that focuses on funding evidence-based policy and programs from a wide range of areas including criminal justice, education, health care, and public finance. They came to us to help tell the story of new research that came out showing the benefits of mentorship programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters on youth. I jumped at the chance to dive in and discover more, eventually interviewing a lovely mentor and his mentee.


Challenges: Incorporating data into an emotional, impactful video can be tricky. I collaborated with the client to "sprinkle" this information throughout the video, creating emphasis at important transitional points in the video and at the end.


Successes: The client was able to successfully use the video and a shorter version to amplify the story across all of their social media and digital platforms.



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