Video Fundraising Features

2010 Circle of Excellence Awards Program
Judges Report

General Comments: The fundraising video category remains one of the most competitive Circle of Excellence electronic media categories, this year with 44 traditional entries plus eight Flash productions for the Web (judged separately) - that's up slightly from a couple years ago. The quality of video fundraising entries generally has crept up over time, and this year's eight award winners are testimony to the judges' challenge in choosing the best from a strong field.

For those judges who have been involved in assessing fundraising videos for many years, it's been fascinating to observe them morphing over time - much like watching an old friend undertake a challenging new career assignment. Beginning as simplistic slide shows most often supporting a capital campaign, the audiovisual tools for fundraising have broadened and narrowed - broadened in use of new technologies and in their integration in the overarching fundraising strategy; narrowed in the growing use of niche videos to support specific programs and even specific donors' interests.

Still, the judges noted, some entries seemed trapped in the past - offering fawning paeans to donors, featuring wooden and awkward presidents and deans in need of media training, and approaching their subject from an institution-centric view, rather than telling their story and making their case through the people these programs support and serve.

It has held true over the years that a big budget does not necessarily make for an award-winning video. That was borne out again this year. While a couple of the winners had production budgets in the fairly-common $50-100,000 range, other winners were produced in-house at little or no cost. And a considerable number of well-budgeted entries didn't make the cut - not because they were inadequate in their execution, but because they lacked the creative spark that engages both audiences and the CASE Circle of Excellence judges.

Finally, we should note that a number of Flash productions for use on websites have been entered in recent years, most being rather pedestrian. Although few have taken an award in the past, two non-interactive productions using Flash were recognized with Silver Awards this year - evidence, the judges suspect, that this relatively new medium may be coming of age.

Traditional Video, DVD, CD or Film

(44 Entries)

Grand Gold Award
University of California, Berkeley - Thanks to Berkeley...The Campaign for Berkeley

This campaign kickoff video begins with a quote from the chancellor, white type on black: "Thanks to Berkeley . . . our lives, our society, and our world have been uplifted and enriched." Then a breathtaking opening sequence juxtaposes close-ups of graduates' faces with aerial views of the region and the campus. Next, seamlessly and fluidly, you're moving between commencement scenes and the settings and people that define Berkeley. With an alumni chorus as the soundtrack - and no narrator or other voices - the viewer becomes immersed in the aural and visual experience of being a part of this remarkable community.

In their description of the production as part of the award entry, the Berkeley team notes that "the film was designed to create an emotional connection between the audiences of major and prospective major donors and the great promise of the university as seen through the eyes of Cal students." They accomplished that with the finesse and warmth of a caress, creating a model for the kind of emotional engagement all fund-raising videos should emulate.

Gold Award
Pennsylvania State University Hershey Medical Center - Leading the Way to a Healthier World. The Campaign for Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital

Like the Berkeley video, this award winner also opens with simple white type on black - but with a very different message: "Isabella was 20 months old . . . when she was diagnosed with leukemia." What follows is a highly personal tale of Isabella and two other young patients at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. The viewer follows the three through the emotionally-wrenching journey of their life-threatening situations, as information on the resources of the hospital is interwoven with their stories, as it the need for the free-standing children's hospital the campaign would fund. It's compelling case-stating.

DVDs of the video were sent to hundreds of prospects and donors in a simple but informative sleeve, and was used widely at development events, with internal audiences, and on the Web.

Silver Awards
Abilene Christian University (Texas) - The Promise

This half-hour documentary primarily was produced to serve as the centerpiece for the university's annual dinner meeting of major donors - but its message complements other communications needs in student recruiting and fundraising, among other areas. "The Promise" is an unequivocal message: "ACU is a vibrant, innovative, Christ-centered community that engages students in authentic spiritual and intellectual growth, equipping them to make a real difference in the world."

The first half of the production introduces some of ACU's particular strengths - education, physics, business administration, journalism and mass communications, for example - all in the context of a Christ-centered institution. The second half explores the university's commitment to students in Madagascar, as a delegation traveled there to hold a commencement for 24 students in ACU's Madagascar Presidential Scholars program. All in all, its an engaging and diverse look at a most unusual - and distinctive - small university.

Stanford University (Calif.) - Stanford Scholarship Videos

This set of five brief profiles of scholarship recipients captures the unique personality, strengths and goals of each, and through their diversity, creates a mosaic of scholarship support at Stanford.

Posted on the Stanford website, Facebook, and YouTube, the profiles have garnered about 58,000 views. The students profiled are charming special people, and by lovingly telling their stories, these vignettes subtly reinforce the image of Stanford as a charming, special institution.

Texas A&M University-Commerce - Scholarship Videos

Only the subject matter - scholarships - is in common between the Stanford and Texas A&M award winners. This one uses the photo shoot for a major alumni magazine feature as its premise. The photo spread featured five donors with the students their scholarships support - and "support" is the operative word. The videos take the viewer behind the devices and creativity of the five photos, and along the way, powerfully make the case for scholarships in a wonderfully personal and creative way.

Bronze Award
Wells Cathedral School (United Kingdom) - Cedars Hall

This award winner is a bit of a sleeper. For the first few minutes, it's a well produced but fairly typical video intended to make the case for a new facility - in this case, for a new music building at a 1,100-year-old independent school in the U.K. Then comes very sophisticated computer-generated imagery of the proposed facility, with an elaborate tour of the new space that even includes students performing in the yet-to-be-built facility.

Beyond that, the producers created four distinctly different endings to the video - one featuring students, another the headmaster, a third with the chair of the foundation, and finally a "clean" version for those times when any of the three special endings would be inappropriate. All in all, this entry is an excellent example of planning and attention to detail.

Non-Interactive Features that Use Flash

(8 Entries)

Silver Awards
Emma Willard School (N.Y.) - Empower Emma Flash Appeal

With no narration (just a music track), and with only text on screen, this e-mail appeal to young alumnae starts with the message of how Emma Willard empowers women, then ends in under three minutes with the message of "Empower Emma" through supporting the school. It's a simple concept that builds nostalgia, enthusiasm, and engagement.

California State University, Fullerton - For Peanuts a Day

Cal State Fullerton used an animated incarnation of its mascot Tuffy Titan - an elephant - to ask non-donor younger alumni (1999-2008 grads) to "give back" to the university, even if the gift might be small. The solicitation was made via e-mail with a link to the video. Produced in-house at low budget, the 1:20 cartoon is well- executed and thoroughly entertaining, while making the case for participation.