# Fundraising just by watching videos

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/01/12/fundraising-just-watching-videos/
- Published: 2011-01-12T11:18:38+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**There are plenty of clever people and organisations out there trying to make fundraising
as simple and easy as possible. Occasionally I wonder if they aren’t going too far,
especially those that emphasise you can give to charity without making a personal
donation.**

Who would have thought you could now raise funds simply by watching a YouTube video?
You can, courtesy of VISO Give, whose site features charities’ YouTube videos together
with videos from celebrities promoting particular charities.

VISO is part of BroadbandTV which, according to Mashable.com ([Support a Charity Just by Watching YouTube](http://mashable.com/2011/01/04/viso-give-youtube))
already attracts impressions on YouTube, generating income from a share of advertising.

## Advertisement

VISO Give will donate 60% of the advertising revenue that the nonprofits’ videos
generate. In addition it will feature direct donation links to boost income for 
the organisations.

Is this another example of ‘slacktivism’ or ‘click to give for free’? Of course.
It looks likely to generate money, just like The Hunger Site was doing 10 years 
ago. But is the content of the video sufficient to persuade viewers want to do more
and engage directly with the charity, and perhaps make a donation with their own
money? That is the truly valuable potential of a site like this.

I doubt it will. But then that is asking the site to do a lot. If it simply generates
cash, that might well be good enough.

![Smiling woman with thumbs up as she watches video on a laptop. Photo by Katerina
Holmes from Pexels](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2021/09/thumbs-up-woman-
watching-video-on-laptop-pexels-katerina-holmes-5905745-683x1024.jpg)

Doing good by watching videos

The question is: can it replace and substantially increase the income that nonprofits
would generate from their YouTube channel from advertising share, especially if 
they are part of the [YouTube Nonprofit Program](http://www.youtube.com/give)? Given
BroadbandTV’s size, and the ability of few nonprofits to generate substantial numbers
of views on YouTube, I reckon there’s a good chance.

The site is for US nonprofits only at the moment.

## More video fundraising

 * **[Deafkidz ‘you’re on mute’ detector launches to raise funds from video calls](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/05/05/deafkidz-youre-on-mute-detector-launches-to-raise-funds-from-video-calls/)(
   5 May 2021)**
 * **[Five favourite fundraising videos picked by the professionals](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/04/14/5-favourite-fundraising-videos-picked-by-the-professionals/)(
   14 April 2021)**
 * **[Tiktok creators can now use donation stickers in their videos and livestreams](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/04/27/tiktok-creators-can-now-use-donation-stickers-in-their-videos-and-livestreams/)(
   27 April 2020)**