Your time and thoughts are important to us, so we’re always looking for ways to improve your experience. Now, find exactly what you’re looking for on the updated Google for Nonprofits website.

The new experience is designed to make it easier to navigate the Google for Nonprofits application and enrollment process. You can see how the process works and get started on an application by checking out our Join the program page.

We also wanted to make it easier for you to find other resources that will help you make the most of Google tools. You can find get started guides and video tutorials in our brand new learning section. Or if you’re more interested in community resources, you can check out our new case studies and other community resources. If you have specific questions or feel like you need a little more help to use Google products for your nonprofit, we’ve assembled a set of help resources for you.

We’re excited to hear what you think of the updates to the site, and we’d love for you to share those thoughts directly on our Google+ page.


Posted by Leslie Hernandez, Google for Nonprofits team
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(Cross posted from the Official YouTube Blog)

 As citizens continue to play a critical role in supplying news and human rights footage from around the world, YouTube is committed to creating even better tools to help them. According to the international human rights organization WITNESS’ Cameras Everywhere report, “No video-sharing site or hardware manufacturer currently offers users the option to blur faces or protect identity.”

 YouTube is excited to be among the first.

 Today we're launching face blurring - a new tool that allows you to obscure faces within videos with the click of a button.

 Whether you want to share sensitive protest footage without exposing the faces of the activists involved, or share the winning point in your 8-year-old’s basketball game without broadcasting the children’s faces to the world, our face blurring technology is a first step towards providing visual anonymity for video on YouTube.
Blurring faces on YouTube is simple. Once you’ve chosen the video that you’d like to edit within our Video Enhancements tool, go to Additional Features and click the “Apply” button below Blur All Faces. Before you publish, you will see a preview of what your video will look like with faces blurred. When you save the changes to your video, a new copy is created with the blurred faces. You will then be given the option to delete the original video.

 This is emerging technology, which means it sometimes has difficulty detecting faces depending on the angle, lighting, obstructions and video quality. It’s possible that certain faces or frames will not be blurred. If you are not satisfied with the accuracy of the blurring as you see it in the preview, you may wish to keep your video private.

 Visual anonymity in video allows people to share personal footage more widely and to speak out when they otherwise may not.

 Because human rights footage, in particular, opens up new risks to the people posting videos and to those filmed, it’s important to keep in mind other ways to protect yourself and the people in your videos. 

 YouTube is proud to be a destination where people worldwide come to share their stories, including activists. Along with efforts like the Human Rights Channel and Citizentube that curate these voices, we hope that the new technologies we’re rolling out will facilitate the sharing of even more stories on our platform.

 Amanda Conway, YouTube policy associate, recently watched "Russian court refuses to free anti-Putin punks."
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(Cross posted from the Official YouTube Blog)

Today, we’re happy to announce two new updates from the YouTube for Good team to help you make the most out of your channel.
(Cross posted from the Official YouTube Blog)

Today, we’re happy to announce two new updates from the YouTube for Good team to help you make the most out of your channel.

First, we’re kicking off monthly online trainings for members of the YouTube Nonprofit Program. These will be ‘101 level’ trainings - perfect for nonprofits who recently joined the program or are just getting started with a YouTube channel. The trainings, which will be conducted via Google+ Hangouts on Air, will take place at 9am PT on the last Tuesday of every month.

The first training will be at 9am PT on July 31, 2012. Here’s how to join:

Directions To join in the conversation during our Hangout On Air: 
  1. Make sure you have a Google Account and Google+ profile or page setup. 
  2. Add YouTube Nonprofits Program page to your circles. We'll add you to our circles, then invite you to the Hangout on Air. 
  3. This Hangout on Air will begin at 9am PT on July 31, 2012. Additional trainings will take place at 9am PT on the last Tuesday of every month. 
  4. Log onto Google+ and you'll see an invite to join the hangout in your notifications (upper right hand corner of the page in a red box). Click through to the conversation! 
  5. If the link is not available in your notifications, click the hangouts icon on the left hand side of the page and look for a hangout called "YouTube Nonprofits Introduction" among the hangouts available for you to join. 
If you'd rather just watch and listen, and don't want to be recorded: 
  1. Point your browser to the YouTube Nonprofits Program Google+ page and click on the Hangouts On Air thumbnail. 
  2. Navigate to the YouTube for Nonprofits YouTube Channel and click on the live feed. This is the best option if you do not have a Google account. 
Second, we recently announced that we will allow YouTube users to link to a Change.org, Donorschoose.org, RocketHub or Causes page via a YouTube annotation. An annotation is a little dialogue box that pops up in a video and allows video creators to convey a message. In the past, these annotations were only able to link to a YouTube video, channel or search result. Now they can link to the four sites above, in addition to Kickstarter and Indiegogo. We’re excited to see how you use these new features to encourage audiences to sign petitions, take action and donate. 


Ramya Raghavan, news and politics manager, recently watched "Water in Adina Faso"
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(Cross posted from the Lat Long Blog)

In 2011, the Google Earth Outreach team awarded a first round of Developer Grants to organizations with outstanding mapping ideas. These grants support the technical development of maps and enable nonprofits to implement cutting-edge mapping technology to make an impact on the world.
(Cross posted from the Lat Long Blog)

In 2011, the Google Earth Outreach team awarded a first round of Developer Grants to organizations with outstanding mapping ideas. These grants support the technical development of maps and enable nonprofits to implement cutting-edge mapping technology to make an impact on the world.

This year at Google I/O, we announced the 2012 Google Earth Outreach Developer Grants program in a session called “Maps for Good.” We were honored to have two developers speaking on behalf of organizations who were awarded a Developer Grant in 2011, including Jake Wall from Save the Elephants and Kevin Bluer from AXS Map. Learn more about their projects, as well as other 2011 grantee work for inspiration on how mapping could bring your nonprofit’s work to life.

Over the past few months, we’ve seen more nonprofits making use of tools like Google Maps Engine and developing applications on Android devices. We expect to see project proposals with innovative ideas that address the world’s most pressing problems in the areas of the environment, humanitarian issues, disaster preparedness, at both the local and global level.


Be inspired by how mapping can help spread your nonprofit’s message


Visit the Google Earth Outreach website to learn more about this year’s Developer Grants program and make sure your organization is in an eligible country. The deadline to apply with your initial project proposal is August 1, 2012 at 11:59pm PST.

Good luck to all of this year’s applicants!

Posted by Tanya Birch, Google Earth Outreach team
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