Google for Nonprofits Blog: October 2014

We’ve revamped our YouTube Channel!

Monday, October 27, 2014

Check out the Top 3 Tips from our #G4NP Channel Refresh

If you’ve ever visited the Google for Nonprofits YouTube channel before, maybe it’s time to take a second look. Over the summer we re-launched our channel to optimize it for our audience - you! To transform the Google for Nonprofits channel, we thought long and hard about the needs of our nonprofit users, and followed several of the basic guidelines from the Creator Academy Handbook.

Below, check out our Top 3 Tips from the #G4NP YouTube Refresh:

A Better First Impression

What we did: We updated the first impression of our landing page by adding a trailer video, added compelling channel art and added social media links.
Tip: Use channel art that is relevant and captivating to help tell your story, demonstrate impact or feature an anthem video, for example. Remember, it takes less than two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of your brand (source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/223150).

Playlist & Sections

Optimized Titles and Thumbnails

What we did: We cleaned up the raw content on our channel, updated the titles to be consistent in formatting and wording, and ensured the thumbnails gave a glimpse into what the full video was about. For example, in this series of videos, Case Studies: Nonprofits using Google Tools, we edited to ensure that the faces of the nonprofit leaders were featured prominently.
Tip: Tease out the story that your videos tell through the title, thumbnail and description. Think of these pieces, collectively, as your content’s billboard. A compelling video billboard can be the hook that attracts new fans who are looking for great videos and channels on YouTube. Check out a good example, here.

Our team continues to work on more advanced YouTube optimizations that we hope will make the content more accessible and relevant to our users. As we continue to learn and iterate, we will share best practices with our community so that you can take some of the learnings and implement on your own channels.

To learn more about YouTube Creator Academy, click here.

Introducing Skybox for Good

Friday, October 24, 2014

With Skybox joining Google we have a tremendous opportunity to leverage our imaging satellites for positive change in the world. Yesterday, at our annual Geo for Good User Summit, we announced the Skybox for Good program, under which we will contribute fresh satellite imagery to projects that save lives, protect the environment, promote education, and positively impact humanity.
We’ve already begun supporting projects such as this, and we wanted to share some of the results. We have been monitoring sites critical to our understanding of global climate change, such as the Helheim Glacier in Greenland. Helheim Glacier.jpg

18 August, 2014 | Helheim Glacier, Greenland | SkySat-1
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Signal Program has been using our imagery to help develop tools for Internally Displaced Persons camp management in Africa and the Middle East.

16 March 2014 - Yida, South Sudan - SkySat-1
Access to global satellite imagery through Google Earth and Maps has changed the way people see their world - from the cities they live in to faraway places. On the Google Earth Outreach team, we have witnessed the way these tools have changed how our partners do their work and tell their amazing stories.
We’ve captured some images of Nagarkovil village in Northern Sri Lanka. HALO Trust previously cleared landmines in this area and used updated imagery to help verify that people are returning, having built 84 houses and cultivating over 40 hectares of agricultural land.

3 October, 2014 - Nagarkovil, Sri Lanka - SkySat-1 View full image in Google Maps
In this beta phase of the program, we will select a small group of organizations and provide the imagery they need to accelerate their work. The images collected for these partners are being made available publicly, under a Creative Commons By Attribution license (CC BY 4.0), for everyone to see and use. We’ve already started collecting a few images, which you can see on this map. Check out the images in West Virginia, where SkyTruth and Appalachian Voices are monitoring and measuring the rapid expansion of mountaintop-removal (MTR) mining which is devastating forests and communities across Appalachia, visible in the image below, right next to the popular hiking trails of Kanawha State Forest.

M October, 2014 - KD-2 Mine, West Virginia - SkySat-2 View full image in Google Maps
Google Earth Outreach gives nonprofits and public benefit organizations the knowledge and resources they need to visualize their cause and tell their story. In the future, we hope to expand the Skybox for Good program to allow many more non-profit organizations and public interest groups to benefit from the use of Skybox data.
For more details visit the Skybox blog. Follow us @earthoutreach for updates as we expand the program.
Posted by Julian Mann, Skybox co-founder & Developer Advocate, Google Earth Outreach

Google for Nonprofits Goes Down Under

Monday, October 13, 2014

Over the past few months, we’ve been overwhelmed by the incredible energy and excitement of the Australian charities who have participated in the Google Impact Challenge. On issues ranging from ecological preservation, to homelessness, sanitation and solar power, Australian charities are proving that digital tools can have a transformative effect on an issue. That’s why today, we’re excited to take our commitment one step further by launching Google for Nonprofits in Australia.
Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits can now apply to join the program, which provides access to a suite of free products and tools, including:

Google Apps provides a range of enterprise tools -- from email to Google Docs -- that reduce technology costs and encourage collaboration.

Ad Grants provides a $10,000 grant for nonprofits to raise awareness and target new audiences online.

YouTube for Nonprofits and Google Earth Outreach provide rich opportunities for nonprofits to create interactive content and visualize their impact.

Australia has 60,000 charitable institutions, and many of them are already using Google tools. For example, The Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is using Google Earth Pro’s 3D mapping technology to demonstrate their impact to donors, community members, and a global audience.

With twenty-three wildlife sanctuaries across Australia, AWC protects more native Australian animal species than any other non-government organization. Using Google Earth Pro, AWC is now able to take their supporters on a virtual “tour” of their sanctuaries around Australia and provide a broad overview of the scale and diversity of the wildlife and habitats they protect.

Check out our case studies learn how AWC and other Australian NGOs are using Google for Nonprofits, and join the program.

For Nonprofits Blog

We’ve revamped our YouTube Channel!

Introducing Skybox for Good

Google for Nonprofits Goes Down Under

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