YouTube recently unveiled a new tool to their non-profit program partners, which now holds almost 20,000 members. The YouTube non-profit program provides an enhanced experience to certified 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, through better branding of their channels, increased file size limitations and a more prominent and prestigious placement as a channel.

Furthermore, members also since July have the ability to add call to actions in videos, which includes a Google Checkout integrated “donate” button, or even live-stream charity fundraising events; features reserved to this group. YouTube now adds their own fundraising tool, putting their twist on the charity fundraiser progress bar. This new Youtube fundraising functionality brings another promising feature for non-profits, which allows attaching of a fundraising progress bar to a campaign. Indeed, a fundraising campaign on youtube is not limited to one video as a software engineer explained on an official Youtube blog entry:  The fundraising campaign tab should appear on your channel, but also on all related videos as an overlay. To start using this tool non-profits need to first create and/ or select the playlist to use; set a campaign goal and an end date. The description can use up to 5000 characters, allowing for a detailed explanation of the campaign. Like most other features of YouTube’s non-profit program campaigns encourage video submissions from subscribers, and makes each of them an integral part of the campaign.

We look forward to seeing some great campaigns backed by the fundraising progress bar or thermometer which is a common feature on most fundraising tools. In fact this is also common to the ever popular crowdfunding sites including Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Razoo and many more… Share your experience with the tool!