Boston Marathon Nonprofit Fundraising Video – Running the Boston Marathon is already a powerful story. But when you’re running to support a cause that’s personally important to you, sometimes the story behind why you’re running is even more powerful.
Chaze Films worked with a Boston Marathon runner, a local realtor, Patricia Hernandez, raising money for InnerCity Weightlifting to create a nonprofit fundraising video that shared her personal connection to the organization, helped raise awareness for its mission, and encouraged people to support her and the fundraiser.
But our strategy went beyond creating one video. We also developed short-form social media videos that could continue telling the story, building awareness, and reminding people to donate throughout the fundraising campaign.
And ultimately, the campaign exceeded its fundraising goal.
Telling the Story Behind the Fundraiser
A fundraising video can easily become a straightforward request: here’s the organization, here’s the fundraiser, and here’s where you can donate.
But it often misses the human connection element. The “why”. Which lead to being able to share a more personal story.
The interview focused on why Patricia chose to run for InnerCity Weightlifting and why its mission connected so closely with her own experiences growing up.
She spoke about running for people who may feel trapped by their circumstances, children who don’t feel like they have opportunities, and people who grew up in communities like hers. She connected those experiences to why organizations providing positive opportunities and support can be so important.
We helped structure the story so viewers could first understand that personal connection before asking them to support the fundraiser.
The goal wasn’t simply to tell people what she was raising money for. We wanted them to understand why it mattered to her.
Bringing the Story to Life Through Video
We sat down with Patricia before we even scheduled any video production days. We wanted to understand why it was important for her and get to know her actual story so we can help visually share it with people.
Once we understood her story, her “why”, the non-profit organization she was running for, we contined with our pre-production process of creating interview questions, shots checklist for b-roll visuals that will help tell their story and created the structure and flow of the video.
The interview gave us the foundation of the story and the variety of b-roll, including footage of her running and training for the Boston Marathon, to visually connect her story with the challenge she was preparing to take on.
That combination of interview-driven storytelling and purposeful b-roll helped make the fundraiser feel more personal while giving viewers a chance to see the work and commitment behind running 26.2 miles for a cause she cared about.
Creating an Organic Social Media Video Strategy
Rather than relying on one longer nonprofit fundraising video to carry the entire video campaign, we also created short-form videos that could be shared organically on social media.
These additional videos gave the fundraiser more opportunities to reach people throughout the campaign. Some content could help continue raising awareness around the story and cause, while other posts could serve as reminders that there was still an opportunity to donate.
With a limited marketing budget, we focused on organic nonprofit video marketing rather than using part of that budget for paid advertising.
Paid promotion could have helped expand the campaign’s reach, but our priority was using the available resources to create multiple video assets that could continue supporting the fundraiser over time.
Exceeding the Fundraising Goal
The video campaign ultimately exceeded its fundraising goal.
While fundraising results are never the product of one marketing tactic alone, video gave the campaign a way to put a person and personal story behind the donation request.
Instead of only asking people to contribute, the main fundraising video helped explain why the cause mattered, while the short-form social media videos helped keep that story and fundraiser visible throughout the campaign.
For us, this project is a great example of how nonprofit video production can go beyond simply creating a video.
By combining video strategy, emotional storytelling, production, and organic social media marketing, one story can become multiple pieces of content working toward the same goal.
