Here’s the Pitch!
Our mission is to empower nonprofits and advocacy groups to create video content that builds community, celebrates their work, and amplifies their message.
What is it?
The Crash Course is an online video production course designed specifically for nonprofits. We teach participants how to create video content efficiently, consistently, and cheaply using only their cell phones.
Over the course of 10 weeks we’ll talk about the basic principles of video production. Participants learn how to conceptualize, shoot, and edit content quickly, all on their phones. Weekly assignments will allow them to put the things they’ve learned into practice. And we’ll talk about best practices for sharing video content online. A Facebook group connects participants, and provides a sense of community and a place to share work.
Each session is hosted by Gerard Matthews, a documentary filmmaker, and former journalist and nonprofit communications director. Gerard has worked with countless nonprofits, candidates, movements, causes, and artists to help them tell their stories. The Crash Course takes all of that know-how and boils it down into an easy-to-digest course that will get your communications teams creating solid content AND FAST.
Video content is now THE way people communicate online, learn about current events and shape their opinions. Your mission/work is too important to be left out of the online conversation. You can spend tons of money on professional video content or we can show your grantees how to easily make it themselves.
BTW: This video was shot and edited on a cell phone, we walk it like we talk it 🙂.
Who is it for?
The course is perfect for anyone in a communications role, but it’s especially designed as a tool that foundations and funders can offer their state-level groups or grantees. If you want to provide proven video content capacity-building for your grantees, you need to invest in The Crash Course. We’ve worked with major foundations (The Headwaters Foundation, The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation), national nonprofit networks (The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities’s State Priorities Partnership), higher education institutions (The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana) and even municipal policy think tanks (Boston Indicators).
You can foot the bill to have videos produced for your grantees or you can empower them to do it on their own, effectively. Once they know a few tricks and tips, your message will be spread far and wide - and shared and liked!
What is covered in the course?
What makes a good video
Pre-production (how to get started)
Framing and composition (how to shoot)
The art of the interview (how to shoot and conduct interviews - and get good sound!)
B-roll (what is it, why we need it, and how to get it)
Editing (3-session deep-dive on CapCut including basic editing skills and strategy, graphic and text manipulation, adding captions to projects, and sharing your video properly)
Marketing and social media (how to make sure your videos reach your audience)
What does it actually look like?
Participants meet once per week in an hour-long Zoom session that consists of a review of assignments, a 15-minute-long recorded lesson, a follow-up Q and A, and a brief discussion about the next assignment. Each week’s lesson and a recording of the Zoom session are posted to a members-only section of thecrashcourse.tv. Participants have access to that content - plus other resources and tips - for a full year.
Every week, participants are assigned exercises to help them use the skills they’ve been taught. Participants will post their completed assignments online in a private Facebook Group. This allows them to build community as they build skills. It’s also an opportunity to network, offer support, and ask questions. Gerard is also available outside of classes to help you out when you get stuck.
What equipment is needed?
Very little. You need your cell phone and the CapCut app (which is free). Suggested, but not required, are items like external microphones and a monopod. We provide gear recommendations throughout the course.
Does it work?
People who have taken the course are already creating content for their organizations. Check out just a few of the examples from our students over the various cohorts.
But don’t take our word for it!
Check out these testimonials from three of our former participants. You can see more of their thoughts on our testimonials page!
April Dickinson talks about her expectations before starting The Crash Course.
Juan Carlos Ordóñez mentions a curriculum element that surprised him about The Crash Course: pre-production planning.
Using his experience as a teacher for many years, Ben Stein explains why the course is so well organized.
Contact us
We are happy to discuss how The Crash Course can get your grantees creating content that furthers your mission. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Phone
Call Gerard Matthews at (903) 733-4532
(We are not afraid to talk on the phone.)
You can also send an email to info@19ninetyfilms.com to set up a time to chat.
Because of The Crash Course, these organizations and their grantees are consistently creating video content
Boston Indicators
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities
Headwaters Foundation
The John A. Hartford Foundation
The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana
American Academy of Pediatrics - Arkansas Chapter
American Academy of Pediatrics - Illinois Chapter
American Academy of Pediatrics - Washington Chapter
Advocates for Children of New Jersey
Alabama Arise
Children’s Action Alliance
Children’s Advocacy Alliance
Children’s Foundation of Mississippi
Colorado Fiscal Institute
Common Good Iowa
The Commonwealth Institute
Connecticut Voices for Children
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy
Maine Center for Economic Policy
Minnesota Budget Project
Missouri Budget Project
New Jersey Policy Perspective
Oklahoma Policy Institute
One Voice
Oregon Center for Public Policy
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center
Policy Matters Ohio
Voices for Utah Children
Washington State Budget and Policy Center.
West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy