#ngogrowth

Look, I'm going to be straight with you. Your NGO is doing incredible work. You're changing lives. You're making a real difference in communities across South Africa. But nobody knows about it because you're scared of a camera.

You want more donors? Make videos. You want more volunteers? Make videos. You want government partnerships and corporate sponsors and actual impact at scale? Make. More. Videos.

I don't care if you think you're not good on camera. I don't care if your budget is tight. I don't care if you've never done it before. Those are excuses, and excuses are what's keeping your organisation small.

The game has changed. Agency communication isn't about annual reports anymore. It's not about fancy brochures or newsletter emails that nobody opens. It's about showing up where people actually are, which is on their phones, watching videos.

And if you're not doing that, you're losing.

The Attention Game You're Not Playing

Here's the truth that most NGO leaders don't want to hear. You're competing for attention with everything else on someone's phone. Cat videos. News feeds. Their cousin's wedding photos. TikTok dances. Netflix shows.

You think people owe you their attention because your cause is important? They don't. Nobody owes you anything.

You have to earn every single second of attention you get. And the only way to earn it in 2025 is through video content that actually connects with people emotionally. Not intellectually. Not rationally. Emotionally.

Your detailed programme report with charts and graphs? That's intellectual. It makes people think "That's interesting." But thinking isn't acting. You need people to feel something so strong that they pull out their wallet right there.

Video does that. Text doesn't.

I see organisations sitting on incredible stories. Real human transformation. Actual lives changed. And they're writing about it in emails that get a 2% open rate. That's insane to me.

Film it. Put it on Instagram. Put it on Facebook. Put it on LinkedIn. Put it everywhere. Tell those stories with real faces and real voices and real emotion. That's agency communication that actually works.

Your Phone Is Good Enough

I already know what you're thinking. "But we don't have budget for professional video production."

Stop it. Stop right now.

Your phone has a better camera than what Steven Spielberg used to make Jurassic Park. You have professional filmmaking equipment in your pocket and you're using it to check email.

You don't need a R100,000 production budget. You don't need a crew. You don't need expensive equipment. You need a phone, decent lighting, and the courage to press record.

I watch NGOs waste months trying to find budget for "the perfect video." Meanwhile, some 19-year-old with an iPhone is creating content that gets a million views. Why? Because they understand that authenticity beats production quality every single time.

Your donors don't want polished corporate videos. They want real stories from real people. They want to see the actual work happening. They want behind-the-scenes content that shows them where their money goes.

Film your team at work. Film beneficiaries who want to share their stories. Film the problems you're solving and the solutions you're creating. Do it on your phone. Edit it with free apps. Post it today.

Not next month. Not when you have budget. Today.

The Animation Hack

Here's something most organisations miss. Animation is cheaper than you think and it solves problems that live video can't.

You need to explain how your water purification programme works? Animation. You want to show data about education outcomes across five provinces? Animation. You need content in six different languages? Animation.

Live video is powerful for human connection. Animation is powerful for clarity and scale. Use both.

I see too many NGOs thinking it's an either-or decision. It's not. The smart play is using live action for stories and animation for explanations. Hit people with emotion first, then back it up with clear information.

And here's the thing about animation. Once you create it, you can reuse it forever. Update the voiceover for different languages. Swap out specific numbers when your impact grows. You're building assets that keep working for you.

That's what smart agency communication looks like. You're not just making content. You're building a library of resources that serve your mission for years.

Document, Don't Create

This is the mindset shift that changes everything. Stop thinking you need to "create content." Start documenting what you're already doing.

You're running programmes. You're helping people. You're having meetings and trainings and events. All of that is content. You just need to film it.

Pull out your phone during your next community workshop. Record a quick thank you message after a successful programme day. Film a 30-second update while you're driving between sites. This is documentation, and documentation is the easiest content to make.

Most NGO leaders think they need fancy scripts and professional presenters. They don't. They need real moments captured authentically. That's what performs on social media. That's what builds trust with donors.

The organisations crushing it with multilateral agency communication aren't the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones documenting consistently. Three times a week. Every single week. Building a library of content that shows their impact over time.

You can start this today. Right now. No budget required.

The Platform Strategy Nobody's Teaching

Here's where most organisations mess up. They make one video and post it everywhere the same way. Same format. Same caption. Same everything.

That's lazy and it doesn't work.

Instagram wants vertical video under 60 seconds. Facebook prefers square or 4:5 format and longer storytelling. LinkedIn wants professional context and measurable outcomes. YouTube handles your long-form content.

Each platform has different audiences with different expectations. Your agency communication strategy needs to respect that.

This doesn't mean making different videos for each platform. It means editing your content differently for each destination. Take your three-minute donor story. Post the full version on YouTube. Cut it to 60 seconds for Instagram. Pull out the key quote for LinkedIn. Create a teaser for Facebook that links to the full video.

One shoot. Multiple pieces of content. Different formats. Maximum reach.

That's how you win the attention game without burning out your team or your budget.

The Dignity Question

Real talk for a second. Some of you are going to hear this advice and think "Great, I'll film desperate people to make donors feel bad."

Don't. Do. That.

Agency communication that exploits suffering for donations is gross. It's manipulative. And honestly, it doesn't even work anymore. People see through it.

The organisations building real, sustainable support are the ones showing people with agency. With dignity. With hope. They're telling partnership stories, not rescue stories.

Film the mother talking about how she's building a better life for her kids. Not you talking about how you're saving her. Let beneficiaries speak for themselves. Show them as humans with dreams and plans and determination. Because that's what they are.

This approach doesn't reduce donations. It increases them. Because people trust organisations that demonstrate respect for the communities they serve. They can feel the difference between authenticity and manipulation.

Execute Now, Perfect Later

Here's my final point and it's the most important one. You will never feel ready. Your first videos will be imperfect. You'll watch them back and cringe. That's fine. Post them anyway.

Every successful content creator started with terrible content. The difference between them and everyone else? They posted it despite being terrible. Then they made more. And more. And eventually they got good.

You're not going to nail agency communication through video on your first try. Or your tenth. But by your fiftieth video, you'll be decent. By your hundredth, you'll be good. By your two hundredth, you'll be great.

But only if you start today.

Stop planning. Stop strategising. Stop waiting for perfect conditions. Grab your phone. Find someone with a story worth telling. Press record. Edit it tonight. Post it tomorrow.

Then do it again next week. And the week after that. And the week after that.

This is how organisations that actually grow approach communication. They bias toward action. They test and learn. They document their journey. They show up consistently.

The NGOs thriving five years from now will be the ones who started making videos today. Not perfectly. Just consistently.

Your Move

Everything I've told you here is useless unless you actually do something with it. Knowledge without execution is just entertainment.

So what are you going to film this week? What story needs telling? Who on your team is ready to get on camera? What impact can you show people right now?

Answer those questions. Then go make it happen.

Your organisation deserves better than obscurity. Your beneficiaries deserve more support. Your mission deserves a bigger platform. Video is how you build all of that.

The tools are in your pocket. The stories are in your programmes. The audience is on social media. The only thing missing is you actually doing it.