Soapbox Engage Blog

2020 is the year of event streaming platforms. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual streaming, hosting, and event interaction platforms have stepped into the spotlight and taken up the mantle of keeping businesses, nonprofits, and even families connected, engaged, and fully operational.

Before we go on, we’d like to pause and acknowledge the grit, tenacity, innovation, and creativity that fundraisers and development professionals have put on full display this year Despite many uncertainties, you continue to step into the unknown and explore the world of virtual fundraising!

As you are planning your year-end fundraising event, we completely understand if you’re having some trouble picking which platform to use. Here at Soapbox Engage, we’ve scoured countless articles, plan listings, and platform features to bring you this one-stop comparison guide on which virtual event streaming platform will work best for you!

Table of Contents

Zoom

• Zoom advantages for nonprofit fundraising
• Zoom disadvantages
• Best virtual fundraiser types with Zoom

Youtube Live

• Youtube Live advantages for nonprofit fundraising
• Youtube Live disadvantages
• Best virtual fundraiser types with Youtube Live

Facebook Live

• Facebook Live advantages for nonprofit fundraising
• Facebook Live disadvantages
• Best practices for virtual fundraising with Facebook Live

Vimeo

• Vimeo advantages for nonprofit fundraising
• Vimeo disadvantages
• Best practices for virtual fundraising with Vimeo

Zoom

If you’re looking for the highest level of viewer engagement, Zoom is the place to set up shop! With stay-at-home orders requiring many businesses, schools, and nonprofits to completely change their normal operations, Zoom stepped in to save the day. This year, Zoom practically became a household name (right next to Amazon and Netflix).

Though we got into the nitty-gritty about how to use Zoom for fundraising in an earlier blog, here’s a quick overview of what to consider before choosing Zoom for your next virtual gala or fundraising event.

Advantages of Zoom for nonprofits and virtual fundraising

Great features for audience interaction: Zoom’s interaction features make it the king of audience engagement: it offers live chat, reactions, and Breakout Rooms, a feature that allows you to host interactive sessions between main meeting times.

Mute the distractions with the host-controlled mute button: Few people truly give enough credit to the mute button for what it does in a zoom meeting. The event host (or moderator) can remove distracting background noise and keep your event running smoothly.

In the unlikely (and uncommon) event that an attendee becomes disruptive or begins speaking during a session, the host can mute them. So, Zoom gives the perfect balance of controlling your event while allowing you to encourage audience participation!

Record your events for posterity (and future benefit): Zoom allows you to record your events, offering a wide range of options and opportunities to use the content in the future! Whether you’d like to make the content available to donors who couldn’t attend live or put the content behind a paywall, the options are endless!

More people are familiar and comfortable with Zoom now: The fact that 2020 is “the year of Zoom” actually works to your advantage. Now that so many people are comfortable and familiar with Zoom, it reduces (or eliminates) many barriers to getting donors comfortable showing up to online events and virtual fundraisers.

Zoom disadvantages to consider

For all of it’s awesomeness, no platform is perfect. Here are a few things to consider before choosing Zoom for your next virtual fundraiser.

No built-in donation feature: There is no integration of monetization features, including donation software with Zoom, but we find this a very minimal disadvantage, especially if your organization already has a custom donation page. It’s easy to share the link to your various online donation options throughout your online event.

Each tier has some limits: Zoom offers free and paid tier plans, and each has limits on the number of participants and (in some cases) meeting length. This will be an important consideration while you’re planning the structure and scope of your event.

Zoom is great for smaller-scale events that focus on real-time collaboration and interactions.

Best types of virtual fundraiser to host on Zoom

As with anything, every tool has its “sweet spot.” We think Zoom is great for virtual fundraisers where you’d like to record your event and encourage a lot of interaction with attendees (live panel conversations, Q&A, breakout rooms, and other interactive structures between your nonprofit and your supporters).

Zoom is also very helpful to facilitate meetings with donors (near and far), board meetings, webinars, info-sessions, and a lot of opportunities to stay connected with your donors throughout the year--because, after all, that’s part of building strong relationships with our donors!

And, of course, we think Zoom is a powerful tool for virtual fundraising galas, dinners, and similar programmed fundraising events.

Youtube Live

As the savvy fundraiser and event planner we know you are, if you’re looking to turn your virtual event into a searchable video for further engagement, Youtube Live is the platform for you.

Owned by Google, Youtube offers the largest audience, easiest interaction, and highest searchability of all the live streaming options. It’s even rumored that Google bumps Youtube videos higher up in their search engine results.

Advantages of Youtube Live for fundraisers

No accounts required for your supporters: Youtube doesn’t require a user account to watch their videos and Youtube is one of the most popular video hosting websites on the net, making it the most accessible choice for viewers.

A variety of revenue options: Not only can you earn money through the ad revenue your video brings in, but Youtube’s Super Chat feature also integrates monetization and user interaction! We covered this feature in more detail in our blog about YouTube Live and how nonprofits can best leverage this feature.

Searchability boosts your visibility: Finding videos in Youtube is much easier than its competitors like Facebook Live. Youtube videos are optimized for users to find them later through search engines, too, which helps expand your organization’s online presence.

Record now, publish later: You can record your live event in advance and publish it later! This feature really expands your options about what you can do with your fundraising events.

You can’t beat the price: Did we mention it’s free? You really can’t beat the price point!

YouTube Live disadvantages to consider

Lack of control: Perhaps the most significant disadvantage to consider is that, by hosting with Youtube Live, you give up control over your content. You can’t stream live video outside of Youtube’s website and you’ll always have the Youtube logo overlay.

Limited ticketing options: Even with external apps and tools, you cannot sell tickets or access to Youtube Live videos. While this is definitely not a deal-breaker, it does eliminate the ticketing revenue option for your fundraising events.

Pop-ups and ads: Youtube makes its money through ads, so unless your audience pays for the Youtube subscription, they’ll see ads for other products (that your organization may not agree with) before, after, and randomly during your event depending on the duration. Unfortunately, at this time, there’s no way for organizations to control or influence what kind of ads appear in and around your videos.

Best types of virtual fundraiser to host on YouTube Live

Youtube Live is great if you’re planning a large scale event and you want to encourage viewer participation, but perhaps not quite as involved as Zoom’s meeting model. We’d like to offer a few event ideas to get you started:

• Interviews
• Q/A sessions with fans
• Lecture or webinar
• Show, concert, or conference
• On-site progress update for projects, builds, and other programs

Facebook Live for Virtual Fundraising

The biggest benefit to Facebook is the interaction with your donors. Where Youtube offers unlimited interaction with the entire internet, Facebook allows you to pinpoint your exact target audience and move them towards your message.

Our deep dive into Facebook Live offers specific tips and tricks, but here’s an overview of the things to consider before choosing Facebook Live for your next virtual fundraising event:

Advantages of Facebook Live for nonprofits and virtual fundraising

Engage your target audience: Facebook lets you really focus on engaging with people who know and follow your nonprofit. Instead of having to speak to the masses (which you can also do with your Facebook page), you can create virtual events and online content specifically for your target audience.

More interaction opportunities: Facebook Live lets your audience chat, react, and engage with your program from start to finish, which is a great way to keep viewers connected to the content. It’s also a great way to glean details, feedback, and information about your viewers along the way!

It’s free and no in-video ads: Facebook Live is free! But, unlike YouTube Live, there won’t be any ads inserted in your videos or program. Facebook does, however, insert ads in the sidebar, so it does reduce but not completely eliminate the concern about unwanted and potentially controversial ads.

Facebook Live disadvantages to consider

Time limits: Facebook Live videos have a maximum length of 90 minutes. This isn’t always a disadvantage. People tend to have a shorter attention span, and not every virtual event needs to be long or drawn out!

Facebook Live videos don’t show up on other platforms: Videos are not part of the Search Engine Optimization. You’ll have to generate your audience through promotion on Facebook and other platforms before you go live, as your content is unlikely to find viewers after-the-fact. By not being part of the SEO, Facebook videos won’t be found when searching through other platforms. And because Facebook prioritizes the most recent posts in their Timeline feature, while it is not impossible to find older videos, it can get difficult.

No in-app donation options: Again, there aren’t any direct, in-app donation features for Facebook Live (there are other donation options elsewhere on Facebook). But, this is not an obstacle that’s hard to overcome with your own donation page. And, avoiding in-app donation features can save your organization from paying hefty hidden service fees.

Ideal ways to get the most out of Facebook Live for fundraising

Facebook is great for cultivating organic, heart-stirring moments with your donors. Here are a few event ideas to set you in the right direction:

• Q/A session with supporters
• Virtual tours and open houses
• Meet and greet events
• Classes or workshops
• Live-streaming from peer-to-peer fundraising events

Vimeo for Virtual Fundraising

As a video hosting platform, Vimeo has a reputation for quality professional video content creation and sharing. It’s a fantastic option for any nonprofit wanting to produce high-quality, professional video contents and live events.

We put together a great guide (if we may say so) on how to use Vimeo, but here’s a quick summary of the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of Vimeo for your virtual event

You have excellent control over your content: you can embed your live video on your website, customize end screens, add video chapters, change the color of your embedder’s play bar, and add your organization’s logo over the entire video. The options to edit and “produce” your videos are practically endless!

No ad displays: Nonprofits rejoice! There’s no advertising to worry about in or around your video!

Production tools for high-quality results: Vimeo empowers you to be a content creator with their in-browser software Vimeo Create, which allows you to make short, high impact social videos (think B-roll shots).

Many options and features available: Vimeo offers live streaming on their Premium plan and gives you call-to-action and message cards to overlay on your event stream.

Vimeo disadvantages to consider

The best features are on the paid plans: While Vimeo does offer a free hosting plan, the best benefits to make the most of your virtual event are within their paid plan tiers.

Smaller direct audience than comparative platforms: Vimeo has a smaller audience than Facebook Live or Youtube Live, meaning the need for promoting is all the more important. This disadvantage is not impossible to overcome. In fact, with embedding options, it might be easier for some organizations to reach more audiences with Vimeo than other streaming options.

No in-app donation options: There is no monetization on Vimeo videos, but there are loads of work-arounds and alternatives available to nonprofits that require very little extra effort.

Ideal ways to get the most out of Vimeo for fundraising

Vimeo’s greatest strength is equipping you to create professional-quality videos to deliver a polished message to your donors. Here are a few event ideas that will work great with Vimeo:

• Pre-recorded virtual event, especially one that splices in multiple clips to encourage visual interest
• Concert or show
• Conference
• Promotional videos for walk/run-a-thons or other peer-to-peer fundraising events

Wow, that was a lot! As you can see, each live streaming platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. There’s no "one-size-fits-all." What matters most is choosing the platform that best fits your nonprofit’s needs and specific fundraising goals--even if that requires using different platforms for various events!

Whatever event hosting platform you choose for your next virtual gala or fundraiser, Soapbox Engage has your event planning and custom donations pages covered. With our array of apps, whether you choose a monetized platform or not, you can still cross-promote, invite donors, and collect the necessary funds to keep your mission going strong!

Are you looking for more tools and resources to boost your fundraising? Here are three blogs to get you started.

• 9 Steps to Plan and Host A Virtual Fundraiser: If you’re just venturing into the world of virtual fundraising, welcome! While COVID-19 made it a necessity, we don’t believe this strategy is going anywhere anytime soon. This blog has some excellent, practical tips and best practices to help you plan a successful first virtual fundraising event.
• 6 Reasons Stripe Is A Great Payment Gateway for Nonprofits: Whether you’re planning virtual fundraising events or in-person events, it’s essential for nonprofits to be able to process online donations. This blog offers a run-down on why we believe Stripe is one of the best payment processors for nonprofits to use.
• 40+ Virtual Fundraising Ideas [Updated Fall 2020]: Whether you’re a seasoned “virtual fundraising pro” or just starting out, it’s always nice to see what other organizations are doing and get some fresh new ideas. We’re constantly searching far and wide to find the best, most innovative, and most successful virtual fundraising events from around the nonprofit world. Here’s our latest roundup of the top 40 virtual fundraising event ideas!