This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Before contacting video producers, a nonprofit needs a clear project brief. This is a short internal decision document, often one or two pages, that explains what the organization needs a video to accomplish and what conditions will shape the work.
A brief is not a script, a shot list, an estimate, or a production contract. It should not tell a producer exactly how to film the story. Its job is to give prospective producers a usable definition of success, while leaving room for them to recommend a creative approach, schedule, and scope.
Begin with one communications objective
Start by naming the communications job of the video. “Raise awareness” is usually too broad to guide a proposal or a finished film. Instead, describe what a defined audience should know, feel, or do after watching. A video might help prospective volunteers understand a role, encourage existing supporters to register for an event, or help a particular donor audience understand a campaign’s purpose.
Keep this distinct from the organization’s broader business goal. A fundraising target can provide useful context, but the video itself has a more limited job: prompting a viewer to visit a campaign page, attend an event, contact the organization, sign up, or share. Communications-planning guidance recommends building work around a specific objective and a realistic audience response. Bloomerang and The Compass for Social and Behavior Change both emphasize that focus.
Identify the primary audience and message
Do not write “everyone” as the audience. Name the group whose response matters most, then add the facts that could change the story or its distribution. What does this audience already know? What might it care about? What barriers could prevent action? Does preferred language matter? Where will people most likely encounter the video?
Then state the single idea you want viewers to retain. Add two or three truthful support points that substantiate it, along with claims, terms, or framing the organization must avoid. This message framework protects accuracy without requiring staff to prewrite narration or put answers in an interview subject’s mouth. A focused brief generally centers on one audience, one issue, and one core message. The Compass guidance also recommends grounding the central promise in truthful support.
Describe story access, not a promised storyline
Producers need practical information about what may be filmable. Include possible interviewees or spokesperson roles, program activities, locations, known scheduling limits, language or interpretation needs, available archival material, and required brand elements. Flag sensitive subjects and non-negotiable boundaries.
Present these as available leads and known risks, not guarantees. A potential participant may change their mind, a location may become unavailable, or a program activity may not fit the schedule. That distinction helps a producer develop a feasible concept and lets your team spot access problems early.
Plan distribution and accessibility before production
Name the video’s primary destination: a campaign landing page, email, event, social post, or presentation. Then identify the versions you anticipate, such as a main film, short edits, or vertical adaptations. Those choices affect the needed framing, length, call to action, delivery timing, and accessible versions.
Make accessibility a separate line in the brief. Ask whether planned uses need captions, a transcript, audio description or another media alternative, language versions, and an accessible player or page context. The W3C’s media-planning guidance treats these as early project decisions. WCAG 2.2 includes captions for prerecorded synchronized media at Level A, as well as audio description or a media alternative at Level A; prerecorded audio description is also included at Level AA. Whether those criteria create a legal obligation for a particular nonprofit depends on the organization and context, but early planning avoids treating accessibility as a last-minute addition. WCAG 2.2 provides the underlying criteria.
Set governance, timing, and budget boundaries
A proposal will be more useful when your team has decided who owns the project, who may review work, and who gives final approval. State the review stages, feedback deadlines, intended launch date, and any immovable event or campaign dates. Allow time for review and revision, not just the desired publication date. A realistic timeline is a core part of a creative brief. The Compass specifically includes timing among the decisions to make before creative work begins.
Include an approved budget ceiling or working range if one is known. Note what it includes or excludes, and separate must-haves from optional versions or extras. This is not a financial forecast. It gives producers enough context to scope alternatives instead of guessing. Cost, time frame, responsible team member, audience, messages, channels, and call to action are connected fields in nonprofit communications planning. Bonterra’s planning template illustrates that connection.
Inventory rights and surface participant responsibilities
Before sharing existing material, create an asset inventory. List each photograph, clip, logo, music track, graphic, report excerpt, or third-party item you hope to use. Record who owns it and any known license terms. A missing copyright notice does not mean a work is available for use; permission or a license can provide authority for intended use. See the U.S. Copyright Office’s guidance on obtaining permission.
Also state expectations that will need precise treatment in the eventual agreement: rights to final exports, raw footage, project files, stills, captions, music, archival material, and future edits. Do not assume that paying a producer automatically transfers copyright. Copyright initially belongs to the author, and work-made-for-hire and written-transfer rules have specific conditions under U.S. law. The brief should identify the expectation; the contract should state the rights. Title 17’s ownership and transfer provisions provide the relevant framework.
Finally, flag stories involving people receiving services, sensitive experiences, safety risks, anonymity needs, or possible emotional harm. As an ethical practice, explain the project’s purpose, planned uses and channels, editing process, and participation choices before filming. Make clear that access to services does not depend on participation. New America’s ethical storytelling guidelines offer one model for voluntary participation, privacy discussions, and participant agency.
A signed release alone may not resolve every privacy, safeguarding, ethical, contractual, or jurisdiction-specific concern. For stories involving children, survivors of violence, immigration-related safety issues, criminal-legal matters, or other sensitive circumstances, follow your organization’s safeguarding and privacy policies and seek qualified legal or compliance review where needed.
HIPAA is not automatically applicable to every nonprofit. For a HIPAA-covered health care provider, however, filming in treatment areas or otherwise exposing protected health information raises specific requirements. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that prior written authorization is generally required for each affected person, and later blurring does not cure unauthorized media access. A contract film crew that accesses protected health information for public-relations work may also be a business associate. In that limited setting, involve the organization’s compliance lead before filming. HHS guidance on film and media access explains these conditions.
A strong brief does not guarantee donations, registrations, or other results. Those outcomes also depend on the offer, distribution, timing, landing-page experience, and audience. It does give producers the context to propose responsibly and gives the nonprofit a shared basis for decisions once production begins.
Sources / References
The Compass for Social and Behavior Change: How to Write a Creative Brief
Bloomerang: Nonprofit Communications Plan: How To Determine Communication Objectives
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: Planning Audio and Video Media
W3C: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2
U.S. Copyright Office: Circular 16A, How to Obtain Permission
U.S. Copyright Office: Title 17, Chapter 2, Copyright Ownership and Transfer