Indian Hill Middle School (IHMS) Braves had a story to share about the importance of supporting nonprofit organizations, and they used YouTube to deliver the message. Within 72 hours, the nine student-produced videos had an audience of 2,500 people!
“This proved to be a powerful lesson for our students about the ability of storytelling to help others,” said IHMS teacher Dr. Kim Given, who helped organize the endeavor.
The video storytelling is part of Indian Hill Middle School’s third year participating in the Magnified Giving Grant Program. Magnified Giving is a nonprofit organization on a mission to teach students in grades seven through 12 to be philanthropists right now. Magnified Giving gives money to more than 100 local schools in order to get them involved in learning about, analyzing, and volunteering at local philanthropies.
“Thanks to this program, Indian Hill Middle School has given away $4,250 to nonprofits, and that does not include donations of time and goods collected from our community,” said Dr. Given. “Our students used the YouTube storytelling as a way to both spread the message about why their chosen nonprofit is important to them, and also to compete for votes to see which nonprofit organization would receive the grant money this year. A total of 700 votes were cast as a result of the YouTube campaign.”
The IHMS Magnified Giving Video Vote contest was held April 15-17. The winning video was announced at a combined Magnified Giving event with Indian Hill High School the evening of April 17. IHMS student Alexandra Sheldon's video about the organization May We Help was the winner, and her nonprofit will receive $1,500 through the Magnified Giving Grant Program.
“I think that May We Help differs from other organizations that help people with disabilities,” said Sheldon. “May We Help directly works with clients to find the best solution for their problem.”
“This is the type of research that results in authentic, personal learning for our students,” said Dr. Given. “Over the last three years of our participation in the program, approximately 50 students have learned about philanthropies; selected an issue they wanted to study; analyzed the philanthropies serving people affected by that issue; selected the philanthropy they wanted to support; built awareness in our community about that organization; ran donation drives; and volunteered their time to connect with these amazing nonprofits.
“This year was certainly unique because of the video storytelling. We sent links of these videos to the nonprofit organizations featured and received many thanks in return. It is our hope that even though we've wrapped up our voting for this year, these stories will continue to be viewed by others so they can learn about the amazing organizations in our area.”
Click here to view the IHMS student-produced videos.
Photo caption: Students gathered with family members and staff April 17 at Indian Hill High School to hear the announcement of the winner of the Indian Hill Middle School YouTube Magnified Giving campaign.