Should internal video productions consider an audience outside of the organization?

Recently I attended an event for my organization where two internally produced videos were used. I found it very interesting, because I wasn't even aware these videos were being produced. I found out that they were made by a staff person who wasn't known to me as a video professional, and may not have been by training.

The good news was that I found both videos to be very effective at educating, communicating, and motivating the internal audience. I did find myself wondering if the videos would or would not have possibly been more effective had they been created by an outside or internal professional video team. The short answer is for the event itself it was certainly sufficient, but I thought at least one of the pieces had more potential.

It seemed to show the great possibilities for nfps to begin using video communications even with pieces generated by staff members, who may or may not have vast video experience. It also has me wondering if more organizations are creating more video pieces internally, and makes me curious as to the level of success those pieces are having for their purposes.

Another observation is that one of the videos was related to a program that has been expanding nationally and was more educationally focused. I'm wondering if a video like that could be then shared via the web or other methods to allow other nfps using the same program model to benefit from the production. The moment that the question of reuse comes up is the moment where the question of professional production quality may become more relevant. The reason why I don't see such videos reused is because it probably did not cross the mind of the people ordering or wanting the video that this is an option. Or it might even be a distraction to the goals of the individual organization. The question that I'm raising here is that it wouldn't be difficult to share a project. But, it might complicate or distract from the core mission of an individual nfp to consider sharing more widely during the actual production process.

Is there any value in trying to create content like this that could have a larger life beyond the single organization creating it? If we shared video content, either internally or externally produced, could it save many organizations a large amount of money?

At the end what counts is that the video is made and shown. If it could be improved by giving it a more professional look, that might be less important than having it exist and be out there. So, if communication departments were starting to consider if video productions have the potential of being shared with more than the initial target audience, then basically communication flow of non profits overall may radically change.

Opening Query

How do Non Profit and Non Governmental organizations communicate effectively, both internally and externally? We encourage discussion on needs for visual and educational media for this sector, and insights what works for whom and why.