Google recently announced a “new” YouTube program that will “enable non-profits to create dedicated YouTube channels for themselves”.  

But wait…can’t anyone can create a YouTube channel? Yes, but now nonprofits can integrate Google Checkout on their video channels (like this March of Dimes example) for free! 

But wait…isn’t Google Checkout already free for nonprofits?  Yes, it is. 

Don’t get me wrong, integrating donations into your YouTube channel is a cool idea, and “free” transaction processing is nothing to sneeze at.  Even Network for Good takes 3% to 4.5% of each transaction, which adds up.  (On the other hand, at least with Network for Good you can process recurring donations.  Not so with Google Checkout.)

But there is another, perhaps more insidious, hidden cost to using Google Checkout:  Google “owns” your donor data (and hence, the relationship). This text from the Google Checkout Help page says it all: “To contact a buyer by email, sign in to Google Checkout and click the buyer’s order in your orders inbox. Your buyer’s email address will appear under ‘Shipping information.’ (If the email address appears encoded, the buyer has elected to have Google forward emails between you and him or her.)”

Using Google Checkout means you can’t use the contact information normally collected in the donation process (email, address, etc.) to cultivate house lists.  Of course, the same applies to merchants who use Google Checkout, but the implications seem more serious for nonprofits, who live and die by creating ongoing relationships with donors. 

YouTube is a wonderful place to “join the conversation” that happens daily in a Web 2.0 world, so if you aren’t already using YouTube, make it a point to go and explore what nonprofits are already doing there.    And remember that using Google Checkout is not a requirement for setting up your own channel on YouTube.  (Note: This announcement page on YouTube says that the first 300 nonprofits to sign up for the new program get a video camera.  It is unclear whether you must sign up for Checkout to get the camera, although clicking the “Apply Now” button takes the user to the normal YouTube sign up screen, so maybe not.)

Filed under: Non-Profits, Social Marketing on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 by Nan Dawkins | 1 Comment
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.