Have you ever wanted to put a video on your secure Donation or Events page, but been frustrated by security issues?

Well, no longer!

The fine folks at YouTube have now provided the option to embed any YouTube video using a secure link!

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"When you're staring at the computer screen, you actually believe that you're in a dimly lit basement staring at a computer screen."
'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

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Choice USA, and DIA is pleased to host their e-advocacy platform, put out a call for supporters' video submissions on the importance of Roe v. Wade, whose 35th anniversary is today. Here's the result Choice USA released today:

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Two weeks ago, the DIAtribe picked the brain of Owen Henkel at the Center for Constitutional Rights on the hit Send Bush a Copy of the Constitution action they've been running. So, after everyone clicks-here-to-take-action, what happens? Did they actually deliver all the Constitutions? Well ... sort of. Here's a wink-nod wrap to the action with a little virality of its own:

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Funny Silicon Valley. Fortunately, none of this could never be true of nonprofit technology. Won't you blog about this song? The answer is "yes."

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We know about flash mobs. But online junctions are also poles that attract communal grieving, like the spot on a dead man's curve where a popular high schooler crashed. Adherents of the savage ballet are surely aware that NFL star Sean Taylor died this morning from a gunshot wound he had suffered Sunday night. News of the shooting broke Monday morning, and of his death, earlier today. Which made this otherwise innocuous YouTube of Taylor highlights posted over the summer an instant online shrine. Over 1,100 comments have been posted as of this writing (surely more by the time you click it) -- almost all of them during the past two days.

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I had the opportunity to "sit down with" -- read: e-mail -- Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films about the Fox Attacks campaign to hit the "news" channel where its advertisers are. The campaign has taken blogistan by storm, which Brave New Films seems to have down to a science. So what's the magic behind the curtain? Read on ...

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My fondness for liberals, smart people, and Wisconsin politicians (not to mention good food) aided in my decision to read the Environmental Working Group's recent email on their Organics Petition. Even though Development Associate David (no, I didn't realize that was his title until I searched their site) once spent a good amount of a phone call laughing at my Wisconsin accent when I was trying to explain tags, I enjoy working with the EWG. But even more notably, I enjoy well-crafted campaigns. This action nicely displays a few ways to make them suck less (albeit in the service of an uphill struggle):

Step 1: Pictures are worth a thousand words.

This video was short, energizing, and provided a terrific visual of the support already behind the bill. It's one thing to be told about an issue, but to see an example of what an organization is already doing is quite motivational.

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Someone could have dined well on my dime by wagering me on the proposition that this now-renowned "ObamaGirl" video would be -- well -- renowned. I guess I'm a fogey. When I saw this thing Thursday morning it registered a big "meh." Three days later, the needle hasn't budged. Actually, the citizen media that caught my eye that day came via the UK-based nfp2.0 blog -- a spot of guerrilla marketing. [I know you want the SILF t-shirt] This charismatic piece hit me as an interesting juxtaposition to last summer's viral-marketing Hindenberg, the Agency.com Subway pitch which went viral for its cover-your-eyes awfulness. (All the original's video links seem to be pulled, but the below is the piece plus smartass subtitling.) Despite my mixed reactions, and despite the contrasting purposes at play, there's a kinship between the first two of these videos that's wanting in the third. What is this quicksilver "genuineness" that decodes a piece's meaning and foretells its prospects as citizen media?

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Below are some handy suggestions I pulled from the presentation Age of YouTube: Using Video Online to Reach the Masses which was presented at NTEN’s Technology 2007 Conference. The Serial Approach - Consider offering a series of short videos (2-3 minutes) that explain your issue, instead of making an expensive project video (or in addition to). See how I Love Mountains features short videos about the destructive practice of mountaintop removal on their homepage.

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