Charity Video Production
Every charity and every cause is different, with unique challenges and considerations. But what makes one film prompt a donation when another barely registers? Our super power is getting under your audience’s skin, and knowing what will resonate for your charity, your message and your fundraising.
Working from our London and Brighton studios, with a purpose-driven director on every project, we produce fundraising films, awareness campaigns, brand films and animation for global and grassroots charities alike... and work has gone on to win at the Smiley Charity Film Awards.
If your film has to move people and raise money, you're in the right place.
The causes and charities we’ve supported
Charity is one of our specialist sectors, spanning organisations working across a wide range of causes, communities and areas of focus.
Selected charity work
For over a decade, we've produced charity films that did their job gloriously: raised the money, shifted the perception, or both.
Start a conversation
Tell us about the cause and the campaign you're planning, and we will match it to the right director and the right format.
Start with our contact page.
Clients
What we produce for charities
Most charity projects need several formats, and one production is planned to deliver more than one. The campaign film approach exists precisely for this.
Brand Films & Refreshes
Work that sets out what a charity stands for, used for repositioning and milestone moments. Same craft as a commercial brand film, different pressure on the ask.
Fundraising & Appeal Films
Built to drive donations, for campaigns, events and always-on giving. A clear emotional through-line and a direct ask. Often delivered as a broadcast commercial with a cutdown ladder beneath it.
Real Life Stories
Films made with the people at the heart of a cause. Real beneficiaries, real experience, shaped into work for broadcast, social and partnerships. See Gareth's Story we produced for Ronald McDonald House.
Social Campaigns
Cutdowns and platform-native versions that keep a campaign alive between hero moments. Planned into the shoot rather than salvaged from it. More on how we build social content.
Partnerships
Compelling, detail-led films to promote corporate partnerships and foster collaboration.
Volunteering
Short- and long-form content used for volunteering and recruitment drives on all platforms
Case Studies
For over a decade, we’ve been the go-to for brands and agencies around the globe. Producing films that make people believe there's something in the world to get excited about.
Whizz Kidz
Whizz Kidz | The Real Difference
60s Hero Film
30s TVC
30s Radio ad
3 x 15s Social cuts
Campaign stills
Samaritans
Samaritans | 24/7
90s Hero
30s Cutdown 1:1, 9:16
15s Cutdown 1:1, 9:16
Scope
Scope | Don't Hold back
60s Hero Film
3 x 10s OOH assets
Lots of wonderful feedback on the film - our head of EDI loves it. The film really embodies the spirit of Scope!
Dimitri Mastro, Senior Film Producer
"The campaign the team produced is better than we could have imagined and that is in large part due to the dedication and attention to detail from the Gusto team. They brought it to life in a way which feels so appropriate to our charity brand."
Tamsin Haines, Senior Brand Marketing Manager
"Thank you so much for all your kindness, challenge, thought, hard work and dedication to the cause. It’s been like working with one familial team throughout and immensely creatively rewarding."
Amanda Shipp
How a charity project runs
From brief to delivery
1
We start from the cause and the goal: donations, awareness or both, where the message has to travel, and who needs to see it.
2
Working with your own creative or producing our own, we'll shape a treatment that fits the goals and the budget.
3
Pre-production covers casting, contributors, consent and care, locations, schedule and film crewing.
4
The shoot is planned to capture the hero film and the social cutdowns together, so a single budget covers the campaign.
5
Post is handled by the right team for the job, our in-house editors and a trusted roster of specialist partners, through to delivery for broadcast and online.
Throughout the whole process, you'll be working directly with our production team, with a dedicated producer as your main point of contact.
Choosing a production company
People First
Real contributors and sensitive subjects are handled with care, from the first conversation to the final cut. The people on screen are people, not case studies.
More From the Money
Charity budgets are donated money, and we plan around them rather than against them. Animation, mixed media and multi-asset shoots stretch a budget without compromising quality.
One Studio, Every Format
An in-house team plus a trusted roster of specialists keeps one look across a campaign, from the broadcast appeal to the vertical cutdowns.
Send us a message
FAQs
How long does a charity campaign take to make?
Whizz Kidz and Scope both ran ten weeks from brief to delivery. Whizz Kidz came out of a single shoot day with a 60 second hero, a 30 second TVC, a radio ad, three social cuts and campaign stills. Scope took two days in Stratford and delivered a 60 second hero plus three OOH assets.
Ten weeks is a reasonable planning assumption for a multi-format charity campaign. Appeal work tied to a fixed date can move faster if the date is known early enough.
How do you film beneficiaries without making it feel like a pity appeal?
By deciding what the film is celebrating before deciding what it is showing. On Whizz Kidz the whole structure came out of one choice: Jasper keeping up with his brother on the way to school, rather than Jasper struggling to.
On Scope, director Blake Claridge interviewed the cast during casting rather than briefing them after it. The opening bus scene came directly out of something one of them said about being questioned over her Freedom Pass. It is not a technique you can apply afterwards.
What does a charity film cost, and how far does the money go?
It depends on scope, and the number of shoot days is often the biggest driver of cost. The more useful question is what comes out of each day on set.
Whizz Kidz went in with one shoot day, three unit moves and intermittent rain, and came out with six deliverables including a broadcast cut and a radio ad. Getting that much from one day comes down to agreeing every format before anyone arrives on set.
Do you work with small charities as well as national ones?
Yes. The charity portfolio runs from Samaritans and Cancer Research through to smaller organisations, and we shape each film around the budget the charity actually has. An awareness film, a fundraising appeal and a brand film are three different jobs with three different shapes.
Can one campaign film cover TV, social, OOH and the website?
Usually, if the formats are agreed before the shoot rather than after it. A campaign film can create the TVC, the social cuts, the OOH and the content for your website from the same production. Whizz Kidz delivered six formats from one day. Scope delivered a 60 second hero and three OOH assets from two.
Agreeing the format list late is the most expensive thing a charity campaign can do.
Have you won anything worth mentioning?
Two Smiley Charity Film Awards. Whizz Kidz went past a million views in its first month, lifted site traffic 22 percent, and held a 44 percent non-skip rate on YouTube against a 10 to 15 percent average.
Whizz Kidz have since doubled their investment in the channel, which is the number that matters more than the trophies.
All the latest
Our Locations
London Studio
Gusto Film London is based in Soho, at the heart of the city’s creative scene.
Brighton Studio
Our original studio, tucked away just off the seafront in Brighton.