Interviewing children for fundraising videos can add a personal perspective, helping audiences connect an organization’s broader mission with the experiences of individual people. Research on charitable giving has found that people can respond differently to identifiable individuals and their stories than to descriptions based primarily on statistics (Stanford Graduate School of Business).
For nonprofits and mission-driven organizations, those perspectives may come from staff members, volunteers, donors, families, or people directly connected to the organization’s work. Nonprofit fundraising guidance similarly recommends using real people and personal stories to give audiences a perspective through which they can understand a cause and see its impact beyond numbers alone.
Sometimes, it comes from children.
But interviewing a child on camera is different from interviewing an executive or experienced spokesperson.
Children are less likely to arrive with polished talking points. They may be unfamiliar with professional cameras, lights, microphones, and a production crew. And asking a question in the wrong way can quickly turn a natural conversation into something that feels rehearsed.
The goal isn’t to make a child sound like a spokesperson.
It’s to create an environment where they can comfortably communicate what they genuinely think, feel, or remember.
During a fundraising video production with the Sacramento Zoo, our team had the opportunity to capture this kind of interview on location. Behind the finished footage was a full professional production setup—but the technical side of the shoot had to support the conversation rather than overwhelm it.
Why Interviewing Children For Fundraising Videos Matters?
A fundraising video needs to help an audience understand why a mission matters.
Organizational leaders can explain programs, needs, goals, and impact. Experts can provide context. Donors and volunteers can explain why they support the organization.
Interviewing children for fundraising videos can contribute something different.
They may describe an experience through details an adult wouldn’t choose. They may communicate excitement, curiosity, or emotion in simpler language. Their answers can help audiences experience the organization from another point of view.
That doesn’t mean a child should be included simply to make a fundraising video more emotional.
Their perspective should have a real purpose in the story.
Before filming, it helps to ask:
What can this person contribute that another interview subject cannot?
If the answer strengthens the audience’s understanding of the mission or impact, the interview has a reason to be there.
Make the Production Environment Feel Less Intimidating
A professional interview can involve much more equipment than viewers ever see in the finished shot.
During our Sacramento Zoo production, the interview setup included professional camera equipment, lighting, dedicated audio, monitoring, and multiple crew members working around the interview area.
For an adult who regularly appears on camera, that may be familiar.
For a child, it can be completely new.
That makes the environment itself part of the production challenge.
The crew still needs to capture professional image and sound quality, but the equipment shouldn’t become the focus of the child’s attention.
Whenever possible, technical preparation should happen before the conversation begins. Once the interview starts, the experience can feel less like a production checklist and more like a conversation.
Ask Questions a Child Can Actually Answer
Good interview questions aren’t necessarily complicated questions.
This becomes especially important with children.
Instead of asking a broad question such as:
“What does the Sacramento Zoo mean to the community?”
a more concrete question may be easier to engage with:
“What do you like most about coming to the zoo?”
The first asks the child to think abstractly about an organization and its community impact.
The second asks about an experience they know personally.
From there, follow-up questions can explore the details.
What did they see?
What surprised them?
What was their favorite part?
Why?
Specific questions give the interview subject something tangible to think about and can lead to more descriptive, natural answers.
Don't Write the Answer Into the Question
Fundraising videos have a communication goal, so there can be a temptation to ask questions designed to produce exactly the sentence the campaign needs.
That can work against authenticity.
A question like:
“Don’t you think it’s important for people to support the zoo so these animals can receive the care they need?”
already contains the desired conclusion.
The child isn’t really being invited to share a perspective.
They’re being invited to agree.
Open questions create more room for an authentic response. The production team can then listen for the ideas, phrases, and moments that genuinely contribute to the story.
This principle isn’t limited to children. Professional interview production generally works best when subjects have enough structure to stay focused without being forced into memorized answers. That’s also central to how we approach professional interview and podcast video production at 175 Productions.
Let the Conversation Go Somewhere Unexpected
One of the advantages of an interview is that you don’t know every useful answer before you start.
A child may mention something that wasn’t anticipated in the original question list.
That can be worth exploring.
Instead of immediately moving to the next prepared question, the interviewer can ask:
“Why?”
“What happened next?”
“What did you think when you saw that?”
“Can you tell me more about that?”
Simple follow-ups can uncover the details that make an interview personal.
The question list provides structure.
Listening provides the story.
Keep the Technical Setup Professional—but in the Background
Creating a relaxed experience doesn’t mean compromising production quality.
Clear audio matters because an authentic answer isn’t useful if the audience can’t understand it.
Lighting matters because the subject should look natural and consistent with the rest of the production.
Camera placement and framing matter because the interview needs to work visually in the finished film.
Monitoring matters because technical problems are much easier to address during production than after everyone has gone home.
The distinction is that the crew should be thinking about those things so the child doesn’t have to.
A professional setup should create the conditions for a good interview without making the equipment itself the experience.
Give the Interview Time
Children may need time to become comfortable.
The first answer isn’t necessarily the best answer.
A child might initially respond with one or two words and become more conversational after a few questions. They may need a question rephrased. Something happening around the location may briefly distract them.
That’s not necessarily a production problem.
It simply means the interview needs enough flexibility to allow a genuine conversation to develop.
Building some breathing room into the production schedule can be more useful than trying to rush through a rigid list of questions.
The Interview Is Only One Part of the Fundraising Story
A child’s interview shouldn’t have to explain the entire organization.
That’s where the larger fundraising video comes together.
An interview can provide a personal perspective.
Staff members or experts can provide context.
Visual footage can show the organization, its work, its environment, and the people or subjects it serves.
Editing can connect those pieces into a coherent narrative.
In the Sacramento Zoo production, interviews were part of a broader visual story that also involved the zoo environment and animal footage. Our existing Sacramento Zoo fundraising case study similarly describes the animals as central storytelling subjects rather than simply background imagery.
That distinction matters.
A strong fundraising video doesn’t ask one interview subject to carry every message. It brings together different voices and visuals so each contributes something specific.
Authenticity Matters More Than a Perfect Answer
A child doesn’t need to deliver the campaign’s perfect sound bite.
In many cases, trying to manufacture one would undermine the reason for interviewing them in the first place.
What matters is capturing something truthful and relevant to the story.
That might be a thoughtful answer.
It might be excitement about a particular experience.
It might be a surprisingly simple observation that communicates the organization’s impact better than a carefully written line could.
The production team’s job is to create the conditions for those moments to happen—and to recognize them when they do.
Building Interviews Into a Fundraising Video
Interviewing children for fundraising videos requires both sensitivity and professional preparation.
The questions need to be understandable.
The environment needs to feel comfortable.
The technical setup needs to capture reliable footage without overwhelming the subject.
Most importantly, the child’s perspective needs a genuine reason for being part of the story.
When those pieces work together, an interview can help audiences understand a nonprofit’s mission through the experience of someone directly connected to it.
175 Productions provides professional fundraising video production for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations, combining interviews, visual storytelling, production, and post-production to create videos designed to communicate impact and support fundraising campaigns.
For organizations that need professional interviews as part of a larger project, we also provide interview and podcast video production throughout Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Northern California.
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