How virtual reality takes donors to the heart of development causes

A potential donor at a charity event in London takes off his virtual reality headset. He blinks a few times as his eyes readjust to the light. The immersive film he just watched transported him to Somaliland in East Africa, where he stood in the shelter of a family driven from their home by drought. It was a patchwork of plastic sheets and textiles tethered down by ropes, in a windy, dusty plain. “The roof was so fragile,” he says, reaching up as if he were still in the hut. “It all felt so real. I’ve traveled a lot in Africa, but this experience has brought it all home.” VR technology has existed for decades. But as the VR market expands — it is projected to grow from $25.11 billion last year to $165.91 billion by 2030 — so too has its use in global development fundraising and awareness-raising. An August 2023 survey of more than 300 U.K. charities and nongovernmental organizations found that 58% had used VR, augmented reality, or online games to encourage donations in the past year. The technology comes with big possibilities for connecting to audiences and donors, as well as limitations such as high costs for production and equipment. But VR’s biggest asset is the opportunity it gives organizations to tell stories in new and engaging ways, says Save The Children UK Senior Multimedia Producer Jonathan Hyams. “We’re not just trying to inform people about an issue but connect them to the people experiencing those issues.” --— Jonathan Hyams, senior multimedia producer, Save The Children UK “We’re trying to combat a certain level of apathy,” he says, referring to the public’s waning interest in stories about hunger. The NGO, along with the Hungry For Action campaign, released an immersive film in January about famine in the Horn of Africa. Save the Children used 360-degree video in 2022 to tell the story of the 13-year-old Syrian girl, Ghinwa, in a Lebanon refugee camp, and a rescue ship in the Mediterranean in 2016. These were filmed on a special 360-degree camera and watched through a VR headset, allowing the viewer to look all around and feel immersed in the environment. For “On The Brink,” the film on the hunger crisis, the NGO went a step further to include interactive elements, allowing the viewer to touch, move, or pick up objects in a virtual space by holding controllers in their hands. To create this, the production team used photogrammetry cameras to capture the inside of the family’s tent in Somaliland and recreate a three-dimensional version. For example, a pot in the film is a true representation of a real pot used by the family to cook. Save The Children also published a 360-degree version of the film on YouTube. Viewed on a flat screen, the 360-degree video is not true VR but still has an element of interactivity. “It’s a fantastic way to be teleported into someone’s life,” Hyams says of the technology. “We’re not just trying to inform people about an issue but connect them to the people experiencing those issues. The more you're able to relate to people, the more invested you will be in trying to find solutions for them.” Research into VR’s impact shows it provokes more intense reactions than watching video on a flat screen. Last year, the nonprofit Games For Change, published a study on the immersive VR film “On the Morning You Wake (to the End of the World),” which portrays an event in 2018 when Hawaii residents falsely believed they were about to experience a missile attack. Researchers compared 171 people split into two groups watching the film on a tablet to a similar group viewing it on a head-mounted display. They found VR participants experienced emotions more intensely than those in the 2D group by more than 20% and reported feeling more inspired and energized. Novelty is another factor in the technology’s impact, according to Hyams. Offering an immersive experience at a fund- or awareness-raising event draws people’s attention because they may never have tried VR before. Almost 10 years ago, Amnesty International credited the use of VR headsets in a street fundraising project for increasing the number of people signing up for direct debit donations by 16% in just one week. The NGO has continued to use the technology, mainly by creating 360-degree immersive experiences using photos rather than film. Last month Amnesty International launched a digital experience showcasing evidence of punitive demolition of Muslim properties in India, as a result of what it says is a discriminatory, de facto Indian government policy. The viewer can explore the location and select ‘hotspots’ where they can click to view additional content including testimonies and audio. Amnesty used the same approach to communicate the devastation of bombed Raqqa, Syria, in 2019 and Borodyanka, Ukraine, in 2022. Milena Marin, head of the NGO Evidence Lab, tells Devex that using VR works best when the story is about location. “It’s not something you can use for anything,” she says. “The imagery has to be really clear. And the story has to be fairly straightforward and understandable.” While Marin has taken these experiences to exhibitions for people to experience through VR headsets, she says the need for such equipment is a barrier to entry for many. Although VR headsets can be used in homes, they cost upwards of $300. Amnesty has adapted the content to work online and on mobile, but Marin says these have less impact. The cost of producing such assets can also be prohibitive. Nonprofit humanitarian organization Women for Women International, or WfWI, launched a 360-degree VR film last year, “Through Dada’s Eyes,” after finding ways to make the project affordable by using a local production company and forging corporate partnerships. WfWI worked with Kenyan immersive technology company BlackRhino to capture the impact of its program on a woman in Bauchi, Nigeria. “We wanted to engage storytellers from that region to tell the story … because they know the culture, nuances, and have that trust with the community,” says Nidhi Dagur, WfWI’s director of global communications and external engagement. “A by-product of that was it helped with the cost,” she adds, as it was cheaper than bringing in a company from outside the region. One corporate partner, Meta, donated 50 headsets when they launched the film as well as technical support. Due to the learning curve on VR, partnering with tech organizations can be helpful when skill sets are lacking in-house, says WfWI Communications Manager Deetza Elf. She also advises organizations hoping to adopt VR to consider how much more intrusive this filming style can be. “An average photo shoot only takes an hour, but with this, we were with Dada for a full week,” she says. “Literally morning until early evening, we were in her home … sat on her bed, sat where she was cooking, met her neighbors and the whole community.” Before filming, the organization explained the technology to Dada, her family, and the village chiefs. When completed, they all watched the VR experience and expressed pride. Despite the achievements of VR, Hyams says the technology is in its infancy and the best is yet to come. He also wants to explore the possibilities of AR, where devices project computer-generated images onto the physical reality the viewer is really standing in. While VR places audiences in a fictional world, in AR a viewer is in their reality, but with additional digital elements. For example, a viewer might experience how a natural disaster would impact their own home, and see flood waters rise in their own living room around their own possessions. “In no time at all, we're going to see this technology moving, and everything becoming more and more realistic,” Hyams says.