Best Nonprofit Videos of January 2025
January's bringing the heat for charity videos in 2025. While we were all still writing "2024" by mistake, these organisations were busy crafting some seriously smart stuff.
Let's geek out over five standouts that caught our eye this month. From MSF's hand-drawn masterpiece to Crisis UK's raw documentary style, we're seeing charities pick exactly the right tools for their message. And yes - as an animation studio, we're extra excited that three of these chose animation to crack their toughest communication challenges. But we'll let the videos speak for themselves…
Best NGO Video
MSF Brings Migrant Stories to Light Through Animation
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) presents "One of Thousands," a thoughtfully crafted charity animation addressing sexual violence along migration routes in the Americas. Through careful use of hand-drawn animation, the four-minute piece gives voice to survivors while protecting their privacy and dignity.
The animation team, led by director Enrique Sañudo Paredes, approaches this sensitive subject with remarkable care. Their technique uses shifting colour palettes - from subdued greens to deep magentas - to convey emotional depth while maintaining distance from the literal representation of trauma. Each frame feels deliberately considered, creating a visual language that honours these difficult stories.
The statistics underscore the urgency of MSF's work: between January and August 2024, they conducted 744 sexual violence screenings and treatment consultations, with 93% of patients being women. Yet the animation finds ways to convey hope without diminishing the gravity of these experiences, closing with the gentle reminder: "Be sure that there is light on the way. You're not alone."
This charity explainer video demonstrates animation's unique ability to address challenging subjects. Through metaphorical imagery and thoughtful artistic choices, it creates space for crucial conversations while protecting the dignity of those sharing their stories.
Best Healthcare Video
Mayo Clinic's Visual Magic (Times Three)
Mayo Clinic's latest healthcare videos pull off something special: they turn medical impossibilities into solvable puzzles which perfectly captures their vision of “healthcare will never be the same.”
In just 60 seconds each, “Imaginable,” “Seeable,” and “Predictable” by Horizon Media use crafty CGI and ingenious metaphors to show how cutting-edge medicine tackles the untreatable and removes barriers.
By dissolving, deflating, or cutting away the prefix “UN” from words like “Unanswerable,” “Unconquerable,” and “Uncurable,” these videos turn daunting medical challenges into solvable puzzles.
Liquid flowing across a microscope slide, lasers deflating obstacles, and surgical robots slicing synthetic material all highlight Mayo Clinic’s commitment to conquering the once-impossible. No voiceover is needed - the visuals do all the heavy lifting.
The sound design here is particularly clever. Instead of music drowning everything out, you hear gentle piano notes mixed with real laboratory sounds - the soft clink of glass, the hum of machines. It's almost ASMR-like, pulling you into Mayo's world of medical breakthroughs.
These videos prove that sometimes the best healthcare animation is one that doesn't feel like a healthcare video at all. They could easily be art pieces in a museum, but they're actually explaining complex medical concepts. That's smart.
Best Educational Video
TED-Ed Makes Cholesterol Crystal Clear
Here's a brain-tickler: how do you make cholesterol science fun? TED-Ed's latest explainer animation cracks it. The six-minute piece, brought to life by Artrake Studio, feels like those brilliant old-school educational films - but sharper.
Igor Ćorić's team uses bouncy character animation to unpack decades of research. From the American Heart Association's 1968 recommendations to modern lipid science, they keep it clear without dumbing it down. The art style is spot-on - think 1960s educational films meet modern motion graphics, with character designs that pop off the screen.
What makes this animated explainer video shine is how it builds visual metaphors. Cholesterol becomes tiny characters racing through blood vessels. Lipid transport turns into a postal service. Props to narrator Addison Anderson for the perfect mix of smart and approachable, topped off with an egg pun that actually lands.
With over 600,000 views and counting, this video shows why TED-Ed remains the king of educational animation. They've mastered that sweet spot between entertainment and education.
Best Policy Video
FAO's Clean Take on Complex Systems
The Food and Agriculture Organization's "WEF Nexus Synopsis" uses clean vector animation to show how water, energy, and food work together in Caribbean farming. Their explainer video introduces us to farmers like Maria, who powers her farm with renewable energy, and Javier, whose clever planting creates its own microclimate.
Delivered in English with Spanish captions, this piece uses a stripped-back style that works wonders. Bold colours and simple shapes turn technical concepts into clear ideas anyone can grab onto. The character animation brings warmth to what could have been a dry topic, while backgrounds set the scene without stealing focus.
What's clever about this nonprofit animation is how it builds concepts layer by layer. Start with one farmer, add their water usage, then their energy needs, and then how it all connects to food production. Before you know it, you're understanding complex systems without breaking a sweat.
We also featured WEF Nexus in our earlier blog post, “Best United Nations Animated Videos of 2024”, which explored water and soil productivity using the same crisp animation style.
Best Charity Video
Crisis UK Shows Reality All Year Round
Crisis UK's "Crisis 365 Appeal" takes a different route - a pure documentary style that hits home. In 60 seconds, they weave stories of different folks facing housing troubles, making their £5 monthly donation feel doable.
What works here is the raw approach. Quick cuts between scenes show how homelessness affects people year-round, not just in winter. The cinematography gets up close without feeling intrusive, while fast-paced editing keeps the energy high without losing emotional impact. The actors’ performances vividly convey the horrors and distress of being homeless, adding emotional weight that resonates with viewers.
This charity video proves you don't need fancy tricks when your story is strong—no special effects, no animation - just honest storytelling that makes you want to help. With over 24,000 views already, it's connecting with audiences in a way glossier content might miss.
January 2025’s Standout Nonprofit Videos
January's best charity videos remind us that good communication isn't about the tools - it's about picking the right ones for your message. Whether that's Mayo Clinic's slick CGI or Crisis UK's documentary style, each one finds its own path to clarity.
Sometimes you need animation to make the invisible visible, like MSF's sensitive storytelling or TED-Ed's science explainers. Other times, raw reality hits harder, like Crisis UK's straight-to-camera approach. What matters is matching the medium to the message.
Need help bringing your charity's story to life? As an animation studio specialising in charity explainer videos, we'd love to chat about your project. Drop us a line at Leon! Animations, where we turn complex messages into crystal-clear stories.
