How it works
From a report to a video, with you in charge of what it says.
Four steps, a script you approve before anything is made, and 3 revision rounds included with every video.
Upload your document
Upload the PDF and tell us who the video is for, how long it should be (up to 5 minutes), whether you want a widescreen video, Shorts or both, what to emphasise and which voice to use. Choose a redrawn video, or one that shows your document's own pages, which needs the right to adapt it (copyright and your video). Flag your document if it is confidential or not yet public, such as a trustee paper or a bid under consideration.
Read the draft script
Our specialised AI agents draft a script from your document, written for your audience, and send it to you to read, edit and approve. You see every word the narrator will say, scene by scene.
Want a second pair of eyes? Add human review and one of our editors checks it against your document and signs it off before it comes to you.
Edit it, then approve it
The script is yours to edit. You have full control: edit the narration, and say what you want to see at each point in the video. Your own edits are free. If you would rather we made a change, say what, and we send a revised script; that uses a revision round. Nothing is rendered until you approve it, and each render uses one round.
Get your video
A narrated video with captions, a transcript and a poster image. It is yours: download it and upload it wherever you like, such as your website, YouTube, social media, your newsletter or a funder portal, and use it permanently. We can also upload it to YouTube or another platform for you.
Fast where it counts
The whole process, from document upload to finished video, takes just a few minutes.
No booking in, no briefing call and no waiting weeks for a first cut that may still need another round of revisions. Your video can be ready for an appeal launch, a campaign day, an annual general meeting, a funder deadline or a report to trustees.
Built, not generated
Generative AI video models paint every frame, so they can invent a number, a label or a result that sounds right but is not in your document. We do not use them. Each frame is built from your document's own words and data, so what the video shows can be checked against the source, line by line.
1,237 videos rendered by our engine, using an estimated 710 kWh and about 12–44 kg CO2e less than an AI video model would have, our own AI drafting included (our numbers).
No made-up facts
Our software draws only what is in the script you approve, and the script is written from your document, with the page, table or figure behind each line noted so you can check it against the source.
Typeset, not painted
Every word on screen is typeset, so there is no garbled lettering and no text that is not in the script you approved.
Plotted from your figures
Charts are plotted from your document's own numbers: people supported, money raised, outcomes achieved. Nothing is rounded up or made to look better than the report says.
Drawn deliberately
Diagrams are drawn in code to show what the script says, not generated to look plausible. What the video says is the script you approved.
Why AI video models get text, numbers and charts wrong, and how we keep videos true to your document.
What you no longer have to do
An agency explainer usually takes you through five or six sign-offs: a brief, a script, a storyboard, style frames, rounds of animation and a final mix. Agencies' own published timelines for a 60 to 90 second animated explainer run from about 4 to 12 weeks, most often 6 to 8.1 Here is the same work, stage by stage.
| Stage | With a typical agency1 | With Explain My Charity |
|---|---|---|
| Briefing | A questionnaire and a kickoff call, often with an explanation of your work for the writer | Upload the PDF and answer a short form: audience, length, voice, layout, what to emphasise, and your brand, imported free from your website or your logo |
| Understanding your document | The writer learns your document, often from you | Our specialised AI agents draft from your document itself, and send the script to you. You still know your work best: that is why you approve the script |
| Script | Drafts and usually two rounds of revisions | You read one script and approve it or ask for changes |
| Storyboard and style frames | A separate review and sign-off before animation starts | Nothing to review: the pictures are drawn in code from the script you approved, in our style or your brand |
| Voiceover | Casting and a recording session | Choose a voice from samples when you order |
| Animation | Usually two rounds of review on animation cuts | Watch the finished video, then accept it or ask for changes. 3 revision rounds are included |
| Your sign-offs | Five or six | Two: the script and the video |
Your time. We estimate about 10 to 20 minutes to read and approve a script, and about 20 to 45 minutes in all for a video with one round of changes. That is an estimate from our pilot videos, not a measurement; we will replace it with measured figures from real orders.
1 Sources: the published process pages of Yum Yum Videos (May 2026, 6 to 8 weeks), Hocus Pocus Studio (6 to 8 weeks), Gisteo (Mar 2026, 2 to 6 weeks), Epipheo (8 weeks), Mooviemakers (Jul 2026, 4 to 8 weeks), Breadnbeyond (Aug 2026, 5 to 7 weeks) and Demo Duck (8 to 12 weeks), read 27 September 2026. These are the studios' own figures. Timelines vary with length, style and how quickly the client replies.
Revisions included
A revision round is one complete render of your video. Each video includes 3, and the first render uses one. Your own script edits are free; asking us to rework the script uses a round. Fixing our own mistakes never uses one.
Need more? An extra round is £19 (£22.80 inc. VAT).
Always know whose turn it is
Your dashboard shows where each video is, whether it is with us or waiting for you, and what happens next. We email you when a script or a video is ready.
We will confirm timing when we send your script, and we take on only as many videos as we can deliver.
What you get
A video people finish
Short and clear, written for the audience you chose, with diagrams and labels that stay legible because they are built, not generated.
Accessible from the start
Captions and a full transcript with every video, so it works with the sound off and with a screen reader. Captions can be translated into any language, and multilingual voiceovers are on our roadmap.
Your choice of voice and layout
Choose the narration voice (hear each one before you choose) and the layout: slides, full animation, a mix, or your own slide design, uploaded from a template we provide and checked by our team.
An honest, synthetic narrator
Choose from 28 high-quality synthetic voices in English: British and American, women and men, with different pitches and paces, each one playable on the order form. They run efficiently on our own machines, and every video says its narrator is synthetic. The script is drafted by our specialised AI agents.
Optional extras
- Stills for your website (£4.99 per video, plus VAT): up to 10 still images from your video, at full size and as smaller web images, with alt text suggestions.
- Slides (PowerPoint) (£4.99 per video, plus VAT): a PowerPoint of your video's scenes, with each element as a separate piece you can move and edit, and the narration as speaker notes.
Tick them when you order, or add them from your video's page once it is ready. The Enterprise subscription includes still images and slides for every video.
Before you order
The order form asks for these. Have them to hand before you start, and you can save a draft at any point and come back to it.
- Your document as a PDF. Up to 25 MB and not password-protected. Remove anything that could identify the people you support first, unless they have agreed to it.
- Who the video is for. Supporters and the public, funders and commissioners, the people you serve, or trustees, staff and volunteers.
- How long it should be. A target of 1, 2, 3 or 5 minutes. The video runs no longer than the length you choose.
- A widescreen video, Shorts or both. One widescreen video, a set of 3 vertical Shorts for social media, or both.
- What to emphasise. Optional: the finding, the number or the message that matters most to you.
- The layout and the voice. Slides, full animation, a mix or your own slide design, and a narration voice, which you can listen to first.
- What the video can show from your document. Redrawn in our own words and drawings, or showing the document's own pages and figures. For a video that shows the document, how you hold the right to adapt it: for example it is your charity's own document, the publisher has given permission, or it is under a CC BY licence.
- Whether it is confidential or not yet public. And, if it is under embargo, the date it lifts.
- Your brand. If you want the video in your own brand: your logos, colours and fonts, or your website's address for us to take them from.
- Who is paying. Your own account or your team's. If the account has no video credits left, you can pay for the video by card when you submit it.
Launch offer: any length up to 5 minutes for the price of a one-minute video. Shorts are included free during our launch.
Need a longer video, or one covering several documents? Contact us about 30 or 60 minute videos, or a video spanning several documents, such as a series of annual reports. Not sure what your document allows? Copyright and your video explains it.