High Resolves

What High Resolves does

High Resolves is a New Orleans-based nonprofit that operates "Videos for Change," a global short-form video platform that empowers young people aged 13-25 to produce, submit, and share films on social issues including human rights, climate, and equity. Founded in 2005, with the Videos for Change platform launched in 2015, the organization anchors its engagement model around an annual Global Film Festival that showcases youth-created work to international audiences. The organization partners with major media and philanthropic institutions, including NBCUniversal, National Geographic, the Rockefeller Foundation, the McNulty Foundation, GoFundMe, Edesia Nutrition, Viven, and Educacion para Compartir, to provide distribution, mentorship, and programming support.

The core product is the Videos for Change digital platform, which combines user-generated video submissions with structured programming such as competitions, the annual festival, and educator resources. Underlying technology details are not disclosed in the available material; the platform appears to be a cloud-hosted video submission and curation system whose reach is materially amplified by broadcast-grade distribution partnerships rather than proprietary technical differentiation. Leadership is split across a CEO (Zane Kung-Faust), Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Roya Baghai, and Co-Founder, Chairman, and Global CEO Mehrdad Baghai.

As a nonprofit, High Resolves does not monetize the platform through pricing or subscriptions. Its revenue model is philanthropic: it is sustained by foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, and individual donations. The served "customers" are therefore twofold — young creators who use the platform free of charge, and a small set of institutional funders whose contributions underwrite operations. With 11-50 employees, the organization operates at a small scale typical of US youth-focused nonprofits, and its growth and sustainability are tightly coupled to its ability to renew and expand foundation and corporate support.

Name

High Resolves

Legal name

High Resolves

Website

https://highresolves.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

High Resolves is a New Orleans-based nonprofit running Videos for Change, a global platform where young people aged 13-25 create and share short films on social issues, sustained by foundation grants and corporate partnerships and showcased through an annual Global Film Festival.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Civic Education and Social Impact Media

NAICS

Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Short-Form Video for Education & Microlearning Platforms (MPACAHAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

User-Generated Content (UGC) & Short-Form Video Platforms (BPAMAJAH)

Keywords

• Youth education programs
• Social impact media
• Video storytelling platform
• Civic engagement education
• Nonprofit youth empowerment

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Funder/Donor Support: The organization operates as a mission-driven entity supported by institutional funders, foundations, and donors who support youth empowerment and social change initiatives.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

High Resolves operates Videos for Change, a worldwide community platform where young people aged 13-25 create and submit one-minute videos on social issues they care about. The platform supports self-service video submissions, hosts educator-led Challenges in schools and communities, maintains a global showcase library, and runs an annual Global Film Festival to feature selected youth-created content.

Product overview

High Resolves operates Videos for Change as a unified platform focused on youth empowerment through short-form video creation. The core Videos for Change Platform enables young people to create one-minute videos addressing social issues, with supporting modules including the Global Showcase (a searchable library of youth-created videos) and the Resources Library (supporting educators and organizers in hosting challenges). The platform is designed around an annual global film festival model where participants submit content year-round through an account-based submission system.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Videos for Change Platform Worldwide community platform where young people aged 13-25 create and submit one-minute videos on social issues they care about. The platform supports account-based self-service video submissions, educator-led Challenges in schools and communities, a global showcase library, and the annual Global Film Festival.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NBCUniversalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNBCUniversal appears as a featured partner supporting the Videos for Change global platform, providing media and content distribution capabilities for youth-created social change narratives.
• The Rockefeller FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Rockefeller Foundation is listed as a key partner supporting the mission to cultivate narrative change through youth-created video content globally.
• National GeographiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Geographic partners with Videos for Change to amplify youth voices on social and environmental issues through visual storytelling.
• McNulty FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMcNulty Foundation supports the Videos for Change platform as a funder and partner invested in youth empowerment and social change initiatives.
• GoFundMeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGoFundMe is listed as a partner organization, potentially providing fundraising infrastructure for youth campaigns and social causes featured on the platform.
• Edesia NutritionminorGTM or Marketing PartnerEdesia Nutrition, focused on global nutrition, partners with the platform to support social impact initiatives related to health and wellbeing.
• VivenminorGTM or Marketing PartnerViven is listed as a partner organization supporting the Videos for Change mission and global community of young social change creators.
• Educacion para CompartircoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducacion para Compartir (Education for Sharing), focused on global education initiatives, partners with Videos for Change to advance youth engagement in social issues through cross-cultural video content.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• iEARN (International Education and Resource Network): Global nonprofit network enabling youth in dozens of countries to collaborate on social-issue projects. Comparable educator-distributed, globally distributed youth civic-engagement model, though project-based rather than video-led.
• DoSomething.org: US-based nonprofit driving youth (roughly 13-25) social action campaigns, often via digital challenges and content creation. Directly comparable to High Resolves/Videos for Change in mission, demographic, and digital-challenge format.
• Points of Light: Large nonprofit focused on volunteer service and civic engagement, including youth programs and storytelling campaigns. Comparable youth-civic-engagement nonprofit with institutional and foundation backing.
• Ashoka's Youth Venture / Ashoka U: Global network supporting young people launching social-change initiatives with mentorship and storytelling support. Comparable mission of cultivating youth as social-change agents via supported programming.
• Global Citizen: International youth-focused advocacy platform leveraging media and storytelling to drive action on social issues. Comparable in mission-driven storytelling, youth audience, and global scope, though with a stronger policy/advocacy lens.
• PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs: PBS program that empowers middle and high school students to produce video journalism on local and social issues. Comparable as an educator-distributed youth video platform focused on civic storytelling.
• TakingITGlobal: Global nonprofit digital platform connecting youth across countries for civic engagement and social-issue dialogue. Highly comparable global youth civic community model, though more discussion-based than video-led.
• YSA (Youth Service America): National nonprofit mobilizing youth in service-learning and civic-action projects, including video and media-based campaigns. Comparable as a youth civic-engagement platform with educator-hosted activations.

Broad incumbents

• YouTube Shorts: Generalist short-form video surface within YouTube, the largest video platform globally. Competes for the same youth creator and viewer pool with vastly superior tooling, recommendation, and creator monetization.
• TikTok (short-form video social platform): Dominant generalist short-form video platform capturing the same 13-25 demographic. Not mission-aligned, but represents the primary competitor for youth attention and video creation time outside of High Resolves' niche.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/videosforchange

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about High Resolves