How to run a gaming marathon to raise funds for your charity

Here are our top tips for running a video gaming marathon!

Gaming marathons can work in a similar way to a conventional fundraising event:

Here are some high-level notes to consider to help you organise your very own gaming event:

Choose an appealing theme such as “play to beat cancer” or “help less fortunate gamers”
Pick a catchy event title, get inspired by gaming veterans such SpecialEffect’s Gameblast or Macmillan’s Gamechangers.
Choose when you want to run your event. Gaming event doesn’t need to have an exact start and end. You could encourage fundraisers to launch their stream during specific time range. e.g. "Join us last weekend in May".
List your event on JustGiving
Create a JustGiving Campaign page and link it to your event
Use JustGiving API and widgets to integrate your charity website with your JustGiving campaign.
Promote your event

Don’t limit the event only to computer games. Games are also cards, quizzes, board games or even sports.
Please consider health of your fundraisers, encourage fluid and healthy snacks consumptions. Sitting for extended periods can cause various health risks and even lead to death. Don’t be discouraged, this no different from conventional marathons.
Research who your target audience is and how to best appeal to them. There are various resources about gaming freely available online.
Average gamers' age is 35 years with 50/50 gender split, appeal to families with kids to join in, companies, communities.

Approach professional gamers, YouTubers and streamers of any kind. Invite some of them to join you during your stream or ask them to join your event during their usual stream. Huge crowds are following streams on Twitch and most of them have at some point fundraised for charities, they might welcome opportunity to be your front man.
Approach gaming studios, game shops, gaming gear brands, computer manufactures....
Broadcast live stream from your offices, acknowledge some of the teams, sponsors and pro gamers who are involved. Live entertainment is not easy, and a stable stream is a must. Professional audio/video team will make your broadcast look great and will allow you to focus on the content, ask your sponsors to help you with this task. If there is no one to help with the tech don’t worry, we have a streamers guide for fundraisers what will help you to deliver great result too.

Check out our recent blog about 'gaming for good'.