Gaming Nonprofits

Video games have a long history of stigmatization and have been the center of scandals, controversy, and negative stereotypes for decades. Even today, when video games are a global billion-dollar industry, games are often thought of as being child’s entertainment or a waste of time, and adults who engage with them are childish or emotionally stunted.

These cultural perceptions are at best outdated. Gamers are a community that transcends cultures, borders, generations, and class and racial backgrounds, and one that’s capable of incredible things when they unite for a common cause.

At its heart, geekdom is a subculture, and all subcultures have a shared worldview - a set of values and an understanding of who they are and what’s important. So when they come together to give back to their communities, their combined efforts can comfort the sick and dying, provide resources and support to worthy causes, and make the world a better place.

It’s left an impact too. In 2018 separate efforts from different streamer communities raised $22 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Today, gaming nonprofits and charity drives continue to raise funds for charities and organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Here are some of the best gaming nonprofits out there, and the incredible things they’ve accomplished to make a difference in the world.

Desert Bus for Hope

Desert Bus for Hope has been lauded in gaming culture for years - not just for the cause it supports, but for how silly and absurd it is as a concept.

Desert Bus is a mini-game from Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors for the Sega CD console. The game has you slog through 8 hours of boring, unstimulating, monotonous desert road on a drive through the Nevada desert to Las Vegas, without the ability to pause. It’s a game intended to be deliberately awful as a joke - and it works. Desert Bus is considered by many to be one of the worst games of all time.

And so, what should the irreverent, ironic, and often absurd gaming community do but make themselves suffer through it on purpose for charity?

Desert Bus for Hope has been raising money for Child’s Play since its first drive in 2007, and has raised a total of $8,342,169.41 since its inception. In 2022 combined Desert Bus for Hope drives have raised $1.22 million.

There’s something both surreal and endearing about a bunch of nerds coming together and subjecting themselves to a grueling and mind-numbing experience for a good cause.

Extra Life

Charity Navigator Score: 85/100

Extra Life has been shaking things up since 2008, and has grown into a worldwide fundraising event that has raised $100 million USD for hospitalized children as of 2021.

Extra Life is a gaming marathon that supports Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a nonprofit that funds life-saving treatment and healthcare for pediatric hospitals. Once a year, gamers sign up to participate in Game Day, set a fundraising goal, and they’ll play a game of their choice for 24 hours, and ask friends and family to sponsor them. 100% of the donations go towards funding critical life-saving healthcare and research into cutting-edge medical equipment.

Humble Bundle

Although it's more of a video game marketplace than a charity, one of Humble Bundle’s main selling points is that it gives gamers the option to donate to their favorite causes with every purchase.

Not only that, but Humble Bundle has also been the driving force behind charity bundles that raise funds for at critical points when they were needed most. In 2020 their Racial Justice bundle raised over $4 million to support groups like Black Lives Matter in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in police custody.  More recently, their Stand With Ukraine bundle has raised $20,738,895 for refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - of which Galactic Bar Fight was included!

Child’s Play

Charity Navigator rating: 98/100

Now here’s a group of gamers who are truly doing the lord’s work.

Child’s Play was founded in 2003 by the creators of the Penny Arcade webcomic. Its mission is to improve the lives of children in pediatric hospitals.

They were set up specifically to help disprove the claims that gamers are prone to violent and anti-social behavior - and their efforts have created some real good in the world. The charity donates toys and video game systems to over 190 hospitals worldwide, and has raised $44,500,000 since its founding. They actively work together with hospitals to create Amazon wishlists where supporters can directly purchase the items that are then donated to the hospitals.

AbleGamer’s Foundation

Charity Navigator Score: 97/100.

The popular cultural stereotype of the average gamer is that of an overweight white male in his 30s wearing a fedora hat and living in his mother’s basement. The AbleGamers Foundation is here to prove that gaming is for everyone and can be enjoyed by anyone.

Being disabled can be an intensely cold and isolating experience - and video games can be a way for them to connect with people, make friendships, and make the kinds of connections that make life meaningful. The AbleGamer’s Foundation works to make that possible by making gaming accessible for disabled people.

For two decades, the foundation has funded research into adaptive gaming technology, trained game developers in making games accessible and more inclusive, and provided peer counseling for gamers with disabilities. They’ve gained the support of AAA gaming companies and organizations like Rockstar, PAX, and Humble Bundle.

Gamer’s Outreach

Charity Navigator Score: 100/100

Gamers Outreach has brought joy and light and hope to the hearts of children that desperately need it through the power of video games.

The organization originally started when a group of high schoolers tried to start a Halo tournament which was then shut down by police. The experience spurred them on to use gaming as a force for good in the world, and thus was Gamers Outreach born.

Their group of full-time staff and volunteers sponsors a variety of programs and initiatives, including portable gaming kiosks, dedicated gaming playrooms in hospitals, and volunteer programs where gamers will play together to hospitalized children for some much-needed companionship and human connection. They provide 3 million gaming experiences for pediatric patients in 310 healthcare facilities worldwide, and hundreds in the United States alone.

Gaming Can and Has Changed Lives

These nonprofits and charity groups have elevated video games beyond a form of mindless entertainment into a global industry that has saved lives, touched hearts, and built a path to a better world.

Games can and should make a difference. Groups like these prove that games are important and that they matter, and helps defeat decades of stigma labeling gamers as mass shooters, internet trolls, and overgrown children with no social skills.

Have you ever participated in a gaming charity marathon drive or streamer fundraising event? Tell us about it in the comments!