About Us

Mission

Gaming for Global Change is all about inspiring others to become charitable and make an impact in the crises and disasters that face the world today. Through various outreach efforts, our goal is to galvanize the ideals of change into the minds of youth and adults alike. Through building a community passionate about gaming and raising money for charity, we hope to not only show that adolescents and young-adults can have an impact in the world, but to also inspire and empower others to “game for global change“ as well.

History

Gaming for Global Change (GFGC) began in the year of 2013 with a dream come reality, as our founder Jared took his passions for video gaming and community service and combined them to make tangible impact in the world. That December, the founding members of GFGC collaborated to livestream the game ROBLOX for 48 hours for the benefit of charity: water. What resulted was $280 raised for the charity, and a newfound inspiration for global change within those who participated and watched.

What followed were eleven more “ROBLOXathon” events, cumulatively raising more than $10,000 for charity across the three years the event ran. We concluded the ROBLOXathon series in August 2016, with sights on larger scale events going forward.

In July 2017, we began our current endeavors of streaming Nintendo for the benefit of charity, with our first Nintendo-based marathon called Wiitendothon. This event was a successful “new beginning” for the marathon team, and evolved into our current event, Nintendothon.

Nintendothon has since become our flagship charity event, running semi-annual in-person marathons of Nintendo games. The event has helped us break numerous community records, including:

• GFGC surpassed a cumulative total of $15,000 raised for charity in July 2018, prior to the Super Nintendothon event.
• GFGC celebrated its fifth anniversary with the Nintendothon Legacy event.
• GFGC surpassed a cumulative total of $20,000 raised for charity in June 2020, prior to the Nintendothon New Horizons event.
• GFGC surpassed a cumulative total of $30,000 raised for charity in December 2021, during the Nintendothon All Stars event.

In December 2020, due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, GFGC was forced to innovate and organize a remote event in the place of Nintendothon. Our other fundraising event, GFGC Marathon, was borne from this crisis, featuring broadcasters from all across our community, and raising more than $1,300 for COVID-19 relief. As a result of this fundraising success, GFGC Marathon spun off into an event series of its own in March 2021, helping GFGC to feature our amazing community and allow them to broadcast for the group without having to attend Nintendothon in person. Three additional GFGC Marathon events have since been organized, raising a cumulative $3,206.33 for charity and engaging more than a dozen unique members of our community to game for global change themselves.

Our impact at a glance

• $37,803.02 raised for various local and global charities, including charity: water, American Cancer Society, Direct Relief, and more.
• 2,304 hours on the air to raise money for charity since 2013.
• 14 different charities supported since 2013, in areas including cancer research, the hunger and water crises, environmental conservation, and more.
• 30 different livestreaming events for the benefit of charity since 2013.
• 3 sponsored charity broadcasting events put on by community members cumulatively raising >$150.