AGDQ: The best fundraising you’ve probably never heard of…

Early each new year for the past 12 years, a grassroots fundraising event takes place to benefit 501(c)(3) nonprofit orgs. The fundraisers that run them have generated a massive impact for the nonprofits that they sponsor. The ‘about’ details on their website describes them as:

“…currently the largest individual fundraising event globally for both Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders USA…”

The fundraisers are called “Games Done Quick,” and their flagship event, Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), is scheduled to begin on January 14th. If results from the past several years hold, the event will generate millions of dollars for Prevent Cancer Foundation.

AGDQ is formatted as a 7-day video game marathon, where speedrunners take turns demoing various video games and runs 24 hours a day for the entirety of the event. AGDQ will be back in-person for 2024 after a three-year covid hiatus that pushed the event 100% online. While the in-person portion of the event adds to the overall energy, donations are primarily made online over the course of the event.

It would be helpful to take a moment and define “speedrun.” In video game circles, speedrunning means using whatever in-game mechanics possible to beat a video game as fast as possible. The techniques used are often highly technical in execution, typically requiring hours upon hours of practice to pull off. That could mean avoiding obstacles and enemies or strategically progressing as efficiently as possible.

The most dramatic tactics are usually when a runner “breaks” a game; exploiting in-game programming flaws to bypass entire portions of a game. Glitching through levels or circumventing the standard rules of the game. Where a “casual” run of a particular game might take 5-10 hours, a speedrun of that game might condense it to 20-30 minutes – sometimes less – from start to finish.

There is a vibrant ecosystem of speedrunners competing constantly to get the fastest times possible. Holding the record time for a popular game comes with increased views to a runner’s online video feeds, and more eyeballs means more income.

If it’s not obvious so far, this is not for the typical fundraising event crowd. The AGDQ audience skews much younger than the typical fundraising donor, and more male. In gaming circles, speedrunning is ubiquitous, and AGDQ has been able to harness it to great effect.

Put plainly: AGDQ is geeky. Gloriously, wonderfully geeky.

It all happens in real-time on TwitchTV, or simply Twitch, a video game streaming platform. Lest you doubt the profitability of the gaming industry, Twitch was acquired by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million. To this day, Twitch is consistently in the top 50 most popular websites in the world, with millions of viewers daily.

AGDQ has been so successful because it taps into the audience’s existing muscle memory. Twitch is driven by paid subscriptions & direct donations to streamers. So even though the primary audience isn’t the typical nonprofit donor, the audience is very used to giving money on this channel. The pay mechanisms are comfortable and familiar, so shifting to fund a cause isn’t jarring.

The fundraising fundamentals of how the event is broadcast and run are solid. Donating to AGDQ feeds the same dopamine, ‘I did a good thing’ hit that drives all fundraising. The event runners do a very good job of consistently shouting out donors and reading donation messages, adding community validation into the mix. There is also a robust raffle system that encourages donors to give more often and in higher amounts, for the chance to win game-related prizes.

And AGDQ’s success is unassailable: the event has generated over $2 million in donations each year since 2017. Like most fundraising, the January 2023 event was soft, producing $2.6 million – down from the all-time high of $3.4 million in 2022.

?AGDQ is just one of the so called “gaming fundraisers.” Gaming fundraisers can be either virtual or in-person events (AGDQ is both). The organizations that are utilizing them successfully don’t have an organic connection to gaming. However, they are typically larger, more brand-name organizations with broad appeal. Nonprofits with good reputations, and solid metrics of success. This is not the channel to launch after getting bad press, as viewers would certainly revolt publicly.

As previously mentioned, the people who donate to gaming events are not the typical donor demographic and are not likely to make an easy transition to other fundraising channels. So, this is not a strategy for “building the base.” This is first and foremost about boosting revenue. Secondary benefits include increased exposure through boosted search activity and broadening of social media footprint.

Online attention for Prevent Cancer Foundation typically peaks each year around AGDQ.

Gaming fundraisers are often slow to gain momentum, typically taking several years to generate a groundswell of support. It helps to have connections with gaming communities or companies to support launching a new event. And that’s one of the most important elements of success here: that there be an honest, mutual respect between the donor and the organization here. Your Executive Director may or may not themselves be gamers, but it is important that the team take the effort and the audience seriously. Support the effort with time, collateral, & content to help sell your mission.?

Fundraising events are all about meeting people where they are. Tapping into existing interests and attention in a fun, genuine way. For the stereotypical donor class, that historically has been galas. For active individuals, it has been walks & runs. For gamers, gaming events like AGDQ are the logical place to meet and connect. There are likely a hundred other untapped event markets out there, waiting for an enterprising organization to find an audience.

If you’re still scratching your head at the end of this post, don’t worry, you’re not alone. This is admittedly a little wonky and a bit wacky, but definitely worth learning more about. If you’re game, it all happens from Jan. 14-20. Find out more and expand your fundraising horizons at:

?https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule/46

?https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick