A Platform For The Community

This morning, in reaching out to those I feel would be interested in Charity Live Stream I received a pointed e-mail from a broadcaster. This individual erroneously believed that Charity Live Stream is a broadcasting group where streamers are expected to work for free while I somehow profited. Given that CLS is at it's core a charity stream database with tools to help broadcasters with the events they're already doing, it was obvious that there was a huge misunderstanding taking place.

Let it first be said that I have no broadcasters, or anyone at the moment, working for me. I have had the express pleasure of assisting the amazing Alpha and current Beta Users of the site, but I have received no money from any of them so far, nor do I ever expect to take a direct percentage from someone's livelihood.

I started this platform with the intent of helping the community as a whole. The story of CLS's beginnings can be found on the About page, but the short version is that I was initially inspired with the idea for CLS by watching a relatively small Youtuber over two and a half years ago, Mark Fischbach, who would try to always dedicate himself to one charity stream per month. (As many are aware, his channel MarkiplierGAME has now reached over 8 million subscribers.) While I'm a huge fan of his content, I noticed that when I tried to search for other charity live streams that were happening, only websites related to ones he's done in the past would show up.

As I dug into this further, it became clear that only those who are already in the community of a particular broadcaster or non-profit actually knew about the event, and even then people miss out. Despite all the hard work that people would put into planning, gathering the tools, and coordinating with chat mods and other volunteers, the vast majority of broadcasters were screaming into a vacuum. Even Markiplier with his huge and amazing community that I'm a part of, only receives a small fraction of his total subscribers at his own events. This was, and is, a problem that I want to solve and almost 5 months ago I set things in motion to start.

Here's my original response to the broadcaster's e-mail, in it's entirety. I never mentioned his name, but if I had then it would be omitted:

Hi,

I believe you greatly misunderstand what Charity Live Stream is and I'm sorry for the confusion that your having.

My name is Mark, some people call me Clive, and I'm the Sole Founder of Charity Live Stream. Charity Live Stream is built to be a database of all upcoming charity streams, regardless of broadcaster, community, content, or non-profit benefiting. The site is free to sign up for and free to promote your upcoming event. Additionally, unlike several websites that will take a percentage of the donations during the charity stream (GoFundMe takes 5% before credit card fees usually around 3%) it's a principal of CLS to never take such a percentage. Right now the site is just a collection of organization & knowledge resources and a central calendar for events, so users will still need to use other platforms to collect donations, but there are no "hidden fees" for using the site now or ever.

There is no one working for me, streamers or otherwise, and, although I have done and will do streams in the future, the point of charity live stream is to be an organization and extra promotion platform specifically for charity livestream fundraisers. I'm not sure if you realize, but when it comes to charity events broadcasters have been very limited in their reach and effectiveness. If you have tried to do online searches for upcoming "charity live streams" you get nothing but old events, usually done by Mark Fischback, Markiplier, (who inspired me to create this platform), and there's no access to all the great content by upcoming and still growing broadcasters. I want to change that.

As to how I intend to make money, right now all I have is a Patreon to support myself by offering premium marketing tools & site access of my own design. After I've finished standardizing site features and even more tools, I'll be switching to a Premium Tier model where there are only 3 premium payment options for users. It's also my intention to create an Opportunity Marketplace where Businesses, Non-Profits, and Premium Users can post "Opportunities" (charity & non-charity projects) that everyone on the platform can apply to if they so desire. (Eventually I'd also like for a user Opt-In notification system where users choose the types of ways they want to grow their portfolios.)

I'm a huge fan of broadcasters and your ability to support yourselves by doing what you love. By being a user on the platform there is no pledge to change the way you normally do business, I receive no money from the streaming you take part in (charity or otherwise), and if you feel that it's necessary to take a percentage of charity donations during charity livestreams for yourself in order to keep your personal operations going then that's none of my business. I'd advise that you fully disclose to your community your operations and percentage levels, but as long as those donating are fully aware of where their money is going when they donate I have no qualms or judgements against you or any other broadcaster.

I mean this legitimately too. Broadcasting is difficult work with long hours and a difficulty to gain a following.

Personally though, have made it a personal pledge to never take a direct percentage of donations. I offer premium marketing tools at an discount beyond the free features already on the platform that non-profits can pay for, so I will accept money from non-profits but only in exchange for actual goods and services delivered by my own hard work. I have also seen first hand that the community of broadcasters, especially gaming broadcasters, is incredibly altruistic and will go through an incredible amount of work in order to help others. That's why I've created the How To guide for charity streams, (which you can access without even creating an account), and the Charity Live Stream Wikia (which is really in control of the community) to help others learn all the options they have available to successfully run charity streams of their own.

The fact that you've misunderstood what CLS is and what it stands for so much is very disturbing to me, points to some error in me properly communicating through the website or other materials. Would you be able to respond back with what gave you your initial impression of CLS and how I can improve the messaging so this doesn't happen again?

Please get back to me as soon as you are able, I hope you are doing well, and I wish you nothing but the best.

Mark Svetik | Founder
charitylivestream.com | @CLiveStream
"If you want to do anything, anything at all, no matter how hard it may seem to do it, the only thing you have to do is start." ~ Mark Fischbach

[[It should be noted that there is no affiliation between CLS and MarkiplierGAME. I'm just a fan that has had the pleasure of working with many members of his fan community. Although I would greatly love the opportunity, I have never met or had any correspondence directly with Mark Fischbach.]]

The CLS Open Beta Is Now Live! Please check out the website for yourself at www.charitylivestream.com. If anyone is interested in the work I'm doing or has questions, please reach out to me directly at [email protected].

[Originally posted on the Charity Live Stream Blog on 07-11-2015: https://www.charitylivestream.com/2015/07/a-platform-for-the-community/]