Raising money for charity has always been an important part of Twitch’s mission statement, but now the streaming platform has announced it’s raised over $75m for over 100 charities since it first launched.
High profile charity drives include speed-running event Games Done Quick, which this year raised $2.2m for the Prevent Cancer Foundation and $1.8m for Doctors Without Borders, as well as GuardianCon, which more than doubled last year’s total raised for St. Jude with $1.2m.
The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Charity Invitational also featured several Twitch partners and was this year’s biggest new fundraiser, raising over $220,000 for Gamers’ Outreach. Likewise, Gamers for Orcas rasied $105,000 for Whale and Dolphin Conservation in its first annual event.
"Ever since the launch of Twitch, it has been clear that one of the community’s most important goals has been helping others. The passion for giving has been self-evident through the constant support for broadcasters and assistance for community members in need. This is especially pronounced in the astonishing amount of funds raised for charitable causes," a spokesperson from Twitch said in a statement.
"We wanted to take a moment to celebrate this incredible accomplishment made possible by thousands of talented and generous individuals, while also highlighting some of the events in 2017 that have led the community to the strongest annual fundraising start ever.
"While Twitch raised a record of $25.3 million for charity last year, only $4.6 million of that was raised through July 2016. The $9.1 million raised so far in 2017 shows big potential for reaching even greater heights by the end of the year."