Flying Cars shared a coffee with Bronwyn Carter from Mental Health charity, Mind to understand more about their journey into streaming fundraising.

Sharing her recent experience representing Mind at TwitchCon in Amsterdam, Bronwyn talks about giving away the clothes off her back, connecting with streamers and growing this community of committed supporters.

Read on to hear Bronwyn’s top tips on how to get started in the streaming fundraising space.

Streaming is huge

Fundraising is changing fast, and organisations that jump into emergent areas can scale exponentially.

• The British Red Cross has raised over £1 million so far from stream fundraising, passing the landmark in April 2022

• Nine million Twitch users are streaming on the platform once a month (Twitch is the biggest platform used by streamers)

• Users consumed 22.8 billion hours of content on the platform in 2021

• We now see specific fundraising roles within early adopter organisations that feature
  Gaming/Streaming

• The global streaming market is valued at $59 billion annually and snowballing. It’s the fastest growing entertainment out there - outstripping TV and films - you just can’t ignore it.

Pandemic fuelled pivot in community engagement

Mind had been planning their entrance into the Gaming for Good space before the pandemic, but the overnight loss of physical events accelerated this.

As well as launching new virtual challenges Mind launched their first branded gaming and streaming ‘Switch off Game on’ in May 2020.

Against a year-one target of £55,000, they raised a phenomenal £550,000 from 668 people doing gaming events. However, crucially, most of them chose not to engage with ‘Switch off Game on’ campaign but signed up to do their own thing under the Mind brand.

Streaming NOT Gaming

Top influencers in this space emphasise not to narrow your focus to ‘just’ gamers in your marketing and product development.

Streamers build their communities, and they are part of different communities themselves. People are very loyal to their favourite streamers; it’s like never missing an episode of a TV show.

Streaming fundraising is good old-fashioned community fundraising at heart. The difference is the communities are virtual and gather around a particular person doing something, instead of a school, club or place of worship. The common thread is an appreciation for a specific creator or influencer and the regular content they produce, which is highly interactive.

Twitch has vibrant channels for making art, playing music, cooking and streaming live adventures.

Tip 1: If you want to be fully inclusive of the whole community, talk about streaming, not gaming

Understand the lingo and platforms

Jebaited, Poggers, VOD, Streamsniper

No - you don’t have to go all David Brent and start trying to talk like a cool kid. That will end in extreme cringe. But - you need to understand the leading platforms your potential fundraisers use. To become a credible organisation for streamers to work with, you need to know where they are, the tools they use and how they reach their communities. You must watch streams and see how the community interacts with their favoured creators.

Tip 2: See if anyone in the organisation is a streamer. They can help you get up to speed.

Discord communities

Discord is another platform used extensively by streamers to chat, collaborate and socialise.

Samaritans, Mind and British Red Cross all have growing Discord channels. These allow them to build their committed communities of streamers and communicate with them in real time without emails.

Building a Discord community is about creating a presence in places where people are already active and comfortable. If your organisation is increasing your focus on streaming - you may have to introduce these spaces to senior colleagues for them to buy in and understand the risks and benefits.

Discord is good at strengthening the bond between the work the charity is doing and their fundraisers. It helps those fundraisers be great advocates.

But if you are considering setting up a Discord channel, be aware that building and moderating takes time and resources. Without moderation, the organisation can be open to safeguarding and reputational risks.

Twitch Con Streaming Convention - expect the unexpected

Twitch Con Europe took place this year in Amsterdam on 16-17 July. 14,500 streamers, developers, fans and industry professionals attended the two-day event.

Mind was asked to exhibit as a featured charity, and a team of 5 headed off in excited anticipation. It was a chance to meet creators in real life and build an authentic connection between Mind & streaming.

Part of the negative press around gaming & streaming is its impact on your mental health. As with many things, it is about moderation. But streaming can also create positive connections.

During the pandemic, many people interacted and connected virtually. This replaced the human connection they were not getting in the real world. Mind has created a guide to help streamers who are fundraising for them to look after their wellbeing.

So Minds’ presence at Twitch Con had a dual goal:

●      Support streamers and give tips on how to manage their wellbeing

●      Ask people to sign up to stream for Mind and raise money

Last minute pivot

The team were positioned in the exhibitor’s hall next to many big games developers with bigger budgets. It was more than a little intimidating.

To draw people in, they created the ‘Wheel of Wellbeing’ - spin the wheel and win a prize. In exchange for filling out a form, they would get the digital wellbeing guide & a spin on the wheel. Lots of branded merch was ordered, such as ‘Stream for Mind’ caps, pens, and stickers.

Alas - on the eve of the event, disaster struck. One of two boxes containing the branded merch did not arrive from Dutch customs. The merch and prizes were not going to make it.

On Friday night, the spinning wheel arrived, but the stall looked very sad. It was all hands to the deck on Saturday morning to fix it. They found a party shop and bought bunting, table clothes and decorations as close to brand colours as they could manage. They replaced planned prizes with sweets and asked people to offer their well-being tips. With a Polaroid camera, they could create a wall of fame.

We love a good pivot here at Flying Cars - and knowing how often things can go wrong, it was great to see the team think on their feet and create a triumph out of disaster.

Tip: During TwitchCon, there was a great panel discussion on charity streaming which you can view here.

How do you keep people engaged with your cause?

If you are increasing the amount of outreach and engagement your organisation has with streamers, you may be tempted to try and learn everything you can. But you don’t need to.

‘The streaming world is constantly changing - you can feel the pressure to know everything. But you don’t have to be an expert. You are an expert in the cause and fundraising.’  Bronwyn says

There are already people fundraising for you on these platforms.

●      Look through your DYOT fundraisers and see if you can identify any

●      Talk to them and learn from them - get some insight to shape your future product

●      Streamers want a way to explain the cause to their audience.

Creating resources that empower them to talk to their audience about why your charity needs their support will help them raise money from their community 

Regarding resources, one size does not fit all - you need a range. Mind have branded videos that can be played during a stream and talk about why there is a need for donated money and their services. But they also provide a conversation guide. A looser set of messages people can tailor to their audience.

Constantly be influencing – stakeholder management

You may face resistance when discussing streaming internally. Stakeholder buy-in may be a mixed picture, and streaming can feel risky. There are lots of unknowns, and it is likely to be unfamiliar to some staff.

As fundraisers, we aren’t super confident in streaming language and mechanics. So take the time to influence internally to get senior stakeholders on board with the opportunities. The opportunities are not just for raising money. You will likely be reaching new audiences.

Bronwyn: ‘Before launching Switch off Game On, staff did a lot of work to show the potential it had and address the concerns of stakeholders. We have an ethics review board we had to go through.’

But there will always be people streaming and fundraising for you anyway - you can’t stop them’, so how you stay continually on top of any risks and perceived risks has to be part of this fundraising, just as it would be for events or DYO.

Take an insight-led approach

If you want to understand more about your streaming audience – Flying Cars can assist with qualitative and quantitative insight. The insight will help you understand your streaming audience drivers and how you can build a long-term relationship with them. Drop an email to hello@flyingcarsinnovation.com to find out more.

Top tips

1. Streamers might not be gamers

2. Talk about streaming, not gaming

3. Reach out to colleagues – some might already stream

4. Spend time on Twitch, Discord & Tiltify

5. Build your presence on platforms where streamers hang out

6. Uncover who is already streaming for you. Reach out

7. Create resources that allow streamers to speak about your organisation in a channel appropriate way

8. Keep influencing internally and manage risks