Gaming

From Fortnight to Mario Kart, if you love gaming why not put your hobby to the test all whilst raising money for Ovarian Cancer Action? You can do this on your own or make it social by creating a competition with friends. 

Single Player

You can raise money online whilst playing your favourite game by setting up an account on a live streaming platform like Twitch, that lets you broadcast your game live as your play. Then get friends and family to watch and donate as you play! You can add extra challenges and forfeits to gain extra donations from your audience.

Multi-player

Set up a league and see who can win!

Creating an online gaming marathon to raise money for Ovarian Cancer Action couldn't be easier.

First a date and time for your online charity gaming event and let people know about this through your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Make sure you tag us so we can cheer you on!

Then set a challenge, such as gaming for a set amount of time or winning a certain amount of points and stream your progress through an online streaming platform like Twitch. Then set up a JustGiving page and use the JustGiving live streaming tool to connect the two so that friends and family can watch you play and donate.

How can we support you?

We can provide lots of fundraising materials to make your event even more special, including a collection box, button badges, balloons, bunting and leaflets. Additional items such as t-shirts, jerseys and vests can also be bought via our fundraising materials ordering form.

Players should be over 18. Always stay safe while gaming online, for top tips on staying safe, click here.

Tom Hand's virtual gaming fundraising experience

Why did you decide to fundraise for Ovarian Cancer Action?

My mother had Ovarian Cancer and lost her life to it in late 2014. Before she passed, she spent her last year's dedicating her time to charities, in the later months specifically Ovarian Cancer Action. I decided, if I was going to help anyone, it would be the one that she helped and cared about most.

Why did you decide to organise a gaming event and how did you do it? Was it virtual and if so, which platform did you use?

As I mentioned, before my mum passed away, she used to hold a lot of physical events for people to attend. In July 2020 I noticed that we hadn't done a charity event since my mum died, due to trying to move on and getting on with our new lives. So, I decided it was time to change that but the issue was COVID-19 was at its peak. I thought about my options and the best idea I came up with was a big collaboration online event, to get as many people involved as possible. I thought about a music night but it would've cost thousands to set up and execute perfectly and it was still risky with COVID regulations. The most practical idea was a gaming event. I then thought about what would involve the most people as most video games nowadays are 1-20 players. I then thought about my family's love of racing. So, I looked into real life racing events we could recreate on a virtual platform and the 24 hours of Le Mans came to mine. 60 teams, at least four drivers in each, and even more background crew. In the end we ended up using a racing platform called iRacing. We managed to advertise to fill all 60 spaces on the grid and had over 200 drivers racing over the full 24-hour period.  

What advice would you give to other people for organising a fundraising gaming event?

Social media is your biggest help. You will find a lot of lovely people willing to give up their time and expertise in this industry for free. Don't rush the planning either. Your biggest mistake will be to assume you can just send an invite to a friend and play like a normal game. If you're looking to raise money to game it has to be something big and impressive, such as 200 people racing virtual cars from opposite sides of the world for 24 hours.

What does it mean to you to support and fundraise for Ovarian Cancer Action?

It really is an amazing feeling. Since donating the money, I've received multiple emails and zoom calls from amazing representatives, explaining what the money is doing to aid the research into ovarian cancer. It is really interesting to understand the commitment and dedication people are putting in to help fight this battle. Of course, it's always a thought that I am carrying on what my mum started and it makes me really proud that I can do my part to help people so they don't have a certain fate when given a diagnosis.

Find out more about Tom's virtual fundraiser here.