Gamer or streamer?
Are you a streamer or gamer looking to support a charity?
The Listening Place would love to hear from you! Anything you raise through your fundraiser will directly fund our face-to-face, non-judgemental support for suicidal people and we will be there to support you with your fundraising along the way.
There are many ways you can fundraise for us through streaming or gaming.
You could…
- Play your favourite game and ask your viewers to donate.
- Create incentives for viewers to donate during the stream e.g. for a £5 donation you will give them a live shout-out, for £10 you will put on a funny hat (which could result in you wearing many hats at once!), for £15 you will live-draw them a personalised picture.
- Do a danceathon for a whole day and livestream it, asking for people to donate throughout
2023 WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY
PICK UP YOUR CONTROLLER, PUT ON YOUR FAVOURITE GAME & RAISE MONEY.
Twitch, JustGiving and Tiltify
We suggest using the streaming platform Twitch to run your fundraiser on, which you can link to the fundraising platforms JustGiving or Tiltify. This will allow your viewers to donate to your fundraiser during your stream, directly through Twitch. You will then be able to thank your donors as they donate, allowing you to interact with them in real-time.
Keeping it healthy
Gaming can be fun, social and a great mood booster, but it can also become addictive and have a negative impact on mental health.
We’ve put together some tips you can follow when fundraising for us through gaming and/or streaming, to help keep it healthy:
- Take regular breaks: If you’re doing a timed streaming fundraiser and will be streaming for a long period of time, we recommend you take regular breaks to give you the opportunity to go outside, move around and have something to eat. Twitch has the option of adding overlays to your stream to let your viewers know that you are taking a break.
- Report harassment and harmful content: On Twitch you can report users or content which is against their guidelines (for example, illegal content, threats and harassment), which you can find an explanation of on their website here.
- Prioritise your wellbeing: If at any point you feel upset by something you encounter while gaming or streaming, take a break and prioritise your mental wellbeing. Likewise, if you feel that the gaming itself is negatively affecting how you are feeling, don’t worry about stepping away – we would rather you prioritise your health!
- Maintain a healthy gaming/life balance: When gaming, try to make sure that you keep a healthy sleep schedule, limit screen time when you can, maintain a healthy diet and set aside time to see people and get out and about. If you feel that you are becoming addicted to gaming or beginning to feel isolated, talk to someone about it, such as a loved one or your GP.
Get in touch
If you are interested in running a fundraising stream for us, please get in touch at community@listeningplace.org.uk and we’d be very happy to help you get it set up!
Looking for some inspiration?
Read how Twitch streamer Sincerely Bee raised £815 for The Listening Place through her charity stream in February 2022:
Bee’s fundraising story – Gaming for Mental Health
“Ever since I started streaming, I have wanted to do a charity stream. And when I was ready to set it all up, choosing the charity was easy. As someone who has been struggling with her mental health for the last few years and knows people who have used The Listening Place service, the cause of the charity lies close to my heart.
The stream itself went so incredibly well. I know my community to always be kind and supportive, but all of them went above and beyond for this one. Even though it was difficult for me at times when I decided to be open about my own mental health and the struggles I have been and am dealing with, it was the best streaming experience I have had so far. I find it so important to have these conversations about mental health, mainly because I don’t ever want anyone else to ever feel alone.
Doing this stream has really helped me and the community as much as it has helped The Listening Place. It was relieving to share my story and to hear other’s in a comfortable setting where we could also laugh and play games together. The sense of community was never bigger and it has really inspired me to do more fundraisers like this one.”
