You know, if our community is any indication, nerds might just be the most caring individuals on the planet. Have you ever wondered how you can help other people by creating content? Charities all over the world have discovered how great it can be to work with online content creators, which has opened up a plethora of options for you to help the world around you with your content! In this article, we’ll explore 3 different ways you can help: working directly with charities, working with digital hubs, and working with a curator hub.
Now before we get too deep into this topic, a word of caution. Generally speaking, the less money you can hold in your hands during a fundraiser, the better. Here’s why. First of all, this can create liability and ethics issues, as you have to ensure that this money does, in fact, make it to where it needs to go. Additionally, while these charities usually are 501c3 charities, you--generally speaking--are not. This has two impacts: 1), your donors can’t write off their donations on their taxes, and 2) this could open you up to tax liability. So with all of this in mind, let's explore options that don’t involve holding money.
One of the most direct ways to fundraise for a charity is to work directly with them, and many charities are becoming content creator friendly. Here at the Noname Nerd, we’ve gotten to work with a couple great ones in this category; namely, The Trevor Project, and Extra Life (which is a branch of Children’s Miracle Network specifically made for streamers and gamers). The big upside to working directly with charities like this is that, oftentimes, they have resources available for you to use, such as assets, b-roll footage, and liaisons who can be available to help with guidance. The downside is that there are only a limited number of charities to choose from in this category. With that said, if you can find a good one that suits your needs, it can be the beginning of a great partnership.
What do you do if you want to support a specific cause, but they aren’t easy to work with online? Enter digital hubs, like Tiltify! When we have someone contact us looking for a specific cause to support, we often recommend this route. For example, last year, Jace, one of our community members, came to us looking for help. He was trying to fundraise for a cancer-related cause. So, we went to Tiltify, and found a great cause for him to support. Tiltify handled all of the donations, and he was able to make a great impact for his cause. The upside to this sort of platform is that there are a ton of causes to choose from (Tiltify works with over a thousand charities), but the downside is that you don’t get a ton of direct support and resources at your disposal.
What if you want to make a positive impact in the world, but don’t really know what cause you want to support? Might we suggest a curated charity portal? This is a relatively new concept, where the charity portal handpicks causes to support. We’re proud to sponsor Stream For A Cause, who is a fantastic charity portal that picks a charity to support every month, supports the creators with resources about each individual charity that they work with, and even invests in the streamers supporting their initiatives! The support they give streamers is a massive upside; however, not being able to choose the charity may be a downside to some streamers. You can learn more about this unique approach at StreamForACause.org.
There are a ton of causes out there that need your help. In this article, we’ve explored three great ways that you can interface with these charities, and make a difference in the world. Of course, stay tuned, as we’ll go over some techniques for effective fundraising next time! What charities have you tried working with? Got some great fundraising tips? Let us know over in the #charity-stream-tips channel on our discord! Not already a member? Grab the links to our communities at NerdsBelongHere.com! And as always, stay tuned to this blog for more great tips and tricks!