Video games' festive charity extravaganza Jingle Jam targets 1,000 streamers

Way back in the early 2010s, Lewis Brindley and Simon Lane suddenly became very famous very quickly.

It was the early days of YouTube, and with their entertaining videos around Minecraft, the duo – with their channel The Yogscast – became unexpected internet celebrities. As a result, in the build up to Christmas 2011, the duo started to receive gifts from fans.

"They were a bit embarrassed by that," shares Rich Keith, the chair of Jingle Jam. "And they said to everyone 'don't give us gifts, give it to charity.' They linked people to this Oxfam charity drive, they set up a JustGiving where people could donate through that, and they raised a big figure."

That is how Jingle Jam began. And outside of a few jokes and references, there wasn't much more to it. That was until 2013, when Yogscast started pulling together a collection of games that were given to people who donated over a certain amount.

"Things really took off at that point. They raised $1 million that year," Keith recalls.

Then in 2021, Jingle Jam expanded beyond the confines of the Yogscast channel, with numerous streamers holding online streams in support of the project.

"More and more people started to get interested in it from a streaming point-of-view," Keith says. "It felt like a big opportunity, back in 2021, to say that Jingle Jam didn't have to be on just one channel, and anyone can do their own Jingle Jam stream. We could reach even more people and raise even more money by doing that. That was our second really big change and it has opened it up massively.

"We now get, hopefully, 1,000 different content creators doing Jingle Jam streams or piece of content or posting... you can do anything for Jingle Jam. But the focus really is around livestreams and getting those names to do it."

Jingle Jam became a registered charity in 2022 and started to focus its remit. Its mission is around making the world a better place for children and young people. In 2023, the money raised was spent supporting 20,000 young people contemplating suicide, providing digital learning to 120,000 children impacted by the war in Ukraine, campaigning to end whale hunting in Norway, offering intensive one-to-one support for 40 young LGBT+ victims of abuse, opening a new facility for patients at the Bristol Children's Hospital, developing an app to help African farmers tackle climate change by restoring land, and a lot more.

In its history it has raised £25 million. Last year's event involved 660 streamers, and this year the charity hopes over 1,000 will be involved. It has already surpassed 500 who have signed-up, with still two weeks to go (and streamers can register during the Jingle Jam's two-week run).

Streamers set to take part this year, alongside The Yogscast, include TommyInnit, Talia Mar, Tubbo, RTGame, The Spiffing Brit and many more. And the charity drive will feature a number of tentpole events this year, including TommyInnit remembers Technoblade on December 6, Magic the Gathering with Kiwo and others on December 7, a 24-hour stream from Jack Manifold on December 3, Talia Mar on December 3, plus streams from Tubbo, RTGame, Bekyamon and PetetheWargamer, and events featuring Sega, Curve Games and Fireshine. This is all alongside the traditional curtain opener by the Yogscast called Jingle Cats.

"We want to do as much as we can to make the world a better place for children and young people. At the moment, we're looking at how we can raise £5 million a year"

"We have some big names this year," Keith notes. "And those will continue to be announced in the run-up. Every year we have bigger and bigger creators being involved, which in turn means more people want to get involved. Every year we get more organised, which means we can get the word out to more people. And every year, we make it easier for people to register and take part."

One of the key changes for Jingle Jam this year is focus. In the past, the event has raised money for 12 charities. This year, that has dropped to eight. There are also now two charities – CALM and Warchild – that will be part of Jingle Jam for three years.

"What we found with 12 charities is that we just couldn't spend enough time with them to make sure they get the most out of Jingle Jam," Keith explains.

"It's also about having those strategic three-year partners. That way they can really double down their resources on being in Jingle Jam, knowing that it will feed into next year as well. The charities can get anywhere between £200,000 to £300,000, we can never be sure until we start raising the money. But as well as that, they can get involved in the games world in the way that some of them haven't before. And that can require quite a lot of effort. You need people who really understand games to get the most out of it. And understand not just the games world, but the streaming world as well. A big part for the charities is them recruiting the creators who will then raise money for them."

That focus also extends to the Game Collection. This year the Collection will be smaller, but with higher profile titles that might attract more people to donate. The first game announced for the Collection is Sega's Two Point Campus, with other titles coming from Fireshine Games, Kepler Interactive and Chucklefish.

Keith is eager to thank the industry for its support, whether it is through donating games into the Collection or being involved in the streams. And he notes that as well as it being a good thing to do, with millions of people tuning in every year, there is a real marketing benefit to being involved as well.

Looking ahead, Keith acknowledges it's a tough market to be fundraising in, but hopes that over the next three years Jingle Jam can bring in £5 million a year for the eight charities.

"We are ambitious," he concludes. "It is one of our brand attributes. We want to do as much as we can to make the world a better place for children and young people. At the moment, we're looking at how we can raise £5 million. Last year we raised £2.6 million, and it was over £3 million the year before. So we want to get to a place where we can raise £5 million in, and then use that as a platform to raise £10 million.

"We think if we can get the world's biggest content creators and the world's biggest games partners involved, then we can make it bigger and bigger every year.

"£5 million is the three-year plan. This year... anything over £2 million is an amazing amount to raise. We have raised over £3 million before, and that would be fantastic. That's a stretch goal to get there. It's a difficult time for a lot of people in terms of people having enough money to donate. On average, they do donate £35, which means they get the Games Collection. That's a significant amount. The generosity is amazing."