Yogscast raises over $2.5m in its 2016 annual charity month

Yogscast has announced it raised over $2.5m during its annual Jingle Jam charity month last December, making it the company’s most successful charity drive yet.

$284,000 was raised on the first day alone, and the team quickly reached the 1m mark by the end of the first week. 86,578 donations were made in total, and the final figure has now been confirmed as standing at $2,577,801.

Yogscast’s annual charity month is now in its fourth year, bringing the combined total to over $6m. This year, Yogscast pre-selected six main charities that will benefit from the money raised. These include Mental Health Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Whale and Dolphin Conversation, ILGA Special Effect and GamesAid UK. Donors also had the option to choose another charity of their choice from over 3,000 causes worldwide.

Yogscast also joined forces with HumbleBundle and over 50 developers and publishers to create a charity collection encompassing over 60 games. The bundle had an estimated value of $650, but donors could unlock the entire collection for just $30, with new items becoming unlocked everyday throughout December.

The total was further bolstered by Yogscast’s festive t-shirt sales and an album that was written live on Twitch by Hat Films. The album went on to be the top-selling album on Bandcamp.

It’s been an amazing and humbling experience,” Yogscast CEO Mark Turpin said in a statement. We understood that we had a fantastic bundle and a great line-up of entertainers throughout the month but we never dared to dream that we would raise so much for such fantastic causes.”

Yogscast co-founder Lewis Brindley added: There has been immense outpouring of generosity from the whole community, and I want to give a massive thanks to everyone who made this possible.”

Chairman of GamesAid UK Ian Chambers also commented: "We were truly astounded by the generosity of the Yogscast community. The donation that GamesAid receives will have a huge impact on the lives of disabled and disadvantaged young people."