Charities increasingly turning to gamification as new platform launches

An online gaming platform to raise money for good causes has launched amid an increasing trend among charities to use live streaming, quizzes and interactive games in their digital fundraising.

The new platform is called RunnyHoney and has been developed by marketing firm BeeLiked to raise money through gamification.

The platform has been launched following a campaign the marketing firm took part in for the British Heart Foundation involving a hot air balloon scratch card game.

It operates by offering prizes as well as offering them to donations to charities, which are collected via payment provider Stripe.

Damian Dutton, co-founder and chief executive officer of BeeLiked, said: “Our aim with the launch of RunnyHoney is to raise the profile of good causes within the communities they serve and put the fun back into their fundraising.

“People give more generously when they have the opportunity to play a game with prizes up for grabs.”

Gamification

Gamification is being used more frequently by charities, particularly amid the coronavirus pandemic, as they pivot fundraising activities online.

Among the most successful use of online gaming fundraising this year was Comic Relief’s event involving comedians including Nish Kumar and Sure Perkins playing Dungeons and Dragons via the fundraising Tiltify platform.

For a donation of £1 the public were able to direct the comedians involved during the game. This raised £25,000 and also involved comedians Ed Gamble and Sara Pascoe.



Another high profile use of gamification was this year’s virtual Grand National. This was staged on ITV with the winner, Potters Corner, being decided through a random number generator.

This raised £2.6m for NHS Charities Together shortly after it was broadcast, attracting 4.8m viewers.



Involving gamers in fundraising events has also increased among charities. In March Help for Heroes staged a week of fundraising activity involving gamers though the campaign Hero Up. This involved the online platforms Twitch, Mixer and Youtube.

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