What Grand Theft Auto 5 Has to do With Fundraising
	Posted by Mike Johnston at Sep 25, 2013 07:01 AM CDT

With the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the expectation for it to sell over $1 billion dollars in sales (on a cost of $280 million to create), it’s time to talk about computer gaming and the influence of the digital gaming culture on the charitable sector.

Why Pay Attention to Gaming?

• Over 70% of Western households play computer, digital, or video games.
• The average age of a game player is 37.
• Women make up 42% of game players.

Digital gaming is the de facto leisure activity by size of the industry. In 2005, it surpassed the movie industry in sales. In 2008, it surpassed the music industry. And today, the digital gaming industry is larger than the book, music, and movie industry combined.

The majority of your Gen Y and Gen X donors and a sizeable number of Boomer donors are playing digital games on an iPhone, Xbox, Wii or computer.

Gaming is culture. It is us, and it is your donor base.

Using Gaming Elements Outside of Games

Wait! Before you go out and create a game -- I wouldn’t recommend that in a million years (it would be like me telling a charity to make a feature film -- ridiculous!), let’s look at the principle of gaming that can help you enhance your fundraising and relationships with your donors.

It may sound silly, but this approach of taking elements of a game and putting them to use in other areas (the cause of your charities marketing/fundraising objectives) is called “Gamification”. You see well-thought-out gamification in air miles programs, for example. Anyone in Star Alliance or One World loyalty programs deals with:

• point systems tied to rewards
• levels like  gold, silver, bronze
• bonuses for reaching different levels

That’s gamification in action.

How can a charity apply gamification?

We already see it done in pledge events. Rewards and different levels for event registrants in their fundraising is offered across the sector. Could it be done more effectively? Yes. Read up on gamification  and see how you can do a better job applying the principles to your next fundraising campaign. Definitely check out these 10 examples of how organizations are using gaming to further their mission. 

How do you leverage gamers to raise money for you while they enjoy their favourite games?

First, find popular games and the place where gamers who are inclined to support nonprofits might congregate -- those places do exist! One such place where gamers come together to support charities is http://www.childsplaycharity.org/. Here, individual charities tap into games to raise money. The Make-A-Wish Foundation USA raised over $1 million in one day with the sale of a virtual pet within the popular game, World of Warcraft.

Of course, you have to be open to gamers who want to raise money for your organization. Or you’ll have a missed opportunity like this:

The Canadian Cancer Society, Saskatchewan Division received a call from a supporter (let’s call this person Casey), who also played the game, Guild Wars. Casey wanted to raise money within the game itself for the Society, but without a policy in place, nor an understanding culture for gamers, the Society had to turn Casey away.

But that didn’t stop Casey, who found the Society’s online tools to create a fundraising page. Casey then leveraged online gaming friends to raise thousands of dollars for breast cancer research – in one day! To the right is a screen capture of the virtual gamers forming a ribbon shape in support of the online fundraising efforts.
 
In Conclusion

Gaming is the primary form of entertainment with younger and middle-aged donors, regardless of gender. Gaming is deeply embedded into our culture, and gamification presents a significant opportunity to organizations.  Every charity needs to:

• Choose someone to become the point person on gaming culture. Most likely, a gamer themselves.
• Foster a culture that respects gaming needs and gamers’ desires.
• Create a web page welcoming donors/supporters who are gamers, and offer online personal page fundraising tools that they can take advantage of.
• For larger organizations, you may want to look for gaming companies to support your mission.

And finally, every fundraiser needs to play digital games if they don’t already. There’s a game out there for you. Find one so you can truly understand this dominant activity. It will help you find ways to use gaming culture and gamification to improve current fundraising practices, and help you find ways to nurture and support gaming supporters so they can leverage their gaming passion alongside  their belief in your cause.