The U-Pick Game-a-thon for Charity is a group of volunteers who do viewer-choice video game livestreams to raise money for charity.
We’re gamers. We love games, and we love charity – so we’ve combined the two into a completely unique event. We aim to recreate the feeling of being a kid in your best friend’s basement: yelling at all of your friends to play the game you want! With UPickVG game-a-thons, the viewers are in control of the games and the laid-back atmosphere of our livestreams bring back all of that childhood nostalgia.
We give 100%. All of our team members are volunteers – we receive no compensation for doing UPickVG events, and we do not take any portion of the money donated. Whenever possible, we use donation methods where we don’t even touch the money at all – you donate directly on the charity’s website, and get a tax receipt for your donation. We also prefer charities that do not take administrative costs out of donations, so that as much of your donation goes to helping people as possible.
Since 2012, UPickVG game-a-thons have raised over $32,039 for charity:
2012 UPickVG I $1,655.00
2013 UPickVG II $4,134.54
2014 Battle of the Birthdays (UPickVG III) $3,002.00
2015 UPickVG IV $5,453.90
2015 Project Purity $2,615.00
2016 World Water Day 2016 $4,410.00
2016 UPickVG 5 $10,097.76
2016 Extra Life 2016 $671.50
Much of that money has gone directly to fund clean water projects in the developing world, through charity: water. For example, UPickVG II in 2013 helped fund BioSand Filters for 512 people in the Kra Va Community of Cambodia:
You can get involved by subscribing to our email updates to find out about the next UPickVG game-a-thon!