Cyberathlete, one of the oldest professional esports brands and tournament operators, and ReadyUp, a community marketing platform, announced the “Esports for Ukraine” fundraiser, which aims to donate up to $250,000 to support those impacted by the Ukraine War through a partnership with World Central Kitchen (WCK).
Founded by Chef José Andrés, WCK began serving hot, nourishing meals within hours of the initial invasion that started 24 February and is now set up in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. WCK is now serving more than 180,000 hot meals per day, and as this crisis is evolving rapidly, this number will continue to grow. In addition to hot meals, WCK is distributing bulk food product including produce and dry goods to restaurant partners in Ukraine to supplement the strained food supply chain. Anyone can contribute to the “Esports for Ukraine” campaign to help feed those impacted by the war. A minimum goal of $10,000 per week donation has been set.
Cyberathlete CEO Scott Valencia said: “Cyberathlete started with a belief that the video games community was bigger and had more influence in the world than anyone could imagine. This year, the 25th anniversary of our founding, the video game, esports and influencer industries top $200 billion dollars. While people want to step up and support the innocent people affected by this war, many are unsure how to get involved, especially companies with offices and people still in Russia. That’s why we’ve launched this campaign to help everyone contribute meaningfully by working together and partnering with WCK to feed people.”
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Corporations: Companies wanting to participate in donating can do so by becoming a sponsor of Cyberathlete’s 25th anniversary global esports collegiate event. Cyberathlete will match that sponsorship amount in direct donation to WCK. Company recognition of the donation is optional.
T-shirt Sales: Cyberathlete and ReadyUp will be working with artists to produce new t-shirt designs every two weeks. 100 per cent of the profit from the t-shirt sales will be sent over weekly to WCK.
Esports Teams/influencers: Teams and influencers who would like to participate in a more direct and meaningful way with their communities can contact Cyberathlete to have a custom t-shirt made for their audience. All art costs will be covered by Cyberathlete and credit for the donation to WCK is given to the influencers.
Chef Andrés said: “To continue scaling our response as this humanitarian disaster unfolds, we’re relying on our partnerships with local restaurants, caterers, and food trucks, as well as critical donations from the community, to fund and provide nourishing meals at border crossing, shelters, and other refugee locations. We appreciate all that Scott and the teams at Cyberathlete and ReadyUp are doing to drive awareness and contributions towards the WCK program in support of Ukraine.”
ReadyUp is a community management platform that drives customer engagement and growth by embedding content into communities. As part of this partnership, any publishers, creators, influencers and event organizers who have Twitch channels, Discord servers or websites can participate. ReadyUp is providing an easy-to-use Twitch extension, Discord app and web widget that will enable communities to continually discover new “Esports for Ukraine” content. More importantly, the platform will include t-shirt purchase links where proceeds go to WCK.
ReadyUp co-founder and chief gaming officer Johnathan “FATAL1TY” Wendel said: “The power of our industry is not in what any one company or person can give, but in their influence across the gaming community. Teams like Team Liquid or FaZe Clan, streamers like Ninja, Pokimane or Amouranth, and cosplayers like Jessica Nigri could say a word and feed thousands of starving refugees. At the same time, there are over eight million Twitch streamers reaching 31 million people a day and over six million Discord communities reaching 140 million people a month–that’s real power! By integrating ReadyUp’s community marketing platform, the gaming industry will drive more discovery and engagement to “Esports for Ukraine” leading to more donations and feeding more families impacted by the Ukraine War.”