GG: Over $2 million raised for charity

Riot·11/17/2017, 2:34:08 AM·6 votes·37,725 views

League players answered the call this Worlds, raising over 2.35 million dollars for charity through purchases of Championship Ashe and the 2017 Championship ward. While we’re calculating the final dollar amounts (there’s legal and tax stuff), the numbers shown below are the minimum each organization will receive from your efforts. We’re blown away by how many of you voted and contributed -- here’s what happens next.

(In case you forgot: In September we announced we’d match the total player contribution to the 2017 Worlds prize pool in a donation to three charities: BasicNeeds, Learning Equality, and The Raspberry Pi Foundation.)

  1. The final donation pool is at least $2.35 million USD, equal to the player contribution to the 2017 Worlds Prize Pool
  2. 4,039,022 of you voted for one of the three charitable orgs. Your votes were multiplied based on your Honor level. The winning org will receive 50% of the donation, with the remainder split between the other two.
  3. BasicNeeds won the vote.

You’re not just a global player community, but a group of people who will impact lives through your contribution. The organizations each shared a personal message to thank you.

BasicNeeds - $1,175,000.00 USD (50% of the donation pool).

BasicNeeds want to say thank you to all gamers who have supported us through their purchases or votes in the recent Riot Games fundraiser. 80% of people facing mental health problems live in developing countries and fewer than one in five have access to treatment. Many endure prejudice and abuse and are unable to access education or employment. Your contribution enables us to reach out to many more people in places where better mental health services are desperately needed. It will also help us develop the tools to share our knowledge and experience with others who want to do the same. Thank you very much for your support.

Learning Equality - $587,500.00 USD (25% of the donation pool).

We at Learning Equality would like to wholeheartedly thank each and every one of you who participated in this event. We are humbled and honored to have received your votes. For the past four years we have worked hard on our mission of bridging digital and educational gaps around the world. Through your support, Learning Equality will now be able to distribute Kolibri, our second-generation ed-tech platform, to provide learning games and resources that build confidence and develop digital literacy for disadvantaged students living in some of the most disconnected communities across the globe. It's a new phase for Learning Equality and for all of those we will be able to reach because you chose to embark on this adventure with us. Please don't be a stranger, and continue to follow our journey on Twitter and Facebook, and through our website and newsletter. Thank you once again, Riot family! You're a true league of legends!

The Raspberry Pi Foundation - $587,500.00 USD (25% of the donation pool).

By the end of 2020 our goal is to see 5,000 active CoderDojos across the world. With the generous support of the League of Legends community, we will be able to work towards this ambitious goal regularly engaging over 200,000 young people in learning how to create with digital technologies. To achieve this, we will work with partners and regional groups to recruit, support, and train more of the brilliant champions and volunteers that run Dojos. We’ll work across the Raspberry Pi organization to make developing world-class multi-lingual learning resources for use by young people a top priority, while also expanding our Coolest Projects initiative which inspires them to be creative with technology. We will also make sure that Dojos engage young people from all backgrounds, including girls, and will support more youth mentoring.

Well done, summoners.

148 Comments

How Do You Meta11/17/2017, 7:45:07 PM127 votes

It makes me happy to see Riot give back for charity ^_^

Quinń11/17/2017, 8:05:32 PM58 votes

It's honestly really cool to see Riot give back and to charities with such amazing goals. Mental health is so important, I've met so many people in this community who suffer from something like depression or anxiety and that games like these help provide an escape. Seeing Riot donate so much to a charity helping such a huge epidemic (and learning/technology charities too) just makes me really happy

0Yare Yare Daze011/17/2017, 9:15:49 PM32 votes

I am so glad to be a part of this. I only counted for one vote cause im a toxic boi but Im glad to see riot give to people who need it mostTwitch

A Regal Lugia 11/17/2017, 9:41:52 PM29 votes

I'm so happy Basic Needs won, voted for them and wasn't sure it would matter. People don't take mental illness seriously enough or quickly dodge mentally ill people to be just lazy, good for nothing etc. Bough the skin for the charity and crafted the border and icon for myself [sona-playing]

Arcanomos11/17/2017, 11:07:59 PM19 votes

I really hope you all at RIOT see how much these kinds of things matter to the player base. It not only gives everyone something to feel proud of being a part of this gaming community, but most importantly its a new avenue for us to help those who need it the most - and I bet a bunch of people who made purchases weren't aware of some of these causes, so bonus wins!

Please make this an annual fundraiser, can give a set of 3 new organizations each year, make it an important part of worlds to also get hyped for!

#TSMBigStageTragedySupportFund

AlwazHard11/17/2017, 9:25:03 PM14 votes

This is absolutely amazing. I'm awestruck at this outpouring of support by a group of gamers for a singular cause. I think I can deal with the toxic ones a little easier now.

Yung Plågue11/17/2017, 9:12:56 PM12 votes

This Makes me Beyond Happy, to See Riot Helping those that need it. It kinda pulls on my feels [zombie-nunu-tears] makes me wanna cry because People out there are getting help. I'm such a loser lol.

PhantomAventador11/17/2017, 7:53:54 PM10 votes

omg good job riot 2million dollars raise dammmmIrelia

SDhrek11/17/2017, 8:32:14 PM8 votes

Honestly this is really great, but I feel a little sad that basic needs won over education.

I always have strongly believed in the quote. "Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime."

Not the getting the basic needs to people is bad, just that giving them the knowlage to gain the basics themselves would of been a bit better in the long run.

Still so glad that Riot is doing something like this! I only bought the stuff just because I wanted to help with the donation, Ima hard support main and not the best of adc's.

The Masta11/17/2017, 9:08:15 PM8 votes

GG. remake

LordGrayKnight11/17/2017, 10:37:28 PM7 votes

Ah spending money on useless skins and feeling good about it.

Ohmei11/18/2017, 3:13:51 AM7 votes

I was so glad to be a part of this! Is there a chance you guys'll do another one for charities for physical disabilities? (I'm physically challenged myself, so I may be sliiiighty biased) [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

Falicer11/17/2017, 9:11:40 PM6 votes

I love the Idea of this and I am happy so much got raised for charity, it just annoyed me a little that your honor level decided how much your vote was worth, in my opinion on charity based content a honor level shouldn't matter on the value of the vote, it's about the vote itself that counts. Besides that, good job Riot Games and everyone that helped by voting [poppy-wink]

ISkateBoardI11/18/2017, 4:16:56 PM6 votes

HOLY MOLY the league community did something....not....toxic?

Asassn11/18/2017, 2:23:17 AM5 votes

Next year lets give all our money to Learning Equality, they called us a League of Legends.

A wild Giratina11/18/2017, 12:40:07 AM5 votes

[slayer-jinx-catface] GG Everyone!! Though Video games were trashed over the years. league is making it possible! Countries, Races. The world is coming together as one. Rito, I support you and everything you do. I'm honored to be apart of the millions that are coming together for this amazing game.

CheeSzuu11/17/2017, 11:40:39 PM5 votes

to celebrate, we should have more skins featuring this. :) [sg-ahri-2]

Sir Lancelot Who11/18/2017, 8:27:27 AM5 votes

Riot, I've never bothered to log in to comment on some of the great [& occasionally less than] things you post. It takes known names like League to make a difference in today's world, but more importantly it takes us all coming together to make that difference happen. SCROLL IT DOWN, RITO. Look how happy & excited your players are to have helped you help give back! That's not even bringing into account the ACTUAL, REAL change this is going to bring about for all the people who will benefit from this. You're making such a truly "good" [used with the proper denotation] name for us keyboard jockeys with moves like this. Please, take it as a future note! Capitalize on it, we don't care! I've never opened any League post with this much very clearly positive feedback. Like so many others above (below?) me, we're so happy to see this all take place.

Next year, LET'S RUN IT BACK! :D [galio-happy] Riot, I speak for every person who voted or directly supported this effort when I say,

THANK YOU

jaredishott11/17/2017, 9:22:11 PM5 votes

This is really good. Honestly it feels like this basically won't hurt Riot's income, even while raising good money for charity. People are very supportive of these types of things, and it was a great decision for such a big company to do this kind of thing. Makes a huge impact when the largest game in the world contributes!

Sailor Satürn11/18/2017, 2:46:58 AM4 votes

I'm not crying.. you're crying*[sg-janna]*

Piglewarrior11/17/2017, 8:11:18 PM3 votes

This is awesome. Good job Riot. GG indeed.

MetallixSoul11/18/2017, 8:00:04 PM3 votes

Hey, now they entire world knows we aren't All just a bunch of toxic 12 year olds.[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

freaktz11/17/2017, 8:55:45 PM3 votes

for riots family..keep up the goodwork welldone

Sheriff Sunshine11/17/2017, 8:57:02 PM3 votes

This makes my heart so happy<3

ScrubSTC11/17/2017, 9:00:07 PM3 votes

Who gonna watch the TCS?

ChromeCapNinja11/17/2017, 9:03:37 PM3 votes

Really nice to see you guys giving back

ViresIntus7211/17/2017, 9:23:05 PM3 votes

GG Riot

RatSlugger11/17/2017, 7:52:16 PM3 votes

GG

Purpstickipunch11/17/2017, 10:40:58 PM3 votes

I cried reading this! <3

KillerPanda122111/18/2017, 12:26:32 AM3 votes

Over 2 million dollars and I thought the LOL community was filled with a whole bunch of salty playersitem 1038

Rabblerouser11/18/2017, 6:10:02 AM3 votes

I'm glad BasicNeeds got the largest pot. It's the closest to helping epileptics as I could think of. My sister died from SUDEP, so it's a rather personal fight for me.

PaffWasTaken11/19/2017, 12:03:20 AM2 votes

Great! With that much money invested in mental illness, maybe my regular teammates will get better at the game!

Galactic Mayhem11/17/2017, 9:48:55 PM2 votes

Feels less meaningful when we take into account every lcs team has to pay 20 million to even be in it

masterChief31411/18/2017, 12:59:56 AM2 votes

Nice job everyone! We definitely have a great 2017 with League of Legends. KANPAI

Mysticman8911/18/2017, 3:33:58 AM2 votes

Good stuff.

Not super surprised about the winner. Lots of folks from NA who have had theirs lives directly touched by mental illness, not so many people from NA with direct experience with lack of technology.

PORO Scruffy11/18/2017, 5:13:51 AM2 votes

this is why I love the riot corp, and the community, we raised so much money for a good cause, and thank you to riot for donating the money to the charitys

Jigglypuff11/18/2017, 8:52:17 AM2 votes

I loved being able to help the community and Riot for allowing me to have this option. I also have more faith in the League of Legends community <3