APPLY TO BE A 2025 JINGLE JAM CHARITY PARTNER
To be considered as a 2025 Jingle Jam charity partner, you must complete our Expression of Interest (EOI) form. This form is open through February 21st, 2025 at 5pm GMT. Access the form and more information here.
Jingle Jam harnesses the power of gaming and content creation to make the world a better place for children and young people.
In selecting charity partners, we seek to target particular Focus Areas within the context of making the world a better place for children and young people, while also listening to our donor base and responding to their concerns and the interests of gamers and content creators around the world.
Charity Partner Criteria
Improving the mental and physical health of young people.
Inclusion of neurodivergent, disabled, LGBT+ and diverse young people.
Support for young people affected by global events including poverty, disasters, epidemics or conflicts.
Safeguarding the future of the planet for young people, by combating climate change and protecting animal welfare.
For 2025, our Jingle Jam Focus Areas are:
Our goal is to appoint eight charity partners for Jingle Jam 2025, ideally two whose work covers each of our Focus Areas respectively. However, as we established three-year partnerships with Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) and War Child in 2024, they will both be included in Jingle Jam 2025, meaning six places remain.
Potential charity partners MUST fit one of the following geographical categories in order to qualify:
A UK-registered organisation operating UK-wide or across multiple geographies in the UK (we are unable to consider applications from local organisations supporting young people in a single region).
A USA-registered organisation operating or delivering a service USA-wide.
A UK or international organisation operating in multiple countries.
Application Process and Timeline
Opens - Friday 31st January.
Closes - Friday 21st February 5pm GMT. EOIs received after this point will not be considered.
Please review the notes on completing the EOI form below before submitting your answers.
Stage One - Expression of Interest (EOI)
Opens - Monday 17th March. Charities shortlisted from their EOI submission will be sent a full application form on this date.
Closes - Friday 4th April 5pm GMT. Application forms to be returned by this date.
Stage Two - Full Application
Charities that get through stage two of the process may be required to attend a pitch meeting with us in the week commencing Tuesday 22nd April (21st April is Easter Monday), and may be required to confirm commitments from third parties named in their proposals during the week commencing 28th April - ahead of a finalisation by 1st May.
Stage Three - Pitch Meeting and Due Diligence
A) Your Project
We accept applications for both project funding and unrestricted funding, but we believe strongly in putting forward cases for support to our donor community that make it clear how donations will make a difference.
Therefore, in the majority of instances we will select charities that put forward clearly defined projects to be funded. If asking for unrestricted funding, we advise you to be extremely clear why unrestricted funding is required and how it will help, e.g. enabling your organisation to scale-up.
We do not require projects to be gaming or technology-related, as our priority is to help meet the needs of young people and the planet according to our focus areas outlined above. That said, in assessing what will appeal to our donor community, if gaming and/or creative use of digital technology has a part to play, this can help give certain projects an edge - but only when it is authentic, so please don’t try to find a gaming angle to a project if there isn’t one.
B) Fundraising and Content Creation
Jingle Jam raises funds for its charity partners but also supports them in securing additional content creators, donors and sponsors to join in to augment funds raised.
In Jingle Jam 2024, fundraising by the core Jingle Jam community (including The Yogscast) generated over £250k for each of our eight charity partners, but each charity’s own fundraising boosted their total by an average of £78k. The final totals raised for each charity are publicly tracked on our website here.
Jingle Jam is a team effort. To be a Jingle Jam charity, you will need to demonstrate that you can work closely with us to grow fundraising further. We will expect you to use the platform we create, including our unique Games Collection reward, to raise an additional £50k - £100k for your charity. Specifically, this will involve you:
Securing support from fundraisers - usually content creators - who run fundraising events and livestreams for you. For example: Tiltify - AnnaDemetriou X CALM. Ideally you will have at least one significant gaming-themed content creator who is an ambassador or supporter of your charity who will commit to your Jingle Jam campaign in advance of us appointing you.
Building events within the Jingle Jam two-week period which bring together content creators, games and communities to create new Jingle Jam traditions - we call these ‘tentpole’ events. For example: Tiltify - Gathering for Good: Jingle Jam Edition.
Furthering the reach and impact of Jingle Jam by bringing in other funders, such as corporate sponsors and match fund partners, who can help you leverage additional income on your Jingle Jam livestream events.
You can view all the fundraising activities that took place throughout Jingle Jam 2024 to gain a deeper understanding of how Jingle Jam works by studying our 2024 event page here.
While you don’t need a huge creator audience to be part of Jingle Jam, you do need a strong understanding of the gaming and livestreaming landscapes.
You will need to be familiar with Twitch and Discord, and have an in-house resource familiar with these platforms who can spend time working with us from May to December to build and prepare your Jingle Jam fundraising activity.