How to use Twitch to support charities responding to COVID-19

At Twitch, community is at the center of everything we do. With the COVID-19 pandemic creating hardship and uncertainty, Twitch streamers and community members have reached out looking for ways to use Twitch to help support those affected. We want to help make it easier for you to link up with charities on the front lines.

Below, you’ll find a list of charities who are active on Twitch and working to help those affected by COVID-19. We’ve also shared some best practices for charity streams to help you get started.

If you’re interested in fundraising with Tiltify, check out [this guide](/Tiltify Broadcaster One Sheet - July 2020.pdf) for step-by-step instructions for setting up an account and creating your first campaign. 

Please reach out to charity@twitch.tv if you have questions about charity streaming. 

We’ll be updating this blog post weekly with additional charity partners, milestones, and other information as it becomes available.

Stay safe, and happy streaming.

Charities responding to COVID-19

Direct Relief
How they’re helping: 

• Direct Relief is coordinating with public health authorities, nonprofit organizations and businesses in China and the U.S. to provide personal protective equipment and other items to health workers responding to coronavirus (COVID-19).
• In China, Direct Relief has delivered via FedEx more than 30,000 pounds of protective gear — nearly 800,000 N95 and surgical masks, more than 400,000 gloves, and numerous coveralls, face shields, and shoe covers — to frontline health workers.
• In the U.S., Direct Relief is delivering protective masks – along with exam gloves and isolation gowns – to health care organizations in areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases.
• Direct Relief is also staging personal protective equipment with regional response agencies across the world, including in the Caribbean and South America through the Pan American Health Organization.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/direct-relief/covid-19-response

No Kid Hungry
How they’re helping: 

• Nearly 22 million low-income kids from communities across the country rely on the free and reduced-price meals they receive at school. For many, these meals may be the only nutritious food that they’ll receive on a given day. 
• No Kid Hungry is advocating for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide flexibility in how kids access meals during this time and for Congress to make sure SNAP is maximized for struggling families.
• No Kid Hungry is also mobilizing for plans to help feed children in need.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/no-kid-hungry/protect-kids-during-covid-19

Fred Hutch
How they’re helping: 

• Fred Hutch is part of a global scientific community that has reacted with unprecedented speed and cooperation to curb the threat of the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19. They are using the coronavirus DNA crowd-sourced from scientists around the world, experts at Fred Hutch and the University of Basel in Switzerland are tracking how the virus is changing as it moves through people and countries. They’re sharing their data on their open source platform, Nextstrain.org and scientists and public health officials around the world are using it to monitor the pandemic and slow the spread of infection. They are hoping to raise $250,000 to help additional labs sequence the virus and share the information — not just for Nextstrain.org, but for all scientists working to address this health crisis.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/fredhutch

Save The Children
How they’re helping:

• Save the Children is leading a global consortium aimed at strengthening capacity for responses to major infectious disease outbreaks or pandemics, which is called READY. READY is engaged in building potential response scenarios to the emerging coronavirus, and other major epidemics/pandemic-prone pathogens.
• They are preparing response plans for all 120 countries where they work, with special attention to scenarios of high transmission rates in low-resource countries. 

Fundraise: https://savethechildren.tiltify.com/coronavirus-outbreak

Feeding America
How they’re helping: 

• Households facing hunger may be more susceptible to the virus, further contributing to the demands placed on food banks. A fund has been established to help the Feeding America network of food banks as they support communities and families impacted by the pandemic. 
• This includes building an inventory of emergency food boxes and distributing them to member food banks across the country, as well as working to get incremental funding to support other anticipated costs. 
• Feeding America is also working with government leaders to ensure the emergency response includes strong supports in food, funds, and flexibility for federal nutrition programs.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/feedingamerica/covid-19-response-fund 

The Italian Red Cross
How they’re helping: 

• The Italian Red Cross has been active at the forefront of the emergency since the start of the COVID-19 alert with multiple roles, including relief, health, psychological, logistical, information, control, screening and is carrying out many other crucial activities in the battle against this epidemic that is bringing the country to its knees. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Italian Red Cross is safely managing the transport of the sick to and between the relevant health structures, through the use of special high biocontainment means prepared in case of health emergencies like this.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/croce-rossa-italiana

The British Red Cross
How they’re helping:

• The British Red Cross are working closely with the NHS, Government and Public Health England to provide vital humanitarian, person-centered support for the most vulnerable.
• Their large network of volunteers are working within the community to provide food, medicine and other essentials to those without access and helping those in isolation to cope with loneliness.
• The British Red Cross are also supporting the global response in helping communities stay safe – from checking temperatures at borders and airports, to bringing medicines to vulnerable people, and using drones to safely decontaminate areas. 

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/british-red-cross/operation-covid-19

United Way Worldwide
How they’re helping:

• United Way is on the ground leading targeted, coordinated COVID19 responses to support the most vulnerable populations. The support spans emergency food and shelter, meals for school-aged children, rental and mortgage assistance, lost wage support, health and medical access and childcare services.
• In the United States and Canada, United Way operates and supports 211, a free and confidential service that connects people in need with the best resources available to them. The service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in 180 languages.  As of today, more than 20 state 211s have been activated to support COVID19, with many resource centers experience a 400% increase in call volume.
• Most Importantly, when the media spotlight fades and the nation begins to focus on other issues, United Way remains. The impacted communities will continue to need support to respond to new challenges. To move beyond survival to recovery, United Way provides mid- and long-term strategic support, tailored to the community’s specific needs.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/united-way/united-way-covid-19-community-response-and-recovery-fund

GiveDirectly
How they’re helping:

• GiveDirectly has been giving cash since 2008, and have delivered over $150M to poor people in situations as diverse as Liberia, DRC during Ebola, urban Nairobi, and Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria,
• Giving $1000 in cash to low-income households in the communities hardest hit by COVID-19 and signing up families on food stamps (SNAP) to receive funds that can be spent on whatever they need most. 

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/givedirectly/covid19

COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO powered by the United Nations Foundation
How they’re helping:

• Donations support WHO’s work to track and understand the spread of the virus; to ensure patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies and information; and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments.

Fundraise: https://tiltify.com/united-nations-foundation

Flexport
How they’re helping:

• Right now, frontline responders around the world can’t access critical protective equipment to keep them safe and to stop the spread of the virus. Flexport.org partners across the response ecosystem to ship supplies to those who need it most. 
• Their first focus is to help provide protective equipment, including N95 and surgical-grade masks. Their reach is global – they are bringing supplies to countries across different continents.
• Donations support the Flexport.org Fund, covering the cost of shipping and transportation for organizations responding to the crisis.

Fundraise: https://flexport.org