Fund a Charity Marathon Stream Goal as a Gaming Creator

Gaming creators can fund a charity marathon or subathon goal by turning on FanBell's Wishlist / Project Support offer, naming the specific cause and dollar target, and sharing that one page link during the stream so every contribution counts toward a single visible progress bar instead of scattered one-off tips. Contributions are paid out to the creator's own connected Stripe account rather than directly to a nonprofit, so a creator running a charity stream forwards the money to the charity themselves.

FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and applies a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays (pricing).

Charity gaming marathons already move real money. Extra Life, the gaming fundraiser run by Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, states on its own site that participants have raised more than $145 million since 2008 for 170 children's hospitals (Extra Life). Games Done Quick states on its own site that its speedrunning marathons have raised over $50 million for charity and average more than 3,000 people in attendance per event (Games Done Quick). A single creator's marathon-goal page borrows the mechanic Extra Life and Games Done Quick both use — one named cause, one visible dollar target — without applying to join an established event first.

This page covers funding one marathon or subathon goal specifically. For the full range of paid offers gaming creators can run on FanBell, see how gaming creators can monetize their audience.

What counts as a charity marathon or subathon goal?

A charity marathon or subathon is an extended livestream — usually 24 hours or longer — run specifically to raise money for a stated cause, built around one visible funding goal rather than a plain tip jar. The format borrows its name from the subscription-driven "subathon," a stream style where continued support keeps the broadcast running.

"In a nutshell, a Twitch subathon is a marathon event where a streamer broadcasts continuously for an extended period, usually 24 hours or more." — Streamlabs

A charity marathon points the subathon mechanic at a cause instead of a subscriber count: viewers support the stream, and their money moves toward a stated dollar goal instead of only adding stream time. A subathon timer is a stream-production choice, while the funding goal behind the timer — the number viewers are actually working toward — is what needs its own page, description, and progress bar.

Which FanBell offer fits a charity marathon-stream goal?

Wishlist / Project Support is the FanBell offer built for a marathon-stream goal: fans send cash toward one named target, tracked on a progress bar, with no reward tiers, no shipping, and no all-or-nothing funding cutoff on the page itself (how it works).

FanBell documents three offers a marathon stream could plausibly use, and only one of them tracks a dollar target:

Project Support is the only FanBell offer that tracks a named dollar target on a progress bar, which is why a marathon fundraiser belongs there rather than in Tips or Creator Services. Creator Services exists to sell a defined deliverable at a set price and turnaround, so pointing marathon donors at a service would turn a cash goal into a product order.

Setup follows the same four steps as any Project Support goal: enable the offer, name the goal and describe the cause, set the target dollar amount, then publish (how to create a project support goal). FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee, and its 12% platform fee applies only when a fan actually contributes. FanBell states that there is no follower minimum and nothing to apply for, so a creator with a few hundred engaged followers can turn a marathon goal on the same day as one with a hundred thousand.

How do you set up a marathon funding goal on FanBell?

Setting up a marathon funding goal means enabling Project Support, naming the specific cause the stream supports rather than a generic "donate" label, entering a realistic target amount, and publishing before the marathon begins so the link is ready the moment the stream goes live.

Use the goal name for the marathon itself and the cause it supports, for example:

• "24-Hour Charity Stream for [Children's Hospital Name]"
• "Subathon for [Cause] — Every Sub Adds Time"
• "Marathon Fundraiser: $2,000 for [Nonprofit]"

The description field is where you name the actual charity or cause, the planned stream length, and what the money funds. Project Support does not include reward tiers, so avoid promising a perk for a specific contribution amount; a $5 and a $50 contribution unlock the same thing — helping reach the goal.

Publish the goal before the marathon starts so the page and link are live the moment the stream begins. Project Support has no platform-enforced campaign deadline, so the goal can keep collecting before, during, and after the scheduled marathon hours even though the stream itself has a fixed start and end time.

How much do major gaming charity marathons typically raise?

Established gaming charity marathons publish their own lifetime totals: Extra Life reports more than $145 million raised since 2008, St. Jude PLAY LIVE reports more than $100 million raised, and Games Done Quick reports more than $50 million raised to date, each figure taken from that program's own website in September 2026.

St. Jude describes the scale of its streamer program in its own words:

"Together we've raised more than $100 million for the kids of St. Jude." — St. Jude PLAY LIVE

Awesome Games Done Quick 2026 raised $2,443,414 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation across a single one-week marathon, according to the Prevent Cancer Foundation's own announcement (Prevent Cancer Foundation). The Prevent Cancer Foundation also states that its 15-year partnership with Games Done Quick has now raised nearly $30 million in total.

The Extra Life, St. Jude PLAY LIVE, and Games Done Quick totals above come from decade-plus programs with dedicated staff and sponsor support, so those lifetime figures are not a benchmark for what one creator's first marathon page should expect. A solo creator can still borrow the calendar structure the big programs use: Extra Life states that its 2026 Game Day kicks off on Saturday, November 7, 2026 and runs through November 15, 2026, with free registration (Extra Life).

Should the marathon goal fund a charity, your own gear, or a game project?

A marathon-goal page should fund one clearly named purpose, and the three common purposes are not interchangeable. A charity marathon raises money for an external nonprofit, a gear goal funds the creator's own equipment, and a project goal funds a game or content budget. Each deserves its own page and its own honest description rather than one blended fundraiser.

If the money is going to a nonprofit or charity partner, say so explicitly in the description and be ready to explain how funds actually reach that organization. Nonprofit-run streaming programs are large enough to have their own rails: Tiltify announced that creator-led campaigns on its platform raised more than $100 million in 2025, a 46% increase over the prior year, from 1.2 million unique donors (Tiltify press release). St. Jude instructs PLAY LIVE streamers to sign up on Tiltify and stream on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook (St. Jude PLAY LIVE), and the American Red Cross describes Tiltify as a crowdfunding platform for fundraising while you live stream video games. A nonprofit's own fundraising platform is a separate flow from a FanBell Project Support goal, because FanBell pays contributions to the creator's connected Stripe account rather than to the nonprofit. If the fundraiser is instead for your own equipment, a new PC, or a specific game's development budget, keep that distinction in the page description so fans understand exactly where the money goes. For a broader comparison of which FanBell offer fits which streamer fundraising need, see the best FanBell offer for streamers.

What happens if the marathon doesn't reach its funding goal?

If a marathon-stream goal falls short, FanBell does not automatically refund contributions. Reaching the target is not a condition of the payment, so a creator keeps what was raised and should set expectations about a partial result before the stream ends, not after.

A creator can still decline or refund an individual contribution, but FanBell does not automatically return every contribution simply because the overall goal was missed. Since Project Support has no all-or-nothing funding cutoff, a goal that falls short during the marathon itself can keep collecting afterward rather than closing at a fixed deadline. State in the description what happens if the stream ends short of the target — for example, whether the remaining amount will be raised through a follow-up stream — so supporters know what their contribution is actually funding.

What else can you offer during a charity marathon stream?

A marathon page does not have to carry the fundraiser alone. FanBell creators can run Tips, Personalized Shoutouts, and Paid Private Questions on the same page as a Project Support goal, so viewers who want a specific interaction — rather than a general contribution — have that option without turning the fundraiser into an undocumented reward tier.

A Personalized Shoutout recorded after the marathon, such as a thank-you clip for a milestone donor, is a separate paid offer with its own price and a creator-set turnaround, which FanBell caps at 120 hours (5 days). A Paid Private Question lets a viewer pay for a text or voice answer during a break in the stream. Keep shoutouts and paid questions listed as their own priced offers rather than folding them into language like "give $50 for a shoutout," which would turn a cash goal into an unofficial reward tier that Project Support is not built to track.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to partner with a registered nonprofit to run a marathon funding goal?

FanBell does not require a nonprofit partnership to enable Project Support. However, if you tell fans the money is going to a specific charity, you are responsible for actually routing those funds to that organization; FanBell pays contributions to the creator's own Stripe-connected account like any other Project Support goal, not directly to a nonprofit.

Can I run more than one marathon or funding goal at a time?

No. FanBell supports one Project Support goal per page at a time, so name the current marathon and its cause clearly rather than trying to track multiple goals on one page.

Does the marathon goal need a deadline?

The FanBell page itself has no forced campaign deadline, but the marathon stream still has its own start and end time. State the actual stream dates in the goal description rather than implying the page closes when the broadcast ends, since contributions can continue afterward.

What does FanBell charge on marathon-goal contributions?

FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and applies a 12% platform fee only when a fan contributes. Typical US online-card processing (about 2.9% + $0.30) through Stripe is separate and is not a FanBell fee (Stripe).

A marathon or subathon goal works best when the cause, target amount, and stream schedule are stated plainly before the first donation comes in.

Create your free FanBell page and set up a Project Support goal before your next charity stream.