Run a Funding Goal for Your Speedrun Marathon

A funding goal for a speedrun marathon is a FanBell Wishlist / Project Support page: the creator names a target — a capture card, travel to an in-person event, or marathon production costs — and fans send cash toward it behind a visible progress bar. Use it for the creator's own costs, not for nonprofit charity fundraising, which belongs on Twitch's Charity tool or Tiltify. Publishing a goal is free and FanBell's 12% platform fee applies only when a fan pays.

Source note: claims about FanBell's own mechanics and fees on this page are cited to FanBell's primary product documentation — the how it works and pricing pages FanBell publishes and maintains — last.

Speedrunners field the "how do I support you?" question every time they announce a marathon. A funding goal turns that question into one clear answer instead of a scattered mix of payment handles pasted into chat.

What Counts as a Funding Goal on FanBell?

On FanBell, a funding goal is the Wishlist / Project Support offer: the creator names a project, sets a target dollar amount, adds an optional short description, and fans contribute cash toward that target while a progress bar on the creator's page tracks how close the running total is to the number.

A FanBell funding goal is scoped as cash toward a stated goal, not as a store purchase. A fan funding "new capture equipment for the next marathon" is not buying a product that ships to them and is not receiving a tiered reward package — the money simply counts toward the visible target. That distinction matters for a marathon runner: the ask is "help me reach this number," not "here's what you get for $25 versus $100."

FanBell applies no follower minimum to any offer, including Wishlist / Project Support. The contrast with platform monetization is concrete: Twitch requires 25 followers, 4 hours streamed, 4 different broadcast days, and an average of 3 concurrent viewers before a channel can join the Affiliate Program (Twitch Help Center: Joining the Affiliate Program). A runner streaming to a few dozen regulars can publish the same FanBell funding goal as a runner with a large audience.

How Do You Set Up a FanBell Funding Goal?

Setting up a FanBell funding goal takes six steps: create a free FanBell page, turn on the Wishlist / Project Support offer, set a target dollar amount, write a short description of what the money funds, publish the page, and share the link where the marathon audience already is. No follower minimum applies and publishing costs nothing (FanBell primary documentation: how it works and pricing).

1. Create the page. Sign up and claim a FanBell username, which becomes the page URL the marathon links to. FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee.
2. Choose Wishlist / Project Support. Enable that offer specifically. Wishlist / Project Support is the offer type that carries a target and a progress bar; Tips, Personalized Shoutouts, Creator Services, and Paid Questions are separate offer types on the same page.
3. Set the target amount. Name one number tied to one cost, such as $300 for a capture card rather than an open-ended "support the channel" ask.
4. Add a short description. State plainly what the money buys and what a partial total will go toward, since a FanBell goal is not an all-or-nothing pledge that only charges when the target is fully met.
5. Connect payouts and publish. Each charge runs through the creator's own connected Stripe account, so the creator is the merchant of record and payouts land in the creator's own bank account.
6. Share the link. Put the page URL in stream panels, a chat command, video descriptions, and the marathon announcement post, then say the goal out loud during downtime.

How Is a Funding Goal Different From Tips?

A funding goal has a stated target and a visible progress bar; a Tip is a one-time payment with no target, no reply, and no delivery attached. Both pay the creator directly through the creator's own Stripe-connected account, but a funding goal frames the ask around one specific number, while a Tip works any time.

During a marathon, the two typically run side by side. A viewer who wants to say "great run" with no strings attached sends a Tip. A viewer who wants to see the number move toward "new PC for faster load-time testing" contributes to the funding goal instead. Neither Tips nor funding goals require the creator to promise a reply, a video, or a shipped item — that obligation is what separates both from Creator Services and Personalized Shoutouts, which do carry a delivery commitment.

How Much Do Speedrun Marathons Like GDQ Raise?

Organization-run charity speedrun marathons raise millions of dollars per event. Games Done Quick's own donation tracker lists $2,436,821.20 raised across 31,976 donations at Summer Games Done Quick 2026 (Games Done Quick donation tracker: SGDQ 2026). That total describes a week-long, multi-runner, staffed production, so it is scale context rather than a benchmark for one creator's page.

Games Done Quick's donation tracker lists $62,487,469.84 raised across 1,071,935 individual donations for all events since 2010 (Games Done Quick donation tracker). Games Done Quick's own site describes the scale of the operation behind those totals:

"Games Done Quick has raised over 50 million dollars for charity. We also average over 3000 people in attendance at our events, including staff, volunteers, and attendees." — Games Done Quick, gamesdonequick.com (; the live tracker figure is higher than the homepage's rounded number)

Awesome Games Done Quick 2026 raised $2,478,270.78 across 34,236 donations for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. A realistic funding goal for a solo marathon is a specific, bounded personal or production cost, not a share of a headline number produced by a staffed nonprofit event with charity-tool infrastructure behind it.

Can You Run a Charity Marathon on FanBell?

No. A FanBell funding goal pays the creator directly through the creator's own connected Stripe account, so FanBell is not a tool for collecting donations on behalf of a registered nonprofit. A marathon meant to benefit a charity belongs on Twitch's Charity tool or on Tiltify, though neither is open to every runner: each carries its own eligibility rules described below.

Twitch's Charity tool is "available to Affiliates and Partners only" and requires the charity to be enrolled with PayPal Giving Fund (Twitch Help Center: Twitch's Charity Tool for Creators). A runner who has not yet met Twitch's Affiliate requirements — 25 followers, 4 hours streamed, 4 broadcast days, and 3 average concurrent viewers — cannot turn the tool on at all. Twitch states the fee position for that tool directly:

"Twitch and PayPal Giving Fund do not take a cut of donations. Your entire donation minus payment processing fees go to the charity according to PayPal Giving Fund's policies." — Twitch Help Center, "Twitch's Charity Tool Frequently Asked Questions"

Tiltify is not one product, and its eligibility and fees differ by product. Tiltify's Twitch fundraising extension is charity-only: "you must be a current charity registered on Tiltify to use the extension" (Tiltify support: Integrating the Tiltify Fundraising Extension on Twitch). Charity fundraising on Tiltify carries no single published flat rate; Tiltify's own support documentation explains the range:

"Charities pay a range depending on their plan with Tiltify. The average Tiltify makes from processing is currently less than 5%." — Tiltify support, "What are the fees?"

Tiltify Personal is a separate product for individuals raising money for a personal cause, and Tiltify states it "charges a flat 5% platform fee + standard processing fees" for it (Tiltify Personal fundraising). The flat 5% figure describes Tiltify Personal only and does not describe the charity extension, whose rate depends on the charity's Tiltify plan.

If the marathon is personal — raising money toward a capture card, travel, or an edited VOD backlog — FanBell's funding goal fits. If the marathon is meant to benefit a nonprofit, route it through Twitch's Charity tool (when the runner is an Affiliate or Partner and the charity is enrolled with PayPal Giving Fund) or through Tiltify (when the charity is registered there), so the money reaches the charity directly rather than passing through the creator's own account.

What Should Your Marathon Funding Goal Amount Be?

A workable marathon funding goal names one specific cost with a real number attached rather than an open-ended "support the channel" ask. Size the target against how people actually give to speedrun events: the median donation across every Games Done Quick event is $25.00 and the average is $58.29 across 1,071,935 donations.

Translating that $25.00 Games Done Quick median into contribution counts makes a target concrete:

A $25 median means a goal is reached by dozens of small contributions rather than by a handful of large ones, so the target should be a number a realistic count of regular viewers can plausibly cover. A runner with 40 regulars who convert at a modest rate is closer to the $300 row than to the $1,500 row. Concrete goals are also easier for a fan to evaluate and easier for a creator to know when they have actually been hit.

Other examples that fit a solo or small-team marathon: a capture or streaming upgrade such as a new capture card or a second PC for encoding; travel and lodging for an in-person event; marathon-specific production costs such as a rented venue slot, overlay work, or a co-host's travel; or a splits and route documentation backlog commissioned from another runner.

Any dollar figure used as an example on this page is illustrative, not a promise of what a goal will raise, and the sample goals above are not price quotes for the hardware named. Actual results depend on audience size, the specificity of the ask, and how often the goal is mentioned on stream.

How Do Fans See Your Funding Progress?

Fans see the goal name, its target amount, and a live progress bar on the creator's FanBell page. Fans do not see any of that inside the stream automatically, because FanBell does not plug into a stream overlay or into TikTok, Instagram, or Discord DMs. The creator has to send viewers to the page.

The same redirect habit that works for other FanBell offers applies to a funding goal: drop the link in stream panels, a chat command, and video descriptions, then mention the goal out loud at natural break points such as a loading screen, a reset, or a between-runs intermission. See Twitch sub goals vs. a direct funding goal for how the two mechanics compare.

What Fees Apply When Fans Fund Your Goal?

FanBell charges no monthly fee and takes a 12% platform fee only on money a fan actually contributes to a goal. Card processing is billed separately through Stripe, whose published rate for domestic online card payments in the United States is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction (Stripe pricing). Publishing a goal that never gets funded costs nothing.

The creator's own Stripe-connected account accepts each charge, so the creator — not FanBell — is the merchant of record, and payouts land in the creator's own bank account. Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ figure is a card-processing cost charged by Stripe, not a FanBell fee, and rates outside the United States vary by country and payment method.

What Else Can You Sell During a Marathon?

A funding goal does not have to be the only paid option live during a marathon. Running two or three offers side by side gives viewers more than one way to pay without turning every ask into a donation request, and each FanBell offer type can be published on the same page.

• Tips for viewers who want to say "good run" without contributing to the specific goal.
• Personalized Shoutouts as a milestone reward — for example, recording a quick thank-you video once the goal crosses a stated threshold.
• Creator Services for post-marathon route or strat coaching, covered in sell speedrun route and strats coaching, for viewers who want more than a shoutout.

For a wider look at where speedrunner income actually comes from — ad revenue, sponsorships, coaching, and direct fan support alongside marathon donations — see how do speedrunners make money. Streamers running a broader monetization setup can also check how streamers can monetize fan interaction for the full offer lineup.

Create your free FanBell page

Frequently asked questions

Is a FanBell funding goal the same as a Kickstarter campaign?

No. A FanBell funding goal is cash toward a stated target with a progress bar; it does not use tiered reward packages, pledge levels, or a shipped-product model the way a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign does.

Do I need a minimum follower count to set up a funding goal?

No. FanBell applies no follower minimum to any offer, including Wishlist / Project Support. By comparison, Twitch requires 25 followers, 4 hours streamed, 4 different broadcast days, and an average of 3 concurrent viewers to join the Affiliate Program.

What happens if I don't reach my funding goal?

A FanBell funding goal is cash sent toward a stated number, not an all-or-nothing pledge that only charges if the goal is fully met. Set expectations on the page about what a partial amount will go toward.

Does FanBell take a cut of every dollar a fan contributes?

Yes. FanBell applies a 12% platform fee on funds a fan contributes, on top of standard card-processing costs, and charges nothing on a published goal until a fan actually pays.

Should I use FanBell or Twitch's Charity tool for a marathon that benefits a nonprofit?

Use Twitch's Charity tool or Tiltify when the goal is to raise money for a registered nonprofit, keeping the entry rules in mind: Twitch's tool is limited to Affiliates and Partners and to charities enrolled with PayPal Giving Fund, and Twitch confirms that "Twitch and PayPal Giving Fund do not take a cut of donations", while Tiltify's Twitch extension requires the fundraiser to be a charity registered on Tiltify. Use a FanBell funding goal when the money is for the creator's own gear, travel, or production costs.