League of Legends, Valorant, and Teamfight Tactics maker Riot Games announced this week that its Social Impact Fund has reached a new milestone, with more than $50M USD raised since its launch in 2019 and contributions to more than 450 organizations across 28 regions.
In case you are not familiar with it, the Riot Games Social Impact Fund sets aside money from the sales of in-game-related products for charities that are ultimately chosen (through voting initiatives) by the community. The charitable initiative is facilitated with the help of ImpactAssets.
Riot announced at the end of January that it had raised $6M USD by the end of 2022, which it gave out to around 28 non-profits around the world.
In its announcement, Riot also detailed some of the milestones the program has achieved since its launch in 2019:
- In 2019, the 1000th League of Legends skin, Dawnbringer Karma, was released and helped generate more than $6M for the program.
- In 2020, Valorant players voted to bring back their favorite skins in a special bundle called the Give Back Bundle, which raised $5.5M for the cause.
- In 2020, the Social Impact Fund helped to support communities around the world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with players helping to raise over $2.1M by purchasing the medical skin bundle in-game.
- The 2021 LoL in-game funding event Sentinels of Light saw nearly 15M players purchase a bundle featuring “Sentinel Olaf” and raised $5.8M.
- To celebrate the release of 2021’s Arcane on Netflix, players nominated charities around the world for a chance to receive a $10K community grant. Riot partnered with ImpactAssets and GlobalGiving to identify 30 winning organizations.
- To mark the Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) in Los Angeles this year, Riot partnered with DonorsChoose to support middle and high school teachers by matching all donations to gaming and esports-related projects up to $400K. Riot claims that the campaign has helped to fund 143 projects across 99 schools, reaching over 100 teachers and 2,000 students in the U.S.