Almost exactly one year ago, Facebook Gaming revealed a newly-developed suite of charity livestreaming tools for its creators. Only 25 of the platform’s official partner creators got access to the tools, and for the past 12 months, those creators have been putting them to the test, raising more than $180K for organizations like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and The Humane Society of the United States.
Now, Facebook is making the charity tools available to all partner creators and creators in its Level Up program.
“We’ve been blown away by the response,” Brittni Liyange, a Facebook Gaming product manager, said in a blog post about the development. “If that’s what 25 Facebook Gaming creators can do, we can’t wait to see the impact from more Facebook Gaming creators.”
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If you’ve ever seen a YouTube or Twitch creator using those platforms’ charity tools, Facebook’s will look pretty familiar. The tools allow creator to choose a cause for their viewers to support, set a fundraising goal, and post a progress bar that appears over the stream and in their live stream’s chat section. Viewers who donate during the stream will have their usernames highlighted in the video and chat windows.
You can see the tools in play below:
As mentioned, this feature is only available to Facebook Gaming partners and members of its Level Up program. Level Up is a casual, non-contractual initiative similar to Twitch’s affiliate program. To join, creators must have been on the platform for at least 30 days, and must have at least 100 followers. At the time of their application, they must have also streamed gaming content (with the game they’re playing tagged) for at least four hours in the past 14 days, and must have streamed for at least two of the past 14 days.
Creators in Level Up get a priority level of tech support from Facebook, will have their videos upped to the highest, fastest quality possible; get beta access to new Facebook Gaming products and features; and can join a community group with other Level Up members. Additionally, they’ll be able to use Facebook Stars, an onsite currency that pays creators one cent for every Star a viewer gives their livestreams. (Viewers can buy 95 Stars for $1.99.)
Facebook Gaming’s partner program is more intense than Level Up. It involves signing a contract with a nondisclosure agreement and a set streaming quota the creator must meet to retain their partner status. Partner creators are hooked up with a dedicated manager at Facebook (similar to YouTube’s Partner Managers), and, perhaps most importantly, receive a regular paycheck from Facebook in exchange for creating content. Back when it introduced the partner program, Facebook said that by paying creators, it’s working to create an environment where they can quit their day jobs and turn streaming into a full-time career.
Like it did with the initial small-scale release of the charity tools, Facebook is timing this release so it falls ahead of #GivingTuesday, an annual fundraising day intended to counteract the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As such, Facebook says it will match up to $7 million in donations to U.S.-based nonprofits made on #GivingTuesday — Dec. 3.
“On behalf of the entire Facebook Gaming team, we want to thank all our gaming creators and their communities for continually showing us the power games have to bring people together,” Liyange wrote.
The charity tools, while now widely available to creators, are not available in all countries. You can check here to see if you’re eligible to fundraise and/or donate.
