Extra Life is a charity that gets game enthusiasts raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Evolving from one child in need to a method where we can all help, out, I’m pleased to say I can interview Community Manager Rick Heaton on Extra Life!
1) First of all Rick, give everyone a quick summary of Extra Life.
Extra Life is a 24 hour gaming marathon that benefits 170 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals throughout the US and Canada. You choose your local hospital to play for and set a fund raising goal. Then have friends, family, even your gaming clan or guild sponsor you just like they would for a 5k run or other fund raising event.
2) So how does Extra Life work, it gives people tools to raise money but also coordinates things.
When you sign up you’re given a fully customizable donor page. You can post anything you like there. Your story, any information about when and what you’ll be playing. If you have any incentives you want to offer for your donors you can list them there as well. You can add images and videos, too. It’s entirely up to you. You’ll also get a back end set of tools that let you email your potential supporters, thank donors, and use your social media pages to help get the word out. You can even form a team and round up a group of friends to participate together. You each set your own goal and then you can set an overall team goal.
One of the best things about your donor page is you don’t have to worry about collecting money from your friends and family after the fact. You just give them the URL and ask them to support you. They can then donate to your efforts right on the website.
3) How do people sign up for Extra Life?
Very simple! Just go to http://www.extra-life.org and click the join button. The site will walk you through the process. It only takes a couple of minutes and you’re ready to start helping kids. I always encourage everyone to go platinum. It’s $15to go platinum and it unlocks a lot of goals and incentives. For example if you raise $200 you’ll get one of our 2014 Extra Life T-shirts. There are more incentives as you reach $500 and $1000 raised, too.
4) I’ve heard of Extra Life for a while – what kind of response have you had publicly?
Very positive. We’ve seen participation and donations double over the last several years. In fact, last year over 40,000 gamers registered and raised over $4.1 million for sick kids. It’s great to visit a show like PAX Prime and have people drop by the booth and talk about their experiences. They share what it’s meant to participate and sometimes we even get to hear from the parents and kids who have been treated at our hospitals and hear how much it has meant to them that the gaming community comes together for such a great cause.
5) How has the press reception been – and how do you promote your cause?
The press has been great. From small outlets to large they’ve been very supportive. Some gaming press actually start and promote their own Extra Life teams and encourage their staff to get involved. As a charity, we’re very careful with how and where we spend our ad dollars. We do limited advertising for Extra life in places where it makes sense like Facebook and soon you’ll be seeing our ads on Twitch and other places, but we’re a really a grassroots movement. Gamers tell other gamers and the movement grows. I think it says a lot about gamers that we continue to see a lot of enthusiasm and growth each year.
6) What other “geek charities” can you recommend people get involved in – beyond Extra Life, of course.
I think Child’s Play is the one that comes to mind for most gamers, but I think people are starting to look to do more in different ways. You look at groups like Able Gamers who address not just helping those with disabilities game, but who also work with companies to make their games more accessible to those with disabilities. Military Gamers is another great ‘geek charity’ that supports our vets. Will Farrell just announced he’s getting involved with gaming for a cancer cure. So there are a lot of options. I think you’ll see more and more ‘geek’ charities or those types of programs start to appear. Gamers, nerds and geeks are growing up and having kids of their own. They want to help others and are looking for ways that they can relate to. So I think you’re going to see ‘geek charities’ grow from and work with more traditional charity organizations the way Extra Life did with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. As a gamer, I can participate in Extra Life and then I can go to Walmart and make a donation to CMN Hospitals, or drop some change in the box at Dairy Queen the next time my family goes for ice cream. The money all supports something I believe in and stays in my community. I think that’s important for a lot of people.
7) How has working with Extra Life changed your viewpoints and understanding of the world.
I got involved with Extra life in 2012 when I was working for WB Games as the Community Manager for The Lord of the Rings Online. It was instantly eye opening. I had thought we might be able to raise $500 or so from the community. The first $500 was made in about two days. That first year I raised over $18,000 and heard from dozens and dozens of families that had had children treated at CMN Hospitals. Then I started hearing from co-workers about their experiences. Not just their children, but how they had been in hospital as kids, too and what it meant to them. When I was invited to tour Boston Children’s Hospital everything really came together. I really understood the scope of the need. I was struck by how many people come from all over the world to receive treatment for their children in these hospitals. I was doing the whole “think global act local” thing, but didn’t realize what that really meant until I saw it. When I was given the opportunity to do this full time and work for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and be a part of the Extra Life team I couldn’t say no.
8) Finally, a lot of people here are looking for ways to make their geeky passions into more. Any advice?
I’d say find the thing you’re good at and are truly passionate about. So many people try to have passion for what they do instead of doing what they already are passionate about. Don’t think there is only one path to your goals. If you want to be in the games industry, for example, then keep in mind that it’s not just about programming. There are accountants, artists, PR people, project managers, desktop support technicians, IT managers, and database admins. The list goes on and on. All of them are working in the games industry. You’ll find that’s true about many other ‘geek’ industries, too.
Thanks Rick!
- Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
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