The AbleGamers Foundation COO Steven Spohn Announces ‘Spawn2gether’ — a New Annual Fundraiser — Aiming to Raise Another $1 Million for Disabled Gamers
The AbleGamers Foundation COO Steven Spohn today announced the second official run of his deeply personal “Spawn Together” fundraising initiative, this time coined “Spawn2gether”, starting on September 15, 2021. The initial Spawn Together campaign met its $1 million fundraising goal with vigorous support from within and well beyond the video game community. The goal of “Spawn2gether” is to raise another $1 million for AbleGamers to advance the charity’s mission in creating opportunities to enable play and foster inclusive communities for people with disabilities through the power of video games for years to come.
“Spawn2gether” will operate in a similar fashion to the inaugural campaign, calling upon community support to rally aid (both through donations and increasing awareness) with fundraising campaigns through Tiltify. There is no minimum or maximum goal for individual campaigns — the focus of the initiative is working together with friends and family to do good for a great cause. The difference this year is Steven is excitedly introducing a team of “Champions” in this incarnation of the campaign, a group that includes fundraising juggernauts and esteemed Twitch personalities Lilsimsie, AshleyRoboto, Jambo, Imperial, and Bloodyfaster. The five champions embody the caring, generous, and empathetic spirit Steve wanted to draw together when beginning the campaign over a year ago. These champions and their communities will work together to drive the campaign forward by raising awareness and leading high fundraising goals while asking their friends to join them in this mission to fully support gamers with disabilities.
“I always wanted this to feel like less of a formal fundraising campaign and more like a community-driven support network. It grew into something bigger than I could have imagined,” said Steven Spohn, COO, AbleGamers. “Spawn2gether is a call to action to anyone who believes in supporting the disabled community and people who love video games. Together, year after year, we can do so much good for the world, if we all just SpawnTogether.”
Read the “Spawn2gether” FAQ guide here and get started fundraising by exploring options on Tiltify. The “Spawn2gether” campaign officially begins on September 15, 2021.
Watch the official “Spawn2gether” kick-off video here: https://uberstrategist.link/spawn2gether-champions-video.
AbleGamers has a lot of people to help — the organization estimates that over 56 million individuals in America alone are in need of assistive equipment to help put an end to isolation, especially in these trying times. Steven’s goal is to help all of them, one day, through the experts at AbleGamers and the many contracted engineers, researchers, peer counselors, and developers that make the charity so effective.
The AbleGamers Foundation utilizes the impact of video games to provide people with disabilities the opportunity to build rich social engagements, lifelong friendships, and connect with players who share similar experiences. Simply put, the charity believes in using the power of play and inclusion to connect players, build communities, and combat social isolation. The organization does this through a combination of community outreach and services. AbleGamers’ Peer Support sees counselors work one-on-one with disabled gamers to help them find solutions that enable them to have an optimal gaming experience. Additionally, specially curated Expansion Packs fund and set up gaming rooms in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and assisted living facilities that include PCs, consoles, and video games.
More recently, the Player Panels Program was created. Operated through AbleGamers, this program serves as a research pool comprising over 500 players with disabilities, whose goal is to empower their members to lead the conversation regarding accessibility in video games by getting early gameplay access and direct access to development teams for streamlined feedback.
In an effort to improve accessibility options in video games from the development stage, AbleGamers also offers developer consult in the form of the Accessible Player Experience (APX), a fully-certified course in which AbleGamers engineers work alongside game developers to encourage inclusion and accessibility options that benefit players. The direction is offered in the form of Design Patterns that teach developers how and when to incorporate accessibility early in the design cycle. AbleGamers has trained and certified over 100 developers as part of the APX program.
Follow Steven on Twitter for fundraising updates, AbleGamers news, and more. Use hashtag #Spawn2gether to raise awareness for the cause.
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About The AbleGamers Foundation
The AbleGamers Charity is a 501(c)(3) charity that wields the power of video games to break down the barriers of economic and social isolation for people with disabilities. Through received support and donations, AbleGamers provides disabled gamers with assistive technologies (including their Expansion Pack program) that allow those with limited real-world mobility to experience what it is like to walk, run, climb, drive and even fly – in a virtual world. AbleGamers additionally advises developers and publishers on how to best incorporate accessibility options so that their video game titles may reach and appeal to the widest and most diverse audience possible. To find out how your support or donations can help them positively impact an even greater number of individuals with disabilities, please visit www.ablegamers.org.
