When I had the pleasure of interviewing Jes Wade last July about their work in the TTRPG space, one of the things we touched on was their active charity fundraising. In that time Jes has definitely stepped things up a notch or three, and nothing demonstrates this more than their latest project, TTRPGs for Palestine.
TTRPGs for Palestine fundraiser started as an Itch-funding initiative, bringing a broad range of TTRPG creators together in an Itch Jam. While the jam itself was successful there were issues of communication with Itch in moving the jam toward the fundraising portion. In response to this delay, Jes came up with a plan to use Tiltify for the fundraising, supplying donors with a link to a secure spreadsheet of download keys for a set period of time.
To say it’s been a success would be an understatement. Launched again on April 12, community engagement has been high. “This bundle would not be possible without the support of the TTRPG community,” Jes says, “125 TTRPG creators have donated their work to support this amazing cause.” Amongst them these creators have offered up 195 TTRPGs, TTRPG supplements, and art packs worth $965!
Those donating $15USD or more to the fundraiser are sent an invitation to a Google sheet hosting download codes to all 195 TTRPGs. Donors will have until May 7 at 12 PM PST to download this treasure trove, when the sheet will be closed.
Originally slated to raise $5,000 to support the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (currently focused on immediate relief, including providing essential medical supplies, food, medical treatment, clean water, and other necessities for families affected by the ongoing genocide in Palestine), the response to this fundraiser has been tremendous. As of this article the fundraiser has reached $16,624 with a current goal of $20,000. If donations stay on track the bundle will definitely bust through that goal by the April 30 cutoff.
And you definitely want to help it with that busting! The bundle includes games like GUNN&SLINGER, The Mystery Business, and Gubat Banwa and you can preview them in advance of your donation. But no matter what games you play or where you exist in the TTRPG sphere, you are going to find a lot to love in this bundle. Your biggest challenge will be keeping track of it all, and frankly that’s a great problem to have.
Besides the funds raised for this necessary charity, I think Jes is showing a valuable way forward for other folks in the TTRPG space who have faced their own frustrations using platforms such as Itch for their fundraising efforts. While sites like Itch provide useful tools for organizing charity efforts, that usefulness is of less value than communication and actually getting funds to the needful charity, a criticism brought up by other charity efforts using these sites.
However other folks use this template, there is no question TTRPGs for Palestine is an example of what can be achieved with dedicated organization and broad community engagement in the TTRPG space. Donate if you can, spread the word far and wide, and make sure you download everything before the May 7 cutoff!
To stay up to date with the bundle and Jes’ charity efforts, you can subscribe to their ChariTTRPGs substack newsletter for free. Jes also includes instructions on how to launch your own fundraising efforts, so this is a resource not to be missed.
