Fund a Charity Marathon Stream Goal as a Gaming Creator

Gaming creators can fund a charity marathon or subathon goal by turning on Brillay's Goals offer, naming the specific cause and dollar target, and sharing that one page link during the stream so every contribution counts toward a single visible progress bar instead of scattered one-off tips. Contributions are paid out to the creator's own connected Stripe account rather than directly to a nonprofit, so a creator running a charity stream forwards the money to the charity themselves. A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.

No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. pricing

Charity gaming marathons already move real money. Extra Life, the gaming fundraiser run by Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, states on its own site that participants have raised more than $145 million since 2008 for 170 children's hospitals (Extra Life). Games Done Quick states on its own site that its speedrunning marathons have raised over $50 million for charity and average more than 3,000 people in attendance per event (Games Done Quick). A single creator's marathon-goal page borrows the mechanic Extra Life and Games Done Quick both use — one named cause, one visible dollar target — without applying to join an established event first.

This page covers funding one marathon or subathon goal specifically. For the full range of paid offers gaming creators can run on Brillay, see how gaming creators can monetize their audience.

What counts as a charity marathon or subathon goal?

A charity marathon or subathon is an extended livestream — usually 24 hours or longer — run specifically to raise money for a stated cause, built around one visible goal rather than a plain tip jar. The format borrows its name from the subscription-driven "subathon," a stream style where continued support keeps the broadcast running.

"In a nutshell, a Twitch subathon is a marathon event where a streamer broadcasts continuously for an extended period, usually 24 hours or more." — Streamlabs

A charity marathon points the subathon mechanic at a cause instead of a subscriber count: viewers support the stream, and their money moves toward a stated dollar goal instead of only adding stream time. A subathon timer is a stream-production choice, while the goal behind the timer — the number viewers are actually working toward — is what needs its own page, description, and progress bar.

Which Brillay offer fits a charity marathon-stream goal?

Goals gives supporters one named target with a progress bar, funded by one-time contributions with no reward tiers, nothing to ship, and no all-or-nothing cutoff (how it works).

Brillay documents three offers a marathon stream could plausibly use, and only one of them tracks a dollar target:

Goals is the only Brillay offer that tracks a named dollar target on a progress bar, which is why a marathon fundraiser belongs there rather than in Tips or Custom Work. Custom Work exists to sell a defined deliverable at a set price and delivery time, so pointing marathon donors at a service would turn a cash goal into a product order.

Setup follows the same four steps as any goal: enable the offer, name the goal and describe the cause, set the target dollar amount, then publish (how to create a goal). Goals has no follower minimum and nothing to apply for, so a creator with a few hundred engaged followers can turn a marathon goal on the same day as one with a hundred thousand.

How do you set up a marathon goal on Brillay?

Setting up a marathon goal means enabling Goals, naming the specific cause the stream supports rather than a generic "donate" label, entering a realistic target amount, and publishing before the marathon begins so the link is ready the moment the stream goes live.

Use the goal name for the marathon itself and the cause it supports, for example:

• "24-Hour Charity Stream for [Children's Hospital Name]"
• "Subathon for [Cause] — Every Sub Adds Time"
• "Marathon Fundraiser: $2,000 for [Nonprofit]"

The description field is where you name the actual charity or cause, the planned stream length, and what the money funds. Goals uses one-time contributions with no reward tiers, so avoid promising a perk for a specific contribution amount; a $5 and a $50 contribution unlock the same thing — helping reach the goal.

Publish the goal before the marathon starts so the page and link are live the moment the stream begins. Goals has no deadline unless you set one, so the goal can keep collecting before, during, and after the scheduled marathon hours even though the stream itself has a fixed start and end time.

How much do major gaming charity marathons typically raise?

Established gaming charity marathons publish their own lifetime totals: Extra Life reports more than $145 million raised since 2008, St. Jude PLAY LIVE reports more than $100 million raised, and Games Done Quick reports more than $50 million raised to date, each figure taken from that program's own website in September 2026.

St. Jude describes the scale of its streamer program in its own words:

"Together we've raised more than $100 million for the kids of St. Jude." — St. Jude PLAY LIVE

Awesome Games Done Quick 2026 raised $2,443,414 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation across a single one-week marathon, according to the Prevent Cancer Foundation's own announcement (Prevent Cancer Foundation). The Prevent Cancer Foundation also states that its 15-year partnership with Games Done Quick has now raised nearly $30 million in total.

The Extra Life, St. Jude PLAY LIVE, and Games Done Quick totals above come from decade-plus programs with dedicated staff and sponsor support, so those lifetime figures are not a benchmark for what one creator's first marathon page should expect. A solo creator can still borrow the calendar structure the big programs use: Extra Life states that its 2026 Game Day kicks off on Saturday, November 7, 2026 and runs through November 15, 2026, with free registration (Extra Life).

Should the marathon goal fund a charity, your own gear, or a game project?

A marathon-goal page should fund one clearly named purpose, and the three common purposes are not interchangeable. A charity marathon raises money for an external nonprofit, a gear goal funds the creator's own equipment, and a goal funds a game or content budget. Each deserves its own page and its own honest description rather than one blended fundraiser.

If the money is going to a nonprofit or charity partner, say so explicitly in the description and be ready to explain how funds actually reach that organization. Nonprofit-run streaming programs are large enough to have their own rails: Tiltify announced that creator-led campaigns on its platform raised more than $100 million in 2025, a 46% increase over the prior year, from 1.2 million unique donors (Tiltify press release). St. Jude instructs PLAY LIVE streamers to sign up on Tiltify and stream on Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook (St. Jude PLAY LIVE), and the American Red Cross describes Tiltify as a crowdfunding platform for fundraising while you live stream video games. A nonprofit's own fundraising platform is a separate flow from a Brillay goal, because Brillay pays contributions to the creator's connected Stripe account rather than to the nonprofit. If the fundraiser is instead for your own equipment, a new PC, or a specific game's development budget, keep that distinction in the page description so supporters understand exactly where the money goes. For a broader comparison of which Brillay offer fits which streamer fundraising need, see the best Brillay offer for streamers.

What happens if the marathon doesn't reach its goal?

A marathon-stream goal has no all-or-nothing cutoff. Reaching the target is not a condition of the payment, so a creator keeps what was raised and should set expectations about a partial result before the stream ends, not after.

A creator can decline an individual contribution, but a goal that falls short during the marathon itself can keep collecting afterward rather than closing at a fixed deadline. State in the description what happens if the stream ends short of the target — for example, whether the remaining amount will be raised through a follow-up stream — so supporters know what their contribution is actually funding.

What else can you offer during a charity marathon stream?

A marathon page does not have to carry the fundraiser alone. Brillay creators can offer Tips, Personalized Videos, and Paid Questions on the same page as a Goal, so followers who want a specific paid offer rather than a general contribution have that option without turning the fundraiser into an undocumented reward tier.

Personalized Videos let a follower pay your set price for a custom thank-you video after the marathon, recorded and delivered through Brillay within the delivery time you set, up to 5 days. Paid Questions let a follower pay your set price to ask one private question during a break in the stream, and you send back one written reply, privately. Keep Personalized Videos and paid questions listed as their own priced offers rather than folding them into language like "give $50 for a Personalized Video," because Goals tracks one-time contributions toward one named target.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to partner with a registered nonprofit to run a marathon goal?

You can enable Goals without a nonprofit partnership. However, if you tell supporters the money is going to a specific charity, you are responsible for actually routing those funds to that organization; Brillay pays contributions to the creator's own Stripe-connected account like any other goal, not directly to a nonprofit.

Can I run more than one marathon or goal at a time?

Yes. You can run several Goals at once, and each goal has its own page, name, description, and progress bar, so keep each marathon or cause separate.

Does the marathon goal need a deadline?

You choose whether to set a deadline for the Brillay page, but the marathon stream still has its own start and end time. State the actual stream dates in the goal description rather than implying the page closes when the broadcast ends, since contributions can continue afterward.

What does Brillay charge on marathon-goal contributions?

Brillay's own charge is the platform fee named in the pricing line above, taken only from contributions that land in the goal; Stripe's typical US card-processing rate (about 2.9% + $0.30) is a separate charge that is not a Brillay fee (Stripe).

A marathon or subathon goal works best when the cause, target amount, and stream schedule are stated plainly before the first donation comes in.

Create your free Brillay page and set up a goal before your next charity stream.