More than 500,000 euros in 2017, more than a million in 2018, 3.5 million in 2019 and 5.7 million in 2020. Since its creation, the Z Event has been raising mountains for associations. Beneficiary in 2020 of this charity marathon, Amnesty International had collected almost a quarter of its budget … in the space of a weekend. How does this event, which started off hard in a garage, succeed in raising so many funds? While about fifty streamers play, until Sunday, for Action Against Hunger, 20 minutes tried to unravel the secrets of the Z Event’s success.
If the sums are so important, it is, first of all, because the participants in this marathon are all at the head of huge communities: the money collected comes from donations from spectators, who watch their favorite streamers indulge To League of Legends Where Fortnite on Twitch. Obviously, if there are people, it’s better for the donation counter. “We have strong and committed communities, and we have proven it over the years,” says Alexandre Dachary, alias Dach, the organizer of the Z Event. If we add up, all the participants reach several million people. On Twitch, Gotaga, a regular at the event, has, for example, 3.2 million followers. Zerator, the dad of the Z Event, or Domingo, streaming star, 1.2 million.
“The very principle of the players is to take up challenges”
And, beyond being very large, this community “has a big heart,” says Domingo. “We, for our part, we try to give the maximum to entertain the spectators, to make them want to make donations”, confides the host of Pop corn. “This streaming community is a little-known world, they are not on the big media, but on Twitch, which is still a fairly young platform,” confided to 20 minutes, last year, Nicolas Trombert, Amnesty International’s director of development. This incredible donation campaign proves to us, once again, that what we thought was invisible and marginal is actually very, very important. “
But if the Z Event breaks so many records of generosity, it is also because of the profile of the spectators. “The vast majority of us are talking to players,” says Dach. And the very principle of the players is to take up challenges. So far, we’ve always broken our record every year. And the spectators, themselves, I think, without even being told, see it as a challenge to be taken up. “A good number of streamers also offer their fans a list of“ donation goals ”. Challenges that will be taken up by the facilitator if the sums are reached.
Here are my Donation Goals for the # ZEvent2021 pic.twitter.com/cRw6cmMYeV
– PA 🍿 (@Domingo) October 25, 2021
“The donation goals, it adds a little something to the spectators”
This year, one of them has pledged to climb Mount Fuji and fight with a sumo if 50,000 euros are collected on his channel, another assures that he will cross Europe by hitchhiking if the 150,000 euros are reached. If he manages to reach this sum, Domingo has promised to climb Mont Ventoux by bike. And for 50,000 euros more, he will try to survive “on the largest glacier in Europe”. “Donation goals add a little something to the spectators,” he says. I also found myself completing the Paris marathon, because I was involved in it last year. It had undoubtedly motivated the spectators. And in the end, it gave me a lot. “
Finally, if the Z Event is so efficient, it is also due to the generosity of the French, assures Dach. “In international charity events, we notice that the French are among the best donors,” says the organizer of the charity marathon. See you in the night from Sunday to Monday, at the end of the donations of this new edition of the Z Event, to check if the French are, once again, the kings of solidarity.