Worldbuilders and Humble Bundle Raise Over $1 Million for Heifer International

Every December since 2008, Worldbuilders — an organization started by New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss — has held a weekslong fundraiser to benefit Heifer International. This year’s event, which ended on Dec. 15, was one of its most successful yet, raising around $1,300,000 and far outpacing the initial goal of $500,000. Over the past 12 years, Worldbuilders has provided more than $11 million to support Heifer’s mission to end hunger and poverty.

Part of the reason for this year’s increased success is due to Humble Bundle’s site featuring Heifer. The Humble Bundle community helped raise $300,000 through purchases on HumbleBundle.com, and those funds were used to match donations for the Worldbuilders end-of-year campaign.

Humble Bundle’s support of the Worldbuilders fundraiser felt like a natural fit for both organizations. The mission of Worldbuilders is “to unite the geek community into a massive force to fund education, opportunity, and sustainable self-sufficiency for families and communities worldwide.” As Rothfuss said in an interview earlier this year, a geek is basically someone who is intensely passionate about something, and both Worldbuilders and Humble Bundle give people an outlet to cultivate that passion while supporting good causes at the same time.

Launched in 2010, Humble Bundle is a company that gets games and other digital content at a discount from developers and publishers, then sells them in bundles with a pay-what-you-can price structure that also benefits charities. Customers get to choose how their money is divided between creators, charities, Humble Bundle and their partners. Since 2010, Humble Bundle and its 12 million customers have contributed more than $190,000,000 to nonprofits.

On his blog, Rothfuss wrote that, “Despite the trash fire of 2020, this year’s fundraiser has been our most successful in years," possibly ever, pending a more careful review of past years' numbers.

Rothfuss attributes the success to supporters who “stormed in, donated, boosted our signals, and told [their] friends.” The Worldbuilders End-of-Year Fundraiser features auctions, prize giveaways, hours and hours of livestreams and “lots of whimsy” with an end of using “the collective power of readers, authors, gamers, and geeks of all creeds to champion smart charities.”

To relive the Worldbuilders 2020 End-of-the-Year Fundraiser, visit www.twitch.tv/patrickrothfuss and www.twitch.tv/worldbuilders, where you can watch recordings of the live streams. You can also follow @PatrickRothfuss and @Worldbuilders on Twitter as well as visit www.worldbuilders.org to learn more and stay up to date.