Christmas charity fundraisers in UK esports and gaming: Underachievers raise money for Safe In Our World, Byfield completes forfeits to aid MakeAWish, and more

Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).

The UK esports and gaming communities have raised thousands of pounds over the past few weeks from several Christmas charity fundraisers.

Underachievers raise money for UK mental health charity Safe In Our World

First up, new UK Counter-Strike (CS) esports organisation Underachievers reached out to Esports News UK to tell us about a tournament they ran, bringing the CS2 community together to raise money for charity.

They raised almost £500 for games industry mental health charity Safe In Our World.

The tournament featured 16 teams, with most based in the UK, including winners 8Sins, 3LG, Viperio, Team Hosky, Proximity, Sussex Esports (the esports society of Sussex University) among others.

It also had Dieanic, Affinity and EKO as casters, with Underachievers members CDJ, cimok and Bunker on board running the tournament, working production and observing, respectively.

Azrael won the clip of the tournament:

https://twitter.com/Azrael7k/status/1870867126430707921

“Supporting charity is a big thing for us, and something we want to do a lot of going forward,” said Underachievers management CDJ.

“The aim is to work with lots of different charities, which are close to members of The Underachievers’ hearts and raise as much as we can.”

There’s more in this thread here:

A couple of days on from our Christmas Tournament, in aid of @SafeInOurWorld, we just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who took part.

🧵

— UNDERACHIEVERS (@UNDERACH1EVERS) December 17, 2024

Alex Byfield raises £710 for Make-A-Wish UK

UK CS player, caster and personality, Alex Byfield, also ran a charity stream for Make-A-Wish UK, which grants once-in-a-lifetime wishes to children and young people living with critical conditions.

Byfield agreed to forfeits at different milestones, including a pie in the face, leg wax, cinnamon challenge, clown make-up and more!

He also did a raffle and made hundreds of pounds worth of further donations through this, with the likes of Intel UK, Endpoint, TradeIt and Heroic providing raffle prizes.

Byfield told Esports News UK: “On December 15th 2024, myself and my stream underwent an arduous journey through spice challenges, hair removal and fancy dress in order to raise money for the incredible charity Make-A-Wish.

“I want to thank Ben Moore and Ben Sagnier for putting this together and to everyone who donated to fund gaming consoles for children recovering in intensive care.

“The challenges I faced in raising the money is a small fraction of what these children go through every single day.”

Here’s a video from Byfield on the raffle:

🎟️TOMORROW'S RAFFLE PRIZES🎟️

Join me from 1pm – 1am GMT!

Thank you 💙@tradeit_gg @heroicgg @IntelUK @TeamEndpoint @MiGHTYMAXcsgo @Everlast_

In support of @MakeAWishUK 💫 pic.twitter.com/gEn0aCYst6

— Alex Byfield (@ByfieldCS) December 14, 2024

More 2024 Christmas charity fundraisers in UK esports and gaming

Another CS charity tournament is the Justice Christmas Cup, featuring UK organisation Royals.

Let's welcome @Royals_EC @skyfuryofficial @VENOMCS_GG @infiniteggro @dragon_ec_ @SoulsHeartOff @Kubixesports @PreasyEsport @VoltGesports @VerdantEC @konoecf @CPHWolves @AnonymoEsports @LosKogutos 👋 pic.twitter.com/jjXcHeMEwl

— Justice Cup 🏆 (@justice_cup) December 21, 2024

Other similar initiatives included a weekend-long Valorant charity tournament raising money for Cancer Research UK, which was organised by UK esports organisation CTRL Esports.

Esports News UK also backed this initiative with an on-stream interview and quiz.

Overall, CTRL raised £1,795 for charity.

UK esports organisation @TheCTRLEsports have raised £1,755 for Cancer Research UK via their stream on the weekend@WillyGPalace won the Charity Valorant Tournament, @jwb3264 went bald and @CTRLQ1ll's legs got waxed from the University of Staffordshire! pic.twitter.com/nzrqJ1hpGs

— Esports News UK (@Esports_News_UK) December 16, 2024

Elsewhere, after two weeks of livestreams from over 800 creators and 10m views, the Yogscast’s 2024 Jingle Jam raised £2.7m for its eight charity partners.

TommyInnit, The Spiffing Brit and Smosh Games hosted special streams during the two weeks of entertainment from December 1st to 14th to raise money for the charity partners: Autistica, CALM, Cool Earth, Sarcoma, The Trevor Project, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, War Child, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

That's officially a wrap on #JingleJam2024! Together, we raised £2,673,841 for our eight charity partners.

Thank you to all our amazing fundraisers, games publisher and developer partners who donated keys, our volunteer team, and you at home for tuning in and contributing! pic.twitter.com/XC7ZqcmsHz

— Jingle Jam (@jinglejam) December 15, 2024

UK YouTube star TommyInnit won a national charity award for sarcoma awareness, and another UK streamer, DanTDM, donated £300,000+ to fund TheRockinR gaming equipment for seriously ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Other initiatives have also included the Equal Esports Charity Cup, Jingle Frags, JDG All-star Charity Day and more.

WON @SKGaming x @deutschetelekom EQUAL ESPORTS CUP 24 with @sarahtoninx9

WON 5000€ WHICH WE DONATE TO CHARITY

only love to my team ty for playing<3 pic.twitter.com/IJRNWkO0Kf

— Sevkaan (@Sevkaanvl) December 14, 2024

And last but not least, prior to Christmas, just over a month ago, Riot and streamer GaGOD teamed up for a charity stream, with a custom Valorant Spike Xbox up for grabs. This also raised money for Make-A-Wish UK.

Essential UK Casino & Betting Guides

Looking for the best casinos or betting sites? Below you’ll find our recommended guides that players in the UK are loving right now.

• Best Online Casinos in the UK
• Best Betting Sites UK for 2025
• Best Online Casino Fast Payout 2025
• Non Gamstop Casinos UK
• No ID Verification Casino Sites