Earlier this month, JDRF gathered with gaming industry friends for a lively social event that featured an informative panel discussion. Organized by Dan Connors, former CEO Telltale Games and JDRF’s Video Game Liaison, and Hans ten Cate, Principal at 10k8 Consulting, guests heard gaming experts speak about how working with charities can be good for customers and for driving business. The panel discussed the many ways in which games can raise funds and awareness for important charitable causes. Thank you to our group of experts:

• Dan Connors, former CEO Telltale Games
• Susan Gold, President/Founder of The Global Game Jam (Chestnut Hill, MA)
• Susanna Pollack, CEO, Games for Change (NewYork, NY)
• Steven Kovensky, CBO, Humble Bundle (Berlin, Germany)
• Andrew Schroeder, Partnerships Manager, Charity Events, Twitch (San Francisco, CA)

The video game industry has helped raise over 500 million dollars through various initiatives and partnerships in the last five years alone. Publishers and developers generously support charities by sharing profits from bundled game sales and in-game purchases. Gamers have raised awareness and money by hosting gaming marathons and streaming their favorite games to promote charities online.

“These partnerships have been mutually beneficial as publishers, developers and streamers look to rise above the noise and speak to a generation of gamers that is interested in doing good, while doing what they love.” – Dan Connors, Co-Founder Telltale Inc.

We caught up with Dan and Hans to ask them what the key takeaways were from the evening: