Cloud9, Dignitas, Immortals Gaming Club, and FlyQuest, some of the world’s top-ranked esports organisations, are collaborating on an online tournament with the fundraising platform Softgiving to raise money for the California Community Foundation’s COVID-19 LA County Response Fund.
Four esports organisations launched the Wash Yo Hands Tourney on 16 March, featuring online competition between the organisations’ League of Legends teams, continuing through 19 March in a collective effort to both support local communities affected by COVID-19 and build awareness on how to prevent further spread. Each team faces off in a round-robin format featuring off-role positions for each player and includes a ban list containing the ten most competitive League of Legends champions. Every dollar donated will go toward community grants in Los Angeles with an initial focus on education, health, homelessness, and individual assistance.
The upcoming Wash Yo Hands Tourney events will take place on nightly at 6 PM PDT on Twitch and can be viewed at Twitch.tv/Dignitas, Twitch.tv/Cloud9, and Twitch.tv/Immortals
The four participating esports organisations and Softgiving hope the Wash Yo Hands Tourney will extend beyond the four-day tournament and continue as a long-term charitable initiative. All parties strongly encourage esports fans to continue using the power of streaming and gaming to raise funds for those affected by COVID-19 whilst also building awareness on how individuals can mitigate further spread.
The Wash Yo Hands Tourney will directly benefit the LA County Response Fund, which was launched by the California Community Foundation to address the immediate and emerging needs of their region’s most vulnerable residents — from mitigation to eventual recovery.
To support the Wash Yo Hands tourney, Softgiving provided donation tools and created a landing page where the streaming and gaming community can donate to the cause, track the total amount raised, and view recent and top donours.
“During these difficult times, we’re proud to make our fundraising platform available to esports organisations and their community to generate much-needed funding to mitigate the impact of COVID-19,” said Matt Pfaltzgraf, Founder & CEO of Softgiving. “We’re equally honoured to support the critical relief services of the LA County Response Fund who are supporting the evolving needs of their diverse residents.”
To donate to the Wash Yo Hands Tourney, benefitting the LA County Response Fund and their efforts to combat COVID-19, individuals can make a contribution or create a Softgiving campaign to join the event here.
