In October 2019, Riot Games began a series of global celebrations for the 10th anniversary of League of Legends and announced its creation Social Impact Fund for Game Riots, in partnership with Impact Assets.

So far, the Riot Games Social Impact Fund has raised more than $ 10 million, and they have allocated more than $ 8 million in donations, including more than $ 4 million for global COVID-19 support.

In December they released their 1000th skin, Dawnbringer Karma, as the latest charity fundraiser in their game. Now they are calling players to choose the regional nonprofit of their choice April 10 to April 23 in the League of Legends client.

I met with Jeffrey Burrell, Head of Social Impact at Riot Games to find out more about this innovative initiative.

Afdhel Aziz: Jeffrey, welcome. Please tell us about the Riot Games Social Impact Fund and where did the idea come from?

Jeffrey Burrell: The Riot Games Social Impact Fund is a philanthropic venture fund that allows us to make direct investments in various global organizations aimed at solving some of the most pressing problems in the world.

With these funds, we can support more organizations and navigate complex legal and tax issues that arise along with implementation on a global scale. For Dawnbringer Karma’s fundraising, we work with our local office and partner, GlobalGiving, to choose 46 regional non-profit partners around the world, which would not have been possible without first forming the Social Impact Fund.

Aziz: How can the League of Legends community participate? How many have been raised so far?

Burrell: The League of Legends community can participate in our charity fundraising by going into the game and buying various in-game cosmetic items, which offer a variety of donation values. Over the next two weeks, players can enter the game and vote for the charity that they think is most worthy of their contribution.

We are very grateful to our players who made it possible and excited with all the opportunities on the horizon when we launched a new game.

Aziz: How do you decide what to focus on? How has this changed globally?

Burrell: At Riot Games, we aim to be the most player-focused company in the world, so when we look at our corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, we want it to reflect that goal. We survey our players in various regions to find out what causes are meaningful to them, then work to identify, examine and form partnerships with organizations that support these causes.

Looking at the data from our survey, it is very interesting to see the causes that are important for players around the world. Although we see some differences, we also see many similarities, which are reflected in our three main focus pillars: Education, Opportunities and Citizenship.

Aziz: What do you think is unique about this approach that other organizations can learn from?

Burrell: When we looked at our CSR strategy, I thought it was very much in line with our company’s larger goal of becoming the most player-focused gaming company in the world. That is reflected in almost every part of our CSR strategy, and something we think about every day as we develop campaigns on behalf of players around the world. It is one thing to be able to raise money for good causes from the communities involved, but the long-term impact comes from the ability to help mobilize the community to be involved in issues that are important in their local communities.

Something that we know is important for our players is to provide an agency in the decision making process. We run surveys, chat with our local Riots office, and dig to find out what really matters to them. We see an incredible amount of player involvement when we run this charity campaign and think a lot has to do with giving them agents where the funds will go.

Aziz: Thanks for sharing! Finally, can you tell us why in your opinion the CSR landscape is sometimes ‘inside-out’?

Burrell: I think often when companies create an area of ​​their CSR impact, they see it from an “outside-in” perspective. That is, they see their abilities, unique value propositions, and universally interesting problems to determine their focus areas. They take an “inside” perspective and use it to determine what impact will occur outside. Although I think these are all good questions to contemplate and make table bets for what companies should consider, they do not fully take into account an “outside-in” perspective.

My background is a bit of a strange mashup, but in marketing, practitioners are taught to understand everything about users / customers / players. What are their demographics, how do they use the product, what color do they like, what about the size of the presentation, what features should we prioritize, etc. We were taught to do ethnographic research to understand how people buy toothpaste in supermarkets.

In the world of public policy and social impact, we teach that those who are closest to the problem are some who are best prepared to help with solutions. People who live with pain and problems day after day have insights that are not understood by large institutions unless they talk to those who are “on the ground”. Trying to mobilize a group of people without understanding the nuances of their community won’t work.

Adding this dimension to the CSR strategy helped change the conversation from “this is what our company does for the community” to “this is what we do with our community, together.”

We are still very much figuring out what works and not ourselves, but I have found that using this “inside-out” approach helps identify new areas of opportunity, deeper community involvement, and creative solutions for areas where we think we can add a unique value.