While not a physical innovation, this idea is an innovative way to use an existing mechanic in a way that had previously never been done.

We took advantage of a loophole in the streaming service Twitch (owned by Amazon and Jeff Bezos) where Amazon Prime Members get a free $3.50 to subscribe and support a streamer. If the $3.50 is not used it goes right back to Amazon. So we turned JFC into a verified Twitch streamer, allowing people to subscribe to us and donate money in a way that's 100% funded by Amazon (in a perfectly legal way :).

With so many worthy causes to support, it can be hard to get the attention (and dollars) of potential donors - especially without strong name recognition. Our client (the Jane/Finch Community Centre) is one of 86,000 registered charities in Canada, and one that most had never heard of. In addition, rising income inequality increases the need for donations, while diminishing the public’s ability to give.

We wanted to create a fundraising campaign that not only engaged the public with a conversation about income inequality, but had a built-in donation mechanism that made it easy for people to donate.

The goal was to raise $20,000 for this struggling community centre, without exploiting the residents (no sad pics of poverty, which would only play into the stereotypes of the Jane/Finch neighbourhood, known as Toronto’s poorest and most dangerous).

It's the 'modern-day Robin Hood story' of taking from the mega-rich to benefit the poor.

We took advantage of a loophole in the streaming service Twitch (owned by Amazon and Jeff Bezos) where Amazon Prime Members get a free $3.50 to subscribe and support a streamer. If the $3.50 is not used it goes right back to Amazon. So we turned JFC into a verified Twitch streamer, allowing people to subscribe to us and donate money in a way that's 100% funded by Amazon (in a perfectly legal way :).

This allowed us to not only garner much-needed donations, but enter the conversation about income inequality in a surprising manner, and tap into the groundswell of anger against corporations that do little to benefit the communities their workers live in.

People were able to not only help a community centre, but also got a chance to 'Bill it to Bezos'.

This idea was conceived in the summer of 2022. The innovative aspect wasn't a key date, but the application of it in a way that had never been done before.

First, we had to turn the Jane/Finch Centre (JFC) into a verified Twitch streamer (a months-long set of protocols and milestones that included a certain number of hours streamed, number of followers, time on platform, and application to be verified).

Once we had the accreditation, we were eligible to receive Prime subscriptions, so we released our campaign video (YouTube), and social media assets (TikTok & Instagram), all of which drove organically to our Twitch hub or campaign website. The hub and site also had tutorial videos explaining how to subscribe/donate for those who weren't sure how to link their Amazon Prime account to Twitch.

PR helped get the word out (with the local, national, and international press carrying the story), and the campaign donation push went from September to November 2022.

On Twitch - Everyone with an Amazon Prime subscription is entitled to $3.50/month that they can give to their favourite streamer on Twitch, but for the most part, this money gets unused and reverts back to Amazon. By subscribing to the newly created JFC stream on Twitch, JFC was the first ever to raise money for their community in a way that’s 100% funded by Amazon. It costs

The centre met their entire annual fundraising goal in under one week, with over 45% of the donations coming through Twitch subscriptions, the rest as a result of the PR the campaign garnered. In total, the campaign raised more in the first week than they have over the past 3 years combined.

In addition, The Jane/Finch Community Centre received a different type of coverage than the type of negative press the neighbourhood regularly gets. Historical news coverage is about violence, poverty, and other subject matters that paint the community in a bad light. This coverage was about all the good things the centre was doing to support education, immigration, youth, seniors, etc.

This included millions of impressions from local and national news coverage, and around the world. General press covered the story from a human interest point of view, and the tech press told the deeper story on innovation.

The Jane/Finch area of Toronto is notoriously known as a neighborhood that's full of gangs, shootings, and poverty. And news coverage always reinforces these stereotypes. As a result, it's created a belief that this region is beyond hope.

This campaign not only created a wonderful way to raise donations to help, it also brought to light all the incredible efforts done by the community centre.