YouTube star Ludwig’s Fast50 charity speedrunning event raised over a quarter-million dollars for two organizations after 52 hours of streaming.
From May 31 – June 2, Ludwig and a host of famous speedrunners gathered together for a 50-hour speedrunning event with the goal of raising money for two charities: Wings for Life and No Kid Hungry.
After 52 hours of streaming, the final tally donated by viewers added up to $251,924.
“That’s f*cking insane,” Ludwig announced, revealing that they’d more than doubled the amount of money they’d started with on that day. “In the past seven hours we’ve raised another $30,000.”
Wings for Life is a nonprofit research foundation focused on finding ways to heal injured spinal cords, which received $125,000 from Ludiwg’s event.
No Kid Hungry is another nonprofit organization that is working toward ending child hunger both in the United States and worldwide. Thanks to Fast50, 1.25 million meals will be given to children in need.
Ludwig shouted out donators in a celebratory post on Twitter/X, saying the event “went better than I could ever have hoped.”
That’s not all; he even teased the possibility of a Fast100 speedrunning stream next year, potentially aiming for a longer event with even more speedrunners involved.
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THANK YOU FOR WATCHING FAST 50 — ludwig (@LudwigAhgren) June 3, 2024
This is far from Ludwig’s first major live charity event. In fact, the YouTuber has a history of orchestrating massive projects to help charitable organizations, and even auctioned off his Gold YouTube play button (and his life-sized wax statue of Jackie Chan) for charity back in May 2023.
In November 2020, Ludwig hosted a Smash Melee tournament in protest of Nintendo shutting down The Big House, ultimately raising over $260,000 for charity.
Ludwig’s passion for speedrunning may have kickstarted yet another charitable event for the community — and it’s safe to say that fans loved the stream, judging by comments online.
“Honestly better than most of the speedrunning events out there today,” one viewer wrote. “Really hope you keep the same energy in the future iterations, it was great.”
Even the organizations involved reached out to thank Ludwig, with No Kid Hungry writing on Twitter/X: “We’re BEYOND grateful! And so impressed!”
We're BEYOND grateful! And so impressed! 🧡 @STREAM_NKH
— No Kid Hungry (@nokidhungry) June 3, 2024
At the time of writing, it’s unclear if anything for Fast100 has been made official, but Fast50 certainly went off without a hitch, leaving fans wanting more.