Alum’s Charity Webstream Raises More Than $16,000 for St. Jude

Popular YouTuber and 2017 SFU graduate Matt Crawford raised over $16,000 during a live charity webstream event in December at the Zanzuccki Communications Media Center in Schwab Hall.

All of the money that Crawford raised went to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

This is the fourth charity webstream that Crawford has hosted at SFU and he doubled the amount of money he raised at the last one in 2019. 

“I don’t know if the pandemic had a role in that at all, with more people home watching it,” Crawford said, “but I know it did a lot better this year.”

Crawford carefully chooses his charity on the basis of credibility, personal connections and recommendations from his supporters. 

He wanted to pick a worldwide charity because he has roughly 588,000 fans/subscribers from all around the world. He also wanted to make sure their money was going to an organization they could recognize and trust. 

Crawford’s diverse fan base shares a mutual interest in Japanese anime, which is colorful animation geared to a broad audience of all ages.

Crawford said there are a lot of little details to address when setting up a YouTube livestream. 

“The biggest concern when I’m doing the charity events is technical problems because I’m not streaming at home,” he said.

Crawford’s meteoric success on YouTube since he graduated from SFU almost four years ago can be attributed, in part, to his skillset and character.

“Matt is someone that is very tech-savvy, personable, kind and generous, and he is a good listener,” said Associate Professor of Communications Pat Farabaugh. “He’s grown his audience by engaging with it.”

Crawford hopes to host two charity livestreams in 2021. He planned to hold two fundraisers in 2020 as well, but the pandemic forced him to cancel one scheduled for earlier last year.

“I think it’s impressive that Matt has stuck to his core interests in his livestreams, his YouTube channel, and connecting with charity,” said Kelly Rhodes, Chair of the Communications and Criminal Justice Department. 

“That’s something a lot of people do short-term, but it takes effort to keep that connection going.”