Postcard from 2006 Games For Change Annual Conference
- Funding Perspectives: New Initiatives - Sande Chen

At the 2006 Games For Change Annual Conference, the session titled “Funding Perspectives: New Initiatives” gave developers a peephole into the viewpoints of funding organizations and advice on how to interact with them. Panelists Brad Lewis of Learn and Serve America, Franklin Madison of the Industrial and Technology Assistance Corp. (ITAC), Chinwe Onyekere of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Connie Yowell of the MacArthur Foundation discussed funding opportunities and their interests in social change games.

Prior to the start of the conference, a private Funder’s Briefing had been held to give representatives of funding organizations the chance to meet, collaborate, and share experiences. In the same way, by funding Games for Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said Onyekere, acts as a “convener to bring attention and interest to the space and to start a dialogue between the video game industry and the healthcare sector.” The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was also able to promote healthcare games to Congress using the Games For Health trailer.

“Know your audience. Speak the language of your audience,” cautioned Onyekere, when asked how to interest board members in a project. She noted that it might take a while for the board of a traditional foundation to get the connection between learning and games. They may need to be introduced slowly to the idea. Likewise, Yowell, Education Program Office at the MacArthur Foundation, found that video games may be a hard sell to board members over the age of 50.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation are traditional foundations, based on “dead money” and report to a board. Others, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have “live money” and may have a benefactor who actively participates in decisions. Corporate foundations, like the Citigroup Foundation, come from large companies. These different types of foundations have different guidelines, different approaches, and different views concerning games. In general, corporate foundations have had much more activity in games than traditional foundations.

Yowell did observe that traditional foundations were becoming more informed about games. The MacArthur Foundation has given out a number of grants to do quantitative studies on learning in the digital age. It is interested in discovering whether or not children learn differently with digital media. Their interests cover topics such as credibility, ethical development, identity, civic engagement, and unintended consequences of digital media. All of this research falls in line with the foundation’s previous philanthropy. A recent grant to the University of Wisconsin in partnership with the game company Gamelab teaches children to be game designers. The bigger purpose is on the meta level – to let children realize that they live in a world that has been designed.

Assessment and quantitative measurements are very important to foundations. They need to see that the games are making a difference. HopeLab, with its cancer game Re-Mission, was cited as a company of enormous help to other companies because it had done evaluation of its game’s results. Because there was such powerful evidence of helpful games, Madison, of the non-profit organization ITAC, said that the state and federal government would be interested in games even though the government might not call it “game development” but a “new kind of model to teach.”

He also mentioned the federal grant programs, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. Companies such as BreakAway Games and Brainstorm Technologies have received such grants. Just like the foundations, said Madison, the state and federal funders are interested in metrics and want to know if the game will make a difference to the community.

Lewis stated that his organization, Learn and Serve America, had awarded grants totaling up to $42 million in FY 2005. Learn and Serve America promotes service-learning, a teaching method that connects students to service to the community. Grants are given to about 110 organizations, which turn around and award subgrants to other organizations ranging from $4000 to $50,000. Information about the subgrants can be found on the Corporation for National and Community Service website under individual states.

The organization would be interested in casual games or games on MMOG’s like Second Life that educate young people in peacemaking skills or raise social consciousness and lead to action. They also would be interested in programs that let young people design and create games.

Games 4 Change, as an organization, could serve as a conduit to any of these funding organizations. The traditional foundations, in particular, are only interested in projects that enhance their existing work. It would be best to develop a relationship with the program officer to see if there is a good fit. Then, a 2-page Letter of Inquiry would be sent to gauge interest.

In conclusion, there is money out there for social change games. Foundations and government want to bring about social change. They can fund research, promote agendas, and connect people to pertinent partnerships. It may take a little legwork, but the benefits will be worth the effort.