Vancouver-based ping pong and fundraising event TechPong has announced it will return this year on Oct. 19, following a three-year pause.
This year would count as TechPong’s seventh installation. After TechPong’s last event in 2019, it then took a break during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 until 2022.
Created by Vancouver-based Charitable Impact (previously CHIMP) in 2014, TechPong is meant to provide opportunities for members of the tech community to engage in some friendly competition, network, and raise money for charitable causes.
Execs and employees from Clio, Shopify, VanHack, have attended past TechPong events.
Funds at TechPong are collected through attendees’ applications to participate in the ping pong games. Attendees can choose to battle it out in singles or doubles teams, or simply watch the action.
Teams must raise a minimum of $2,000 for a charity of choice using Charitable Impact’s service, in order to enter one player into the singles tournament, and two players into the doubles tournament. Once teams have signed up, TechPong will help set up a campaign page for each team to facilitate fundraising.
To qualify for TechPong, teams must meet the minimum fundraising requirement by midnight on October 12, one week before the tournament.
Executives and employees from more than 50 companies have attended TechPong in the past, including Clearly, Clio, Colliers International, Samsung, Shopify, and VanHack.
According to Charitable Impact, TechPong has raised $400,000 for charities to date. At its last event in 2019, teams and sponsors collectively raised over $65,000.
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Founded in 2011, Charitable Impact provides an online platform to help users manage all of their charitable donations in one dashboard.
When users add money to their accounts, they are technically making a donation to Charitable Impact’s foundation, a registered charity and public foundation. According to Charitable Impact, the donated funds are held in the account until the user decides to send gifts to charities and other causes on Charitable Impact’s platform.
More than $1.2 billion has been donated through its platform, according to Charitable Impact.
Featured image courtesy TechPong.