A new esports organization has launched in Toronto to host gaming competitions and dedicate the money to charity.
Targeted to startups and corporates, ggTO wants to pit Toronto’s innovation community against each other in a friendly competition.
ggTO will allocate one-third of all proceeds raised to support #Tech4SickKids, a campaign to raise $25 million from the Canadian tech community towards SickKids. The remaining pool of funds will go to the Kilo Foundation and Mencius Foundation, while co-founders and brothers Karel and Kevin Vuong will personally match proceeds up to a maximum of $20,000.
Karel and Kevin launched the organization as part of the Toronto Foundation’s Vision 2020 initiative, which includes over 90 millennial philanthropists in Toronto investing over $500,000 in social projects.
“In tech, we don’t just ideate and plan, we take action,“ said Karel. “Our hope is that this will catalyze the corporate sector in Toronto to give back while engaging their people in modern team building and innovative CSR initiatives to benefit the local community.”
As children of refugees from the Vietnam War, the Vuong brothers say they understand firsthand what it’s like to face barriers to work and education.
“Vision 2020 is about supporting our city’s most vulnerable, but it’s not enough to just say we care,” said Kevin. “Karel and I are putting our own money where our mouth is, and investing in Toronto. ggTO is our way of doing that while also building community and having fun.”
Registration for League of Legends and Overwatch are currently open now.