On Starting A Non-Profit To Fight Climate Change
I’m Georg Broxtermann, a serial entrepreneur, business angel, and co-founder of Berlin-based nonprofit GamesForest.Club, which connects the gaming and creative industries with forest projects to create a brighter future.
Maria Wagner and I co-founded the nonprofit organization more than a year ago to support the efforts of gaming and creative companies to become climate neutral as quickly as possible.
The gaming community consists of over 3 billion people, so we believe that we can significantly stop deforestation, one of the biggest problems accelerating climate change, by protecting forests and growing new ones.
Together with over 50 companies, among them leading publishers, developers, e-sport teams, and agencies of all kinds, we supported 16 forest projects worldwide in 2022, including eg WWF and others. All donations are transparently shown on our website via a digital twin, which mirrors the real forrest investments.
Seventy percent of corporate membership fees go directly to restoration; 30% are used for administrative costs. Individual patrons may also donate, and all donations under €180 are invested wholly into the GamesForest.Club community’s forest.
We offer a handful of partnership and membership packages that start by saving 3000+ square meters of endangered forest or absorbing 200 certified tonnes of carbon and go up to the complete “compensation” of a company’s carbon footprint.
We also help lead conferences and events from our industry to become “greener.” This goes from consultations to reduce their climate impact, the calculation of their footprint, and the complete offset.
We started 15 months ago and do an average of 30+k€ ($32K+) monthly revenue now. With the 52 companies supporting us now, we are very happy with the results from our first full year in operation.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so I always wanted to create something meaningful for the world and people. The two things that interested me - nature and economics - led me to get a degree in Economic Geography at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. With the development of the internet in the 1990s, I became interested in the media and gaming industry.
Throughout my career, I organized and managed the games division at ProSiebenSat.1 Media, including games publishing, distribution, and developing multi-platform games, and in 2008, I started my first company.
It brought valuable experiences and led to businesses that are still active: Phoenix Games, an investment holding company in the gaming space, and GameInfluencer, a full-service influencer marketing agency with a deep focus on the gaming industry.
In 2015, I also started angel investing and completed 15 investments. The idea of GamesForest.Club came to me after being triggered by my children’s question: “What can you and your industry do to bring us out of this climate change mess.” I then scanned the market and couldn’t find an organization I could or would like to join.
That was the starting point with Maria Wagner, now co-founder of GamesForest.Club, we decided to use the power of gaming to reduce the industry’s environmental impact. The company was started in October 2021 and is wholly bootstrapped today.
The GF.C wants to guide the gaming industry into a climate-positive future and make investments in climate action profitable for companies.
Within a year, we have already seen promising results.
For me, the GamesForest.Club is meaningful as it focuses on two major global problems, the climate- and the biodiversity crisis. As a member of the Games Industry for almost two decades, I firmly believe that our Industry can create a significant positive impact.
GamesForest.Club is also the first non-profit company I’ve founded which is a different experience from the for-profit companies I’ve started. Not only the sources for financial support and investments are entirely different but also the operations. We want and need to be very transparent to our supporters and the public. No hiding bad news or overselling the products like you sometimes see from for-profit companies, especially during fundraising times.
Together with over 50 companies, we supported 16 forest projects worldwide in 2022.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your service.
As we founded a non-profit company, it was clear from the beginning that we have to bootstrap it with our own money, so far a six digit €, From another perspective, a non-profit set-up helped us to get support from many people free of charge. For instance, 3D artists created designs for the website and 3D models of trees. It was a first step towards building a community of people who care about our planet.
We started the process by creating a real community from the beginning. We visited numerous events and conferences such as COP27, Web Summit, DEVCOM, WN Istanbul conference, Gamescom, Nordic Game, and many others to explain why it is crucial to invest in forest restoration to tackle climate change and how to make it profitable for companies. We also decided to host our meetings to provide the idea of protecting forests.
Something that was missing in the market until then was transparency playfully. Suppose companies wanted to invest in nature protection in the past. In that case, they were researching the market for a reliable and fitting project, handing over the money, and writing a blog post about their engagement.
Usually, nobody cares about the blog post, and the action fizzles out.
We wanted to change this with the GamesForest and the personalized forest page every supporter gets. With these, the companies support proven projects on a long-term basis and demonstrate their engagement in a playful way to their employees, candidates who want to join the company, the whole industry, and the public.
By now, more and more companies started integrating their personalized GamesForest site and projects into their company, games, and events. We help them engage their community through their impact and make investments in it financially profitable in the long run. We believe that this is the right approach.
Describe the process of launching the nonprofit
For companies from the creative and gaming industries who care about nature and sustainability and want to make a change. At the same time, we were searching for forest projects to support. We created a list of verified preserving and planting projects worldwide and reviewed each.
We assessed the projects we support based on the International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration, highlighting the reference ecosystems and connecting carbon offsetting with social, community, productivity, and sustainability goals.
Afterward, we started thinking about how to connect gaming and forest projects. We came up with three main points on how to make it work. First, all donations should be transparent. That is why we developed virtual forests. All restoration activities in real life are shown in its digital twin, the game forest. Every €100 invested equals 1 digital tree in the game’s forests.
All supporters, members, partners, and employees can see the contribution to the environment.
Second, supporters should have a communication package. GamesForest.Club integrates branded 3D models of trees into the digital forest. Regenerative badges, graphics, and widgets are offered to all supporters’ websites. Communication packages enhance the brand’s visibility and trust between partners and employees as well as inside the community.
Lastly, we should build a gamers’ community, including events and workshops. It helps protect the forests and create new business connections for our supporters.
Later, we added a service for our supporters called “Travel & Restore,” which calculates CO2 emissions for trips and advises how many square meters of the forest should be restored or protected to offset the carbon footprint.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain supporters and partners?
Hundreds of digital and creative professionals, companies, e-sport teams, developers, and even conference organizers have joined our activities.
Together with over 50 companies, we supported 16 forest projects worldwide in 2022. We are proud that, within a year, our community has protected nearly 1.4 million square meters of forest and planted about 75,000 trees.
We don’t do any “normal” marketing. So far, we have grown through talks at conferences, community events, and social media. Personal contacts and recommendations are the most effective ways to lead generation.
As we believe that investing in climate impact will also pay out financially, we focus on spreading the word about our most successful case studies.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
In 2022, we welcomed 28 new donors: Sandbox, Popcore, Xsolla, CD PROJEKT RED, and others.
Currently, we have 50 supporters: gaming companies, e-sport teams, developers, conference organizers, and publishers. We onboarded eight new forest project partners in 2022 and currently have 16 forest projects to support worldwide.
We were profitable in December, but we only have a very small team of 2 full-time employees.
The market has so much potential; every company needs a solid ESG strategy to attract and keep the best talents and customers. We want to double the size of the Club this year in terms of supporters and bring our GamesForest to more open-world games and Metaverses to increase visibility.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
There is so much more fun and speed in a company that follows a real purpose. There is no way back for me to just profit focussed companies.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
The most important one for getting in contact with the right people and spreading the word is LinkedIn.
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Find something you care about regardless of the financial potential
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are interested in a strong technical person / CTO who helps us to bring the GamesForest to more platforms and games.
Also, a business development person with good contact in the Gaming and Creative Industry sector would be very much welcomed.
And we are always open for volunteers of any direction (Design, Development, Sales, Operation, Forestry).
Where can we go to learn more?
- Website
- Personal LinkedI
- GamesForest.Club LinkedIn accounts
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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