I’m thrilled to report: Charitable Rust 2019, which took place last week, was an astonishing success! Instead of a 12 hour live stream (like we had done previous years) we decided to try a week long event. This allowed more streamers to get involved and gave more opportunities for people to enjoy the slew of custom events our amazing team crafted.

We also generated a ton more for charity than we ever have before. In fact, we raised more in Charitable Rust 2019 than all previous years combined! This post is to acknowledge the hard work of our team and thank everyone involved for their participation and generosity. Before we do, allow me to share the estimated amount raised…

Estimated amount raised: $150,000!!!

That’s right! Between the stream donations and skin sales, it’s estimated that we’ve raised around $150,000 for Pencils of Promise. This is enough to build upwards of 6 schools for underprivileged kids in countries like Ghana, Guatemala, Laos, and Nicaragua - providing thousands over the coming years with an education they previously would not have had access to.

Over $16k in stream donations

We started with a modest $10,000 goal on our Tiltify campaign for the stream event. After reaching that goal halfway through the week, we upped our game to $15,000, which we subsequently met and beat during our finale stream. A huge thank you to everyone who donated, tuned in, and spread the word about this campaign to help us not only meet, but exceed our stream goals.

Skin sales: Holy Shit!

We had 4 exclusive skins on the item store this year, all of which flew off the virtual shelves!

Thank you to our talented skin creators, Moonfighter, Mishka, and LaCrempe, for the hard work and talent that went into making these skins. Also, thank you to the thousands of you who purchased one or all of the skins. These sales are what generated the majority of the funds raised for this event (see below).

Thank you Facepunch!

We owe Garry, Helk, and the entire crew at Facepunch a huge debt of gratitude for their continued support in Charitable Rust. Every year they have partnered with us to help raise funds for this event and this year was no exception. 

They not only added our event servers to the official list to help raise awareness, they once again agreed to put skins on the item store - more this year than any before. Moreover, they donate the proceeds they receive from the Charitable Rust skins in addition to once again covering (from their own pockets) the cut that Steam automatically takes out - which amounts to tens of thousands of dollars this year. This allows for 100% of the skin sales to go towards this great cause.

I can not thank the entire team at Facepunch enough for their support of this cause and their tireless commitment toward improving and adding to the already incredible, one of a kind game that is Rust.

Although we don’t have an exact number at the moment, thanks to the generosity of Facepunch and everyone who purchased skins, it’s estimated around $140,000 was raised in skin sales!

Once Steam disburses the funds to Rustafied and Facepunch, the proceeds will be donated to finalize the Tiltify campaign (this will happen over the next month or so - I know, Steam is slow as balls).

Top donors

Thank you to everyone who donated during the stream, and a special thank you to our top donors of the week:

• Rudeolph (second year in a row baby!)

• Vertiigo

• HopeIsFragile

• /r/PlayRust Moderation and Admin Team

• Rusticated

• KlingHahn

• Errn & the Moose Team

• IBEW Local 2228

• Rusty Nuts UK

To our stream partners

In doing a week long event this year, participation took on a bit of a different form. Instead of special guests on our Rustafied stream, we encouraged streamers to do their thing throughout the week either by playing vanilla Rust or participating in our custom events. 

In the interest of spawning a little friendly competition, we created a team leaderboard system which tracked and aggregated hashtags in each donation towards a team goal.

Thank you to all content creators who participated throughout the week, and a special thank you to our top teams:

Vertiigo, Ray C, RustEZ, Welyn, TankGirl, MissD, AquaFPS, Hutnik, Kira, Mammoth, BeccaSomething, StrawberryJ1nx, ShackyHD, Larry the Roleplayer, KyLam, Law, Sinks, Mister Flak, Kingivica, SebKnowsBest, KyDa, Gecko, Enardo, Custum, Ser Winter, and Porgiee.

On behalf of our VIP customers

A special thank you goes out to every Rustafied VIP customer. It’s the VIP program which keeps Rustafied operating - without it we would not have the presence and servers which we do. Each year we save a portion of our proceeds for charity. On behalf of you all, Rustafied donated over $2,500 during this event!

To the production team

This years’ event was by far the largest yet, and it took literally thousands of hours to set up the server, prizes, invites, and everything else which went into the production. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to the entire team which helped out. There are way too many of you to name, but you know who you are, and I love you all!

Thank you to everyone else

These acknowledgement posts are always difficult, especially with such a large event. So many people helped us reach (and beat) our goal, it is simply impossible to adequately acknowledge everyone. To all of you who donated, watched the stream, spread the word about the event, or participated in any way - I thank you.

If I missed a special mention to someone in particular, I apologize, and please know that I am grateful for what you did.

Bugs goes to Guatemala?!

That’s right! Pencils of Promise has invited me on an ‘Impact Trip’ to see on the ground the difference the generosity of the Rust community has made for people around the world. We’re still working out the plans, but it’s roughly looking like I’ll be heading to Guatemala for a week in August 2020 to visit the site of just one of the potentially 6 schools being built with the proceeds of this years’ event.

I will bring camera equipment and document my trip so I can report back to you all and share the profound impact that your generosity has had. Stay tuned for more information on this.