Polish influencer breaks charity streaming record, raising €59 million for cancer treatment

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A Polish influencer has broken the world record for charity fundraising during a live stream. Piotr Garkowski, who uses the pseudonym Łatwogang, raised over 251 million zloty (€59.1 million) for children’s cancer treatment during a nine-day stream that ended on Sunday.

The fundraiser had an initial goal of raising 500,000 zloty, but ended up smashing the Guinness World Record of €16.6 million, set by two French streamers last year, after various Polish celebrities and companies joined the effort.

Łatwogang called it a “miracle” and praised those involved, while the Cancer Fighters foundation, for which he raised the money, described it as a “great opportunity” to help that comes with “massive responsibility” to ensure the funds are spent transparently.

The event was inspired by a song in support of cancer patients, recorded by Polish rapper Bedoes 2115 and an 11-year-girl cancer patient named Maja, who is being supported by Cancer Fighters.

After hearing the song, Łatwogang told his followers that he would raise funds through a live stream. Its duration would be based on the number of likes one of his TikTok posts would receive, with one like corresponding to one second of streaming.

His post ended up amassing enough likes for nine days of constant streaming. At its peak, around 1.5 million people were watching the stream, reports news outlet Gazeta.pl.

Various Polish celebrities, including football star Robert Lewandowski, actor Cezary Pazura, and pop singer Dawid Podsiadło, joined the effort. Some of them gave special performances during the stream, while others shaved their heads in a gesture of solidarity with patients.

Lewandowski and his wife Anna Lewandowska together donated around 1 million zloty, while Podsiadło contributed around 200,000 zloty.

Many companies also offered support, with XTB, a brokerage firm, donating around 6.3 million zloty and Zen.com, a financial technology company, contributing 5.6 million zloty, reports financial news service Money.pl.

In comments to Polskie Radio, Łatwogang described the fundraiser as a “miracle,” downplayed his role in it, and praised contributors as well as the resilience of children fighting cancer.

“I believe that only they should be spoken of as people who have done something great,” he said, referring to the young patients as “little warriors”.

After the fundraiser was complete, Cancer Fighters thanked donors for the “enormous trust” they had put in the charity. They also announced the launch of a dedicated website that will provide details about how the funds would be spent.

“This amount represents not only a great opportunity to help, but also a huge responsibility,” wrote the charity, which said that it would ensure that patients who are in immediate need of help would be first to receive the funds.

Many media outlets have reported that Łatwogang broke a fundraising record set by US YouTube celebrity MrBeast, who has the platform’s most-followed channel. In August last year, he raised over $12 million (€10.2 million) to support access to clean water.

But Guinness World Records notes that the most ever raised in a live stream was $19.5 million by French streamers Adrien Nougaret and Alexandre Dachary in September last year.

Earlier this year, Poland’s biggest annual charity fundraiser, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP), raised almost 263.5 million zloty, which will go towards buying equipment for children’s medical care.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Łatwogang/YouTube (screenshot)

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.