About The Bungie Foundation

Children’s Health and Well-being Partner Spotlight

Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington: For three and a half decades, Make-A-Wish AKWA has partnered with thousands of volunteers, donors, and medical professionals in their region to grant more than 7,600 wishes to children with critical illnesses. The Bungie Foundation is proud to have played our part in roughly 350 of those wishes.

When a wish comes true, it creates strength, hope, and transformation in a child – and their community. Research shows that a wish can give kids the strength to fight against, and even overcome, a critical illness. A wish renews hope, uplifts spirits, and encourages the belief in the impossible. It forever transforms the lives of children and their families, while uniting their neighbors, friends, and entire communities through life-changing experiences.

Humanitarian Aid Partner Spotlight

Direct Relief: Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, Direct Relief has been approaching the response along two parallel tracks – support for those experiencing the conflict in Ukraine, and those feeling Ukraine to neighboring countries. Response activities have focused on medical material, financial, and information assistance.

• Direct Relief is one of the largest charitable providers of medical material aid to Ukraine, mobilizing more than 1.3 million pounds of medicines and supplies to the Ukraine Ministry of Health and other healthcare providers.

• They have supported responding organizations with $14.6 million in financial assistance, including direct payments for Ukrainian refugees to cover prescription medication costs in Poland, and operating funds for health facilities providing care in for people who remain in Ukraine.

Direct Relief has been a critical supplier of information. Working with software company partners, academic institutions, and medical centers, Direct Relief has used crowdsourced data, geospatial analysis, and other data collection and analytics instruments to help understand key issues in the conflict to determine how response agencies can best deploy resources.

International Rescue Committee: This past year, millions of people in Afghanistan and Ukraine were forced to flee their homes. Crises in countries like Syria, Ethiopia, and Venezuela persist, resulting in a record-high 100 million people displaced globally.

In Ukraine, the IRC is delivering vital services including cash assistance, mental health support, medical supplies and equipment, and specialized social-service support for children and survivors of violence.

In the Middle East, the IRC are supporting millions of people fleeing violence with emergency relief and long-term support, focused on health care, protection of vulnerable women and children, education, and economic recovery and development.

Across Africa, the IRC reaches communities that are affected by conflict and natural disaster with support that includes water an sanitation, education, healthcare, economic livelihoods, and emergency support and protection.

In the United States, the IRC has more than 20 offices that are focused on resettling refugees, providing food, shelter, clothing, and access to self-reliance tools – housing, education, English-language classes, employment skills and job placement, and community orientation.

To learn more, check out https://www.rescue.org/worldrefugeeday

Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Partner Spotlight

Yale Anti-Racist Character Creation Project: We are proud to announce our 5-year, $1M grant partnership with Yale’s talented research team!

Led by Dr. Theodore Kim, his team aims to challenge the very algorithms used to generate virtual humans. Currently based almost exclusively on white/European features, these algorithms reflect deep-seated bias. Anti-racist research is needed to dismantle these prejudices by generating new math and development models. Their initial focus will be on human hair – to create new algorithms that are not designed around straight hair, but rather Type 4 hair. By legitimizing Type 4 hair and demonstrating means and methods for more accurate representation, Yale hopes to achieve three principal goals:

1. Develop efficient algorithms for the simulation and grooming of Type 4 hair  

2. Push the arc of research toward more accurate and inclusive representations 

3. Incentivize practitioners with Type 4 hair to enter the film and gaming industries 

It Gets Better Project: Thank you to the many of you who have purchased the Pride Pin on the Bungie Store! By doing so, you have supported the It Gets Better Projects’ mission to uplift, empower, and connect LGBTQ+ youth around the world through powerful storytelling campaigns, educational programming, and dynamic community building initiatives.

In 2022 they are focusing their efforts on the following:

• Pride 365: From a concentration of programming during Pride month to mini-activations throughout the year, they are focused on uplifting LGBTQ+ youth every day of the year.
• It Gets Better Vodcast: To provide a forum to discuss issues impacting LGBTQ+ youth in real time, they are launching this new talk show on Twitch.
• ILGA World Conference: Hosted in Long Beach in May, they produced five evening events to facilitate connections between more than 400 young LGBTQ+ activists from around the world.
• Youth Voices Summit: November will mark the inaugural youth ambassador summit to provide support and training for their 2022-2023 Youth Voices cohort.

The It Gets Better Project will continue to serve as a beacon of hope for queer youth until we achieve a world where all LGBTQ+ youth are free to live equally and know their worthiness and power as individuals.

 

Check out our social channels throughout the campaign, where we’ll be sharing more impact stories!