April Stallings
April Stallings runs charitable gaming at Make-A-Wish International, the arm of the organisation covering 43 countries and more than 650,000 wishes granted. Nearly twenty years in nonprofit fundraising taught her that the ask is the easy part — she hears no far more often than yes, and still built a program where a $5,000 entry, 2,500 game codes, or an afternoon of a dev team’s time all count the same. Her argument is that gaming is the number one thing kids ask to have, and the reason has nothing to do with the hardware.
3 pieces across the network.
- PODCASTSEP 1, 2026
Gaming is a lifeline: why the number one Make-A-Wish request type is video games
Make-A-Wish sorts every wish into four kinds: to go, to meet, to be, or to have. Travel is still the biggest category overall, but when a child anywhere in the world asks to have something, the number one request is gaming.
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Make-A-Wish’s April Stallings Illuminates the ‘Whys’ of Gaming: Joy, Well-being, and Connection
Make-A-Wish has granted >650,000 wishes to critically ill kids, and Stallings sheds light on why gaming-related requests are at the heart of one of the nonprofit’s four wish categories
- DESK
Make-A-Wish’s April Stallings Illuminates the ‘Whys’ of Gaming: Joy, Well-being, and Connection, Part 2
More insights on the positive effects of granted wishes, Roll for Wishes, and John Cena’s “inspirational…attention and detail” in wish grating