Mr. Beast

Jimmy Donaldson, better known by his internet persona Mr. Beast, has amassed more than 37 million subscribers on his main channel over the past year and over 87 million in total. Donaldson began his channel in 2012 by creating short videos with his friends, which later evolved into challenges and competitions. As his fame grew, however, so did the stakes. Many of Donaldson’s videos cost over $100,000 to produce due to the outrageous rewards granted to those who won his competitions.  Some of his most notable videos over the past year include “$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life,” “Extreme $1,000,000 Hide And Seek,” and “Last To Take Hand Off Lamborghini, Keeps It.”

Although these stakes are sure to make his videos more interesting, they are certainly not the most impressive part of Donaldson’s work. In October of 2021, he announced his own nonprofit charity fundraiser “Team Seas,” which collects a pound of trash from the ocean with every dollar donated. The fundraiser had a goal of collecting enough money to remove over 30,000,000 pounds of trash and just managed to surpass that point by the end of the year. “Team Seas” is a sequel project to Donaldson’s “Team Trees” fundraiser released in 2019, which aimed to plant a tree around the world for each dollar donated. Donaldson has also made it clear that he has plans to expand his global footprint and create more nonprofits in the future.

However, this does not mean that he has left his community behind. One of Donaldson’s side channels, “Beast Philanthropy,” focuses on aiding citizens struggling locally. A few of the videos on this channel include, “Feeding A City In Need,” “Helping Hurricane Survivors,” and “Giving $300,000 To Students.” Donaldson’s projects show a clear dedication to his passion for helping people, even if they are typically organized in a fashion much larger than expected. Whether or not you enjoy Donaldson’s content, almost anyone can agree that he sets a powerful example for the rest of the content creation community.