Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest is a community engagement experience inviting people around the world to inspire one another to reveal and promote acts of compassion that better our lives, our communities, and all life on Earth. Through the spirit of play, individual players and teams strive together to unify intentions within a global community, amplify what’s already working in local communities, catalyze increased engagement around initiatives addressing local and global challenges, share reports reflecting on experiences and measuring impact, and actualize a growing movement of unprecedented, unified action. Compassion Games International, a year-round nonprofit incorporated in Washington State, offers fun and creative ways to ignite and catalyze compassionate action in communities worldwide. In the annual Compassion Games, competition becomes “coopetition” as teams and individuals challenge one another to strive together to make the planet a better place through community service, acts of kindness, and raising money for local causes. The Games amplify what is already working and inspire increased engagement, leading to new activities that bring compassion to life and improve well-being. Featured Compassion Games include two annual coopetitions in April and September, plus an ongoing game called Build a Global Fire of Compassion, with Individual Players and Team Organizers signing up for World Unity Week, Peace Week, Harmony Week, and MLK Beloved Community Convergences. Since 2012, Compassion Games players have served over 15 million people in more than 40 countries with over 1 million reported volunteer players. Teams and individuals perform acts of kindness and service, reporting volunteers, hours of service, money raised, and people served on a Compassion Report Map to measure impact and inspire others.
Why it matters: Compassion Games demonstrates that building a global movement of compassion requires measurable infrastructure turning competition into “coopetition” where communities challenge one another to perform more acts of kindness and service rather than competing for individual gain. By engaging over 1 million volunteer players who have served over 15 million people in more than 40 countries since 2012 and requiring teams to report volunteers, hours, money raised, and people served on a Compassion Report Map, the Games prove that compassion can be measured, benchmarked, and improved year after year. The organization’s approach amplifying what’s already working while catalyzing new activities shows that making communities safer, kinder, and more just requires celebrating existing compassionate action and inspiring increased engagement through the spirit of play, creating unified action across cities, businesses, faith organizations, schools, and even prisons.
