Diablo IV’s 30M maggot donation to Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital
You probably didn’t have “fundraising 30 million maggots” on your 2024 bingo card. I didn’t either.
This turned out to be one of the most effective and unexpected partnerships I’ve ever had the privilege to work on. For those of you who didn’t grow up playing Diablo like I did, here's some important context: there's a character in the game named Duriel. He's a lesser Lord of Hell, and also the King of Maggots.
We launched Duriel’s Offering as a limited-time Diablo IV social campaign for Earth Day in 2024 centered around one of the most on-brand calls to action I’ve ever seen.
For this campaign, the Diablo team set a goal: engage with the community to donate buckets of maggots to a wildlife rehabber. Real ones. I remember hearing the pitch the first time and asked, “can we make it 666 buckets of maggots? I promise you we’ll hit that goal in much less time than you think.”
The maggots are used by Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in the United Kingdom to feed the injured and orphaned birds under their care. They weren’t part of the gaming world before, but that was part of the opportunity. We introduced them to the Diablo community, and the results took off.
How it worked:
For every 25 likes on the main Duriel’s Offering post, that triggered one bucket of maggots donated, up to a total of 666 buckets. The post became the most engaged Diablo social post of the year. The community hit the donation goal in under eight hours.
Why it worked:
It was specific. 666 buckets is a hellish number, very on brand for Diablo.
It was authentic to the game. Duriel is the Lord of Maggots. This wasn’t a stretch, it was core to the character.
It matched the nonprofit. Tiggywinkles uses maggots to help birds recover. The donation wasn’t symbolic. It was useful.
One thing that brings me great joy is knowing that the gaming community has a long-standing soft spot for animals. People showed up not just because it was funny, but because the cause was important to them. We actually saw folks in the comments who said they had worked at Tiggywinkles, or had previously dropped off injured wildlife there before.
What this shows:
Weird partnerships can work when they’re rooted in authenticity. A strong cultural connection, a real-world need, and a clear, easy way to take action.
It was strategic, and it was effective. As a result, birds at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital were fed for a full two years after this partnership.
This is the kind of work I love doing. Strategic, surprising, and designed to move both people and outcomes. If you're building something with a purpose, reach out.