In all, the total donations for 2008 sat at $1,434,377, as of January 16, 2009. The charity's annual total first broke $1 million in 2006, a figure that was surpassed the following year with a then-record total of $1.3 million.

"Being the voice of a successful charity is actually quite strange, because typically when one is in this position they must constantly gesture at the machinations of a grim universe, and say this, this is what we are up against," Child's Play co-founder Jerry 'Tycho' Holkins wrote in a Penny Arcade update. "There is never any need, here. You never give me an opportunity to indulge in dark imagery. You simply make light."

Founded in 2003 by Penny Arcade writer Holkins and artist Mike 'Gabe' Krahulik, Child's Play has been collecting donations since 2003, its goal to provide sick and hospitalized children with new toys and other entertainment-centered items, such as coloring books.