Copyright Forbes
In an era where attention has become the most valuable currency on earth, one question looms: what happens when the world’s biggest creator decides to spend his on kindness? That question is about to be answered through a bold new collaboration between MrBeast, the 1 Billion Followers Summit, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, and the Varkey Foundation, uniting the power of creator culture and social impact in a campaign called 1 Billion Acts of Kindness. Launching this week, it invites content creators around the globe to inspire one billion acts of kindness within their own communities—turning individual gestures of good into a collective global movement. As Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) puts it: “We want to make kindness go viral. Our goal: 1 billion acts of kindness.” Creators are invited to submit videos showing how their social-impact work is changing lives, whether that means volunteering locally, supporting people of determination, helping the homeless, or planting trees. Submissions close on December 1, 2025, with the ten most impactful creators to be revealed at the 4th edition of the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai, January 9–11, 2026. Those ten will then partner with MrBeast and his team to bring their ideas to life on a global scale, with every act documented for millions to witness. Few people understand the mechanics of virality like Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. With over 440 million subscribers and two billion monthly views, he’s built a storytelling empire that transforms generosity into entertainment. His campaigns like #TeamTrees, #TeamSeas, and #TeamWater have already raised tens of millions of dollars to plant trees, clean oceans, and bring safe water to communities in need. As Jeff Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries, said "We’ve shown that social impact content has the power to change the world — and we’re only just beginning. Through this partnership, we’ll accelerate our mission to empower children in need and inspire a kinder, more compassionate world.” MORE FOR YOU That idea lies at the heart of this new partnership. Her Excellency Alia Al Hammadi, Vice Chairperson of the UAE Government Media Office and CEO of the Summit, believes creators now hold one of the most powerful levers for global good. “Through this partnership, the 1 Billion Followers Summit seeks to harness the power of content for major humanitarian causes,” she says. “It rallies people behind a global movement led by content creators to spread kindness, generosity, and solidarity.” It’s a natural extension of the Summit’s core mission: to explore how the creator economy can drive positive societal change and sustainable growth. Over the past several years, Dubai has positioned itself as a creative capital for the digital generation—an ecosystem where storytelling and purpose intersect. As Al Hammadi puts it, “Launching this campaign at the Summit will drive its momentum, inspiring millions of creators and their followers to transform individual acts into a global movement.” Education is also central to this story. Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, views kindness as one of the purest forms of education. “Education is the greatest gift we can give—it transforms lives, families, and entire communities,” he says. “Through this campaign, we want to celebrate stories of kindness and compassion, and showcase the imaginative ways education can open doors, create hope, and expand opportunity.” For Varkey, uplifting inspiring creators is another way of reminding the world that small acts of compassion can spark extraordinary change—a philosophy that echoes through the Foundation’s initiatives like the Global Teacher Prize and Global Student Prize. The process itself is designed for simplicity and authenticity. To participate, creators record an act of kindness, post it using #1BKindness and #1BillionSummit, and share it through the official registration form at www.1billionsummit.com/mrbeast . Submissions will be judged by a panel from the Summit, the Varkey Foundation, MBRGI, and Beast Industries, based on authenticity, storytelling, creativity, and measurable impact—the same formula that fuels the world’s most meaningful content. By January 2026, the top ten creators will join forces with MrBeast to expand their ideas into global projects. Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) adds: “After Dubai, we’re heading to Ghana to do philanthropic work together—record it, make content, and inspire more people. We’re changing the world one act of kindness at a time.” The deeper ambition here goes beyond virality—it’s about intention. For years, critics have argued that social-media altruism can feel performative. But the 1 Billion Acts of Kindness campaign flips that narrative by using performance as participation. Every clip, every share, every act becomes a data point in a kindness economy where empathy is the metric that matters most. In many ways, this initiative signals a new phase of maturity for the creator economy. The same tools that once drove consumption and comparison are now being re-engineered to drive contribution and connection. It’s a vision of a world where creators don’t just build audiences—they build communities. Where virality isn’t the end of the story, but the beginning of impact. In a world which urgently needs ‘Stories that Fill the Hope Gap’, in the end, it all comes back to a simple idea: kindness scales. When creators around the world begin to turn their cameras toward compassion, something bigger than content emerges—a collective shift from attention to intention. And when those one billion acts of kindness begin to ripple across feeds, cities, and hearts, we might just find that the algorithm of the world itself has changed.
