TATTOOATHON®: The World’s Largest Tattoo-Based Fundraiser

Some fundraisers ask you to run five miles.

Some ask you to attend a banquet, politely applaud, and bid $400 on a basket containing crackers and lotion.

TATTOOATHON® asks you to do something far more permanent.

Since its creation in 2016, TATTOOATHON® has grown from a Colorado community event into the world’s largest tattoo-based charity fundraiser: a two-state tradition powered by tattoo artists, piercers, volunteers, local businesses, nonprofit partners, and thousands of people willing to turn a few inches of skin into meaningful support for families fighting cancer.

This is not a tattoo convention with a charitable table tucked into the corner. Charity is not an accessory to TATTOOATHON®.

It is the entire point.

More Than $330,000—and We’re Just Getting Started
Across 15 events in Colorado and Florida, the TATTOOATHON® community has raised $330,423.59:

$202,017.07 through the Colorado studio

$123,406.52 through the Florida studio

More than $330,000 raised in ten years

Thousands of lives reached through two dedicated nonprofit partners
Those numbers make TATTOOATHON® more than a successful annual promotion. Combined with its longevity, participation, two-state reach and continuous charitable mission, they establish it as the largest sustained tattoo-based fundraising event of its kind in the world.

And the impact continues to grow.

During the 2025 Colorado TATTOOATHON® alone, the Fallen Heroes team tattooed and pierced more than 200 people in 12 hours and raised $20,097. Local news station KRDO independently reported both the event’s results and the cumulative $202,017.07 raised for Sue’s Gift through the Colorado events. Read the KRDO report.

Two Studios. Two Extraordinary Missions.

Every TATTOOATHON® dollar is raised with a purpose.

In Colorado, the event supports Sue’s Gift, which assists women facing gynecologic cancers. Its work helps ease the very real financial and emotional burdens that arrive with a cancer diagnosis—burdens that do not politely wait until a family is ready for them.

In Florida, TATTOOATHON® supports the M Family Foundation, helping families affected by ovarian and pediatric cancers. The foundation has recognized the Fallen Heroes event as one of its signature cancer-fighting fundraisers. See the M Family Foundation announcement.

Different communities. Different nonprofit partners. One shared promise:
Use what we do best to help people facing the worst days of their lives.
Built One Tattoo at a Time.

The scale of TATTOOATHON® is impressive, but the way it is built may matter even more.

Artists and piercers donate their time and talent. Volunteers keep an enormous day moving. Businesses contribute products, services and support. Sponsors step forward. Clients reserve appointments, submit their custom designs and proudly become part of the cause.

Then the doors open—and the studios move.

Machine after machine. Tattoo after tattoo. Donation after donation.
No black-tie tables. No uncomfortable networking badges. No auctioneer trying to create suspense over a weekend timeshare.
Just people using tattooing to take care of other people.

That simple idea has survived, expanded and become a tradition because it gives everyone a way to contribute. You do not need to be wealthy, famous or professionally philanthropic. You can show up, get tattooed, donate, volunteer, sponsor or simply help spread the word.

Everybody has a place in the work.

What “Largest” Really Means

Being the largest tattoo-based fundraiser in the world is not merely about filling the most appointment slots in a single afternoon.
It is about sustained impact.

It means operating year after year rather than disappearing after one successful weekend. It means building events in two states. It means raising more than $330,000 through 15 separate TATTOOATHON® events. It means maintaining long-term partnerships with organizations doing difficult, necessary work. Most importantly, it means continuing to show up for families who cannot afford for compassion to become a temporary trend.
TATTOOATHON® did not become the world’s largest because somebody printed the phrase on a banner.

It became the world’s largest because thousands of people earned that distinction together.

The Next Chapter Is Already Being Written

TATTOOATHON® returns in 2026 for the sixth Florida event and the eleventh Colorado event.

The goal is not simply to defend a title. The goal is to raise more, reach more families and invite more people into a movement that has already demonstrated what the tattoo community can accomplish.

More than $330,000 has been raised.
Fifteen events have been completed.
Thousands of people have participated.

But cancer has not stopped—and neither will we.
TATTOOATHON® is the world’s largest tattoo-based fundraiser.
Now let’s make it the most consequential one, too.

Learn more about TATTOOATHON® and upcoming events.

---