Ice water challenge videos

[sparrowsong]

The ice water challenge. Everyone from justin timberlake to fire departments to school principals are posting videos of themselves being doused by cold water. As useless as a coded message about your bra color for breast cancer or is it a thing that actually is raising money for Lou gerhig's disease somehow?

[mrsbro]

I'm in Boston and my social media is full of this.

The media around it is that it is actually really raising money for the cause.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/ice-bucket-challenge-fundraising_n_5668602.html

[heyjude]

I liked this article but I'm a curmudgeon!

www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/08/12/icebucketchallenge_you_don_t_need_an_ice_bucket_to_donate_to_als_research.html

[eclaires]

My SIL reports directly to the President/CEO of the main ALS national non profit and all media/communication stuff goes through her. She emailed me yesterday that this has been insanely good for them. Since it blew up on facebook, she has fielded phone calls and emails nonstop and done a ton of interviews. Also since it started, she says they have raised millions which is not the usual for them (edit: in such a short time period).

I was surprised, because honestly I am usually very skeptical of any of these things on facebook actually accomplishing something, but apparently, sometimes they do.

[Kristinmo]

Aug 13, 2014 13:26:22 GMT -5 eclaires said:

My SIL reports directly to the President/CEO of the main ALS national non profit and all media/communication stuff goes through her. She emailed me yesterday that this has been insanely good for them. Since it blew up on facebook, she has fielded phone calls and emails nonstop and done a ton of interviews. Also since it started, she says they have raised millions which is not the usual for them (edit: in such a short time period).

I was surprised, because honestly I am usually very skeptical of any of these things on facebook actually accomplishing something, but apparently, sometimes they do.

Glad to hear this!  It's such a tragic disease so anything that can be done to raise money is a good thing.

[irishbride2]

I'm glad it has worked out for them but this is ridiculously dumb.

And most the videos I've seen don't even mention ALS. They just call it the "Ice water challenge" and then challenge others. Drives me batty. I think the critical articles have done more to raise awareness than some of the videos have.

[jinkies]

Donations are up $3 million nationally over the same time period last year. The campaign raised $1 million last weekend alone. It has been amazing publicity for a horrible, underfunded disease.

Jimmy Fallon and the Roots did it last night on the Tonight Show, and specifically mentioned the ALS Association and directed people to the website. You could not buy this publicity, even if they had the resources to do so (which, they don't).

I worked for a local chapter for years, and I've seen first hand what a godsend the organization has been to families. This money will make an enormous difference in the funding of both patient programs and research.

[heyjude]

It such a weird strategy. Dump ice on your head or donate money. It's like the donating money part is the punishment for not dumping ice on your head?

It's also a lightening in a bottle fundraising tactic. Meaning it will work for this one org this one time but can't be replicated on a bigger level for more than this org for any extended amount of time.

[pescalita]

This has made the rounds on one side of my family because my grandfather died of ALS. A couple people donated AND did the challenge. I chose to donate and share, but I didn't do the challenge/tag anyone specifically. I do think the viral nature is impactful; if you can share with 3 people and those people each share with 3 people etc, even if only a fraction donate it will amount to more than my one-time donation.

My post didn't get much traction, while each video my relatives posted had a ton of comments with heart emojis, but that may also be because I'm the black sheep.

[downtoearth]

Aug 13, 2014 13:35:54 GMT -5 Catlawdy said:

I"m glad to hear ALS is benefiting.

I know someone who did this. I asked how much had been raised for any charity. The answer? "A lot."

How much is a lot? Do you know anything that has contributed instead of dumping water on themselves on camera? No answers there.

Get off my lawn!

I thought the whole idea was that you donate AND then put water on yourself.  Then you challenge others you know to do the same, so they donate AND put water on themselves.  It's 100% based on donations.  My sister did this and was pretty clear that she donated first and wanted others to donate also, not just dump water on camera.

[eclaires]

Also, the ALS Association had nothing to do with starting this - part of the reason my SIL has been so busy is that some random guy tied it to ALS and it blew up; it's not like they planned it, but it is great for them that they are able to take advantage of this publicity. My SIL has worked at non-profits in communication all her career and when we were last talking about her career a month or so ago, she was saying that she's twice now worked for smaller non-profits (ALS is one of them) where she's kind of built up their communication department and it wasn't a large non-profit with a huge communications department. So I do think that the publicity and the fact that it is a smaller nonprofit has increased the impact for them. (this is just my perspective from what she's said about her job in the past)

[irishbride2]

Aug 13, 2014 13:41:23 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Aug 13, 2014 13:35:54 GMT -5 Catlawdy said:

I"m glad to hear ALS is benefiting.

I know someone who did this. I asked how much had been raised for any charity. The answer? "A lot."

How much is a lot? Do you know anything that has contributed instead of dumping water on themselves on camera? No answers there.

Get off my lawn!

I thought the whole idea was that you donate AND then put water on yourself.  Then you challenge others you know to do the same, so they donate AND put water on themselves.  It's 100% based on donations.  My sister did this and was pretty clear that she donated first and wanted others to donate also, not just dump water on camera.

you donate $10 if you do it, but $100 if you DONT. Or something like that. Which is weird. 

[PinkSquirrel]

Pete (the one who sent it viral) is from my area. This has basically been his goal since he was diagnosed. He wanted to raise money and awareness and really, even though the videos don't contain a lot of info about ALS people are talking about it and donating, which has been his goal. When was the last time this many people were talking about ALS?

It also feels a bit different from bra strap thing because everyone does know about breast cancer, with ALS a lot of people don't really know much about it, so even someone reading the first two sentences of wiki is a step in the right direction.

That said, I was nominated Friday and I don't really want to participate in it because I hate things like this. aka the only reason I'm giving it a pass is because I'm biased

[cinnamoncox]

Aug 13, 2014 13:40:23 GMT -5 heyjude said:

It such a weird strategy. Dump ice on your head or donate money. It's like the donating money part is the punishment for not dumping ice on your head?

It's also a lightening in a bottle fundraising tactic. Meaning it will work for this one org this one time but can't be replicated on a bigger level for more than this org for any extended amount of time.

From what I understand if you do the ice challenge, you donate $10 and nominate others. If you don't do the ice water, you have to donate $100. So they get $ either way, because by donating $10 and nominating others , it has the ripple effect.

I'm in Boston too and it's all over Facebook.
As are all the articles about how in a few days they received about $3.7 million I believe ( I could be wrong) and evidently that is way way more than a typical few days.

Mayors and various officials and celebs are doing it too.

Good for them for raising $, but I wouldn't do it. I would give $100 I think.
I don't mess with my hair.

[ijack]

Aug 13, 2014 13:43:19 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Aug 13, 2014 13:41:23 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I thought the whole idea was that you donate AND then put water on yourself.  Then you challenge others you know to do the same, so they donate AND put water on themselves.  It's 100% based on donations.  My sister did this and was pretty clear that she donated first and wanted others to donate also, not just dump water on camera.

you donate $10 if you do it, but $100 if you DONT. Or something like that. Which is weird. 

A couple people in my feed actually posted pictures of their donation confirmations, which I thought was kind of weird and AWish.

[heyjude]

The way it's been framed by my FB friends is "if I tag you you have to film yourself dumping ice on your head and if you don't you have to donate money to "ALS.""

[jillboston]

Aug 13, 2014 13:26:22 GMT -5 eclaires said:

My SIL reports directly to the President/CEO of the main ALS national non profit and all media/communication stuff goes through her. She emailed me yesterday that this has been insanely good for them. Since it blew up on facebook, she has fielded phone calls and emails nonstop and done a ton of interviews. Also since it started, she says they have raised millions which is not the usual for them (edit: in such a short time period).

I was surprised, because honestly I am usually very skeptical of any of these things on facebook actually accomplishing something, but apparently, sometimes they do.

That's great to hear! My DH did the challenge this weekend! 

[jinkies]

Granted, I'm pretty connected to the ALS community, but almost everyone in my feed is saying "you have to film yourself dumping ice on yourself, pay $100 to an ALS charity, OR, like me, do both."

I think many, if not most, are donating as well as dumping.

eclaires, what you are saying about your SIL does not surprise me. This is a very small organization, even on the national level, and it has been an ongoing issue for years that they want to raise awareness, but at the same time, have to prioritize their budget and research and patient programs always come first. They do not have a Komen kind of budget. They are very responsible with their resources.

It is "lightning in a bottle" as someone mentioned-- no one will be able to recreate this campaign to this extent. But it couldn't have happened to a better cause, IMO.

[jillboston]

Aug 13, 2014 13:46:58 GMT -5 heyjude said:

The way it's been framed by my FB friends is "if I tag you you have to film yourself dumping ice on your head and if you don't you have to donate money to "ALS.""

That seems pointless (??) You have to give the money (or at least that's the way DH's challenge was framed)

[eclaires]

I think my perspective on ALS is skewed because growing up a teacher in our catholic community was diagnosed so there was always awareness and fundraising. I didn't even realize how few people seemed to know about it until my SIL took her current job - I was surprised to hear it was a smaller non profit.

Related, I think this year is an anniversary of something. I think they were working on some stuff with the MLB maybe?

And yeah the figure I was told was "close to $4m" and that it's unusual (and amazing) that they have raised so much in basically a week or so.

[krisandgrace]

Aug 13, 2014 13:46:58 GMT -5 heyjude said:

The way it's been framed by my FB friends is "if I tag you you have to film yourself dumping ice on your head and if you don't you have to donate money to "ALS.""

I got tagged this morning. I'm glad they are making money but I am a curmudgeon and wont be peer pressured into donating or pouring ice water on my head. I figure out what charities I'm going to give to for the year and figure out an amount and give the money with out posting about it facebook.

[heyjude]

Aug 13, 2014 13:59:28 GMT -5 jillboston said:

Aug 13, 2014 13:46:58 GMT -5 heyjude said:

The way it's been framed by my FB friends is "if I tag you you have to film yourself dumping ice on your head and if you don't you have to donate money to "ALS.""

That seems pointless (??) You have to give the money (or at least that's the way DH's challenge was framed)

Lol. I'm not making the rules just reporting on them!

[ECB]

It's become big in my area too. My 5 year old was nominated! He thought it was funny and started asking me why people were doing this.

Hey, guess what? Teaching moment.

He liked it so much, he did it TWICE and he wants to do it again when his daddy (who he nominated) does it.

If people don't want to do it, that's fine. Just don't do it. But I really don't get the naysayers. It's may be lightening in a bottle, but hell - it worked. what's wrong with that?

And really- this is our world now. Facebook/social media - people are going to use it to get your attention in one way or another.

[msmerymac]

I have a friend who works on The Voice, and the 3 main judges are doing it. So there are several celebrities involved, too, which gets even more awareness out.

[heyjude]

Aug 13, 2014 13:59:41 GMT -5 krisandgrace said:

Aug 13, 2014 13:46:58 GMT -5 heyjude said:

The way it's been framed by my FB friends is "if I tag you you have to film yourself dumping ice on your head and if you don't you have to donate money to "ALS.""

I got tagged this morning. I'm glad they are making money but I am a curmudgeon and wont be peer pressured into donating or pouring ice water on my head. I figure out what charities I'm going to give to for the year and figure out an amount and give the money with out posting about it facebook.

Yes!!!!

[heyjude]

Aug 13, 2014 14:07:22 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I have a friend who works on The Voice, and the 3 main judges are doing it. So there are several celebrities involved, too, which gets even more awareness out.

Many celebrities are doing it. It's feeling even more AWish if celebrities do it.

[eclaires]

It may be AWish but it's helping keep up the awareness and donating and I'm glad that the ALS association is benefitting. The celebs doing it helps.

[irishbride2]

I'm also surprised that so many apparently were not aware of ALS. To me its always been a fairly high profile one . Interesting to know.

[pixy0stix]

Hey, whatever gets people to get off their asses and actually do something.

[msmerymac]

Aug 13, 2014 14:08:58 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Aug 13, 2014 14:07:22 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

I have a friend who works on The Voice, and the 3 main judges are doing it. So there are several celebrities involved, too, which gets even more awareness out.

Many celebrities are doing it. It's feeling even more AWish if celebrities do it.

When someone has hundreds of thousands of followers on FB or twitter, really, what DOESN'T feel AWish? At least this will help get money to a good cause.