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#icebucketchallenge

lbE08

lbE08

Stegosaurus are bush league
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Thoughts?

At first I thought it was kind of lame, but then to recognize it's raised over $1MM for an organization that raised less than $25k during this same time last year, it's hard to get too upset. Plus, I realize it's really similar to a lot of the fundraising we used to do with volunteer groups on Appalachia Service Project. You make it some kind of game and people get way more into it than they would otherwise. Anecdotally, it's way more successful than just saying "hey, this is worthy. give us money to fund it."
I've seen articles on various sites slamming the whole thing and saying "just donate money" - but people have been requesting others to donate all along... apparently only to the success of $25k (in this smallish timeframe). If a silly social media gimmick is what it takes for people to get on board and into it, I don't see the issue. I realize it's not sustainable, but sincerely hope that ALS groups can find a way to keep the momentum going, or figure out a way to recognize the donations and help people understand what it is that they're actually helping.
 
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Only in 'Merica can we piss off people affected by ALS and waste good clean water thereby pissing off most of the 3rd world.

Its an absolutely ridiculous attention whore fad but I'm glad its raised some awareness/money for a great cause. My grandpa passed from ALS in less than 2 years. Have two good friends who lost one parent each. Its a horrible, cruel disease.

Screw the ice bucket. Read up on Steve Gleason and re-read Tuesdays w/ Morrie. Then donate.

Keep in mind that ALS/Parkinsons/Alzheimers are all somewhat related. Its like a game of dominoes, if we can figure one out we can stop them all.
 
Go said:
Only in 'Merica can we piss off people affected by ALS and waste good clean water thereby pissing off most of the 3rd world.

Its an absolutely ridiculous attention whore fad but I'm glad its raised some awareness/money for a great cause. My grandpa passed from ALS in less than 2 years. Have two good friends who lost one parent each. Its a horrible, cruel disease.

Screw the ice bucket. Read up on Steve Gleason and re-read Tuesdays w/ Morrie. Then donate.

Keep in mind that ALS/Parkinsons/Alzheimers are all somewhat related. Its like a game of dominoes, if we can figure one out we can stop them all.
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this is the attitude of most of the articles.
for some people (i'd put myself in this group) this is effective... but for many, MANY people out there - some silly social media fad is the way to get their money. I think I'm ok with that. Again, I wish it was more sustainable, but it's a nice gateway hopefully for at least some of those people.
 
lbE08 said:
Thoughts?

At first I thought it was kind of lame, but then to recognize it's raised over $1MM for an organization that raised less than $25k during this same time last year, it's hard to get too upset. Plus, I realize it's really similar to a lot of the fundraising we used to do with volunteer groups on Appalachia Service Project. You make it some kind of game and people get way more into it than they would otherwise. Anecdotally, it's way more successful than just saying "hey, this is worthy. give us money to fund it."
I've seen articles on various sites slamming the whole thing and saying "just donate money" - but people have been requesting others to donate all along... apparently only to the success of $25k (in this smallish timeframe). If a silly social media gimmick is what it takes for people to get on board and into it, I don't see the issue. I realize it's not sustainable, but sincerely hope that ALS groups can find a way to keep the momentum going, or figure out a way to recognize the donations and help people understand what it is that they're actually helping.
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I think it's fine as long as you realize charity is (usually) a zero sum game. Those donating to ALS are now less likely to donate to other charities.
 
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It's fine as long as people are donating either way. The problem I have is everyone in the videos (that I've seen) say that the challenge must be completed or a donation made, so it just ends up being "look how much I'd rather pour water on my head in the middle of August than donate to charity." A good idea that got bastardized along the way into something analogous to sharing a status to "raise awareness."
 
lbE08 said:
this is the attitude of most of the articles.
for some people (i'd put myself in this group) this is effective... but for many, MANY people out there - some silly social media fad is the way to get their money. I think I'm ok with that. Again, I wish it was more sustainable, but it's a nice gateway hopefully for at least some of those people.
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I think you make an excellent point. My observation is more of a commentary of our society. Whoever thought of this is a genius and it appears to be working. I'll just ignore it but I don't mind expressing my feelings :)
 
It's totally a "look at me" thing for people to do and post on Facebook, but you can't argue with its success. It's lame, but if the attention whores are actually putting their attention whoring talents to good use for a worthy cause, WGAF?

Also , fuck ALS. That shit is terrible.
 
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DistrictDeacon said:
I think it's fine as long as you realize charity is (usually) a zero sum game. Those donating to ALS are now less likely to donate to other charities.
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i also read a few articles about this, and while it may be true in general, i don't know if the majority of the people who've joined onto the fad would have donated much elsewhere anyway. seriously.
also, i don't know of it's necessarily a bad thing to put a lot of focus on one issue. is it better to have 10 underfunded causes, or just knock them out one at a time?
 
You guys must be kidding. The ice bucket challenge is the best thing to happen to ALS awareness since Lou Gehrig died.
 
I feel like we're at the point where people are bashing the challenge just because it's time for the backlash.
 
Money is being raised to fight a horrible disease by well-intended people.

LEAVE.IT.THERE.
 
smoove, can you explain that a little more?


coredeac, i don't exactly disagree- money's being raised and don't look a gift horse in the mouth, etc... but i do think a discussion's warranted.
 
lbE08 said:
smoove, can you explain that a little more?


coredeac, i don't exactly disagree- money's being raised and don't look a gift horse in the mouth, etc... but i do think a discussion's warranted.
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You don't "exactly disagree" with people raising money to fight ALS? Okay.
 
coredeac said:
You don't "exactly disagree" with people raising money to fight ALS? Okay.
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i don't disagree with the money being raised. i also don't think it should just be left there.
 
Celebrities from every walk of life are posting videos on social media about ALS. There is literally no amount of money you could pay for publicity this good. The value of the ice bucket challenge goes way, way beyond the mere fundraising aspect at this point.
 
bigdoublezero said:
Celebrities from every walk of life are posting videos on social media about ALS. There is literally no amount of money you could pay for publicity this good. The value of the ice bucket challenge goes way, way beyond the mere fundraising aspect at this point.
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This. A majority of people make donations to things because they were asked. I'm not familiar with any fundraising efforts in the history of America that have done a more successful job tapping into social capital through essentially volunteers leveraging their own networks. That's really hard to do. Sure almost all of these donations will be token one-time affairs, but statistically I bet they steward along a decent sized group of donors into more long term significant commitments from this. I don't understand being upset about this at all. Social media isn't going anywhere, and the way we are societally shaping and being shaped by it is unavoidable. Kudos to the fundraisers who have tapped into that.
 
Also, the $100 amount is genius. It makes people do it because $100 is a good amount of money and most people don't want to just give away $100. It also creates guilt at dumping ice on your head instead of donating to charity. The end result is a LOT of people dump ice on their head and then donate $20. Which is what I will be doing.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
This. A majority of people make donations to things because they were asked. I'm not familiar with any fundraising efforts in the history of America that have done a more successful job tapping into social capital through essentially volunteers leveraging their own networks. That's really hard to do. Sure almost all of these donations will be token one-time affairs, but statistically I bet they steward along a decent sized group of donors into more long term significant commitments from this. I don't understand being upset about this at all. Social media isn't going anywhere, and the way we are societally shaping and being shaped by it is unavoidable. Kudos to the fundraisers who have tapped into that.
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Over 250K new donors have made contributions as a result of the challenge. If the ALS org does its job and can retain a fraction of them, they will be better off than they were before July.
 
Lost a close friend to ALS. It is horrible. It really doesn't affect cognitive ability, so the afflicted become trapped in paralyzed, frozen bodies until they no longer have the strength the breathe. Hellish. Whatever makes the researchers money, I'm for.
 
I think we should find a reason to criticize something that raises money and awareness for an awful disease. Well done
 
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