ALS patients redirected an already-viral cold-water dare toward their disease

ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) was a disease almost nobody outside a patient's own family thought about; the ALS Association's total donations for the year ending January 2013 were about $19.4 million, and the format for raising rare-disease money had always been the same slow instruments — walks, galas, direct mail — that compete for attention against causes with far higher public recognition, like cancer or heart disease.

A 'cold water challenge' had already been circulating since spring 2014 as a generic charity dare: dump ice water on yourself on camera or donate to a charity of your choice, nominate friends, repeat — golfers and firefighters' groups had been running versions of it for months with no connection to ALS at all. The instinct for any cause watching a viral format like that pass by is to build a new, on-brand campaign instead of simply grabbing the one already spreading.

Redirected an already-viral cold-water dare toward ALS, using its peer-nomination chain as a free, self-propagating fundraising engine.

The cold-water challenge's peer-nomination structure made each participant recruit the next, driving exponential growth.

Because the format was already viral, ALS didn't need to win attention from a cold start, just redirect momentum.

Patient-led redirection made the campaign feel authentic, not promotional, encouraging sharing.

No ad spend was needed since the existing viral format provided free distribution.

When a viral format is already spreading, redirect it to your cause instead of building a new campaign from scratch.

Over 17 million people took the challenge and the ALS Association raised $115 million between late July and the end of the 2014 campaign, more than five times its entire prior-year total, from over 3 million new donors, with no ad spend behind the mechanic itself.