By now, I’m sure you’ve seen videos of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge all over your Facebook and Twitter feeds.  Thousands have participated and celebrities like Taylor Swift, David Beckham, Bill Gates, and Justin Bieber have all jumped on the frigid bandwagon.
 
At first, I was skeptical of the trend.  Let me get this straight, all these videos mean that people have elected not to donate money?  That’s some useless Facebook-hashtag-activism bullshit!
 
But I’ve since changed my tune, and I now believe it is viral marketing genius that has a lot of replicable potential for other non-profits and campaigns.
 
If you’ve somehow managed to avoid this social media phenomenon, here’s the gist:  A person elected by a previous challenge-taker chooses to either donate $100 to the ALS Association within 24 hours or get a bucket of ice dumped on them (and have that experience recorded and posted to social media sites).  In the hypothermic aftershock, the person nominates three others to take the challenge or donate.
 
For cynics like me, the problem is immediately clear.  The challenge essentially incentivizes people to not donate to the cause which they supposedly support.
 
I brought this up to some friends– and have been voraciously reading comments from Facebook trolls– who respond that the challenge is not intended to just raise money but also raise awareness for a disease that is underrepresented in health discourse.
 
But here’s the surprising thing: it’s actually doing both.  The ALS Association has raised $13.3 million since July 29 (up from $1.7 million over the same time frame last year) and millions are talking about often-fatal nerve disease.  That deserves applause, and I hope other charities and nonprofits can glean some key lessons from the campaign:

 1.) Make fundraising social 

Much of the success with the challenge is that it is tailored to social media (#ALS ‪#‎IceBucketChallenge).  It is quick, simple, VISUAL, entertaining, share-able content that lends itself well to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

2.) Pay it forward

Simple, but effective– by calling out 3 of your friends to also participate, you exponentially increase the amount of folks involved.  And who can resist peer pressure?

3.) “Soft asks” are powerful

I find this the most intellectually interesting of these lessons.  The ALS Association could have done a traditional fundraiser.  They could have asked people to donate, spread the word to their friends, etc.  But those fundraisers tend to not be very successful for the simple fact that people hate to be asked for money.  They feel comfortable rejecting the ‘hard ask.’

But the power of suggestion is potent and the public nature of the challenge makes it almost impossible for people to refuse donating once they have participated.  Who’s going to be that guy who made a cool video for his friends but didn’t donate to an important cause?  That guy’s a dick. But the guy who took an ice bath and donated and put it on Facebook to share his good will with the masses?  That guy is your pal.

 
So the takeaway?  Make it cool (literally, in this case), make it social, utilize peer pressure, and invent a neat hashtag.  It’s money in the bank.