Unpacking the Ice Bucket Challenge Phenomenon

Imagine millions of people all over the world dumping freezing cold water over their heads, but most of them never actually donating a dime to the cause behind it. That’s the most overlooked part of the Ice Bucket Challenge: the sheer disconnect between the spectacle and the actual fundraising. According to the Charities Aid Foundation, only about ten percent of those who participated in the United Kingdom ended up making a donation.

The roots of the Ice Bucket Challenge stretch back to at least 1991, with the “Cold Water Challenge” popping up on social media in both the Northern United States and Norway. That earlier version usually involved people jumping into cold water to support cancer research or, in some cases, forcing the loser to buy drinks for others. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation used a similar stunt in early 2014 as an unsanctioned spin-off of the polar plunge, which Special Olympics often used as a fundraiser.

Then, on May 20, 2014, members of the Washington Township, New Jersey fire department participated in a “Cold Water Challenge” video using fire hoses and posted it on YouTube—only to be punished for using official equipment without permission. The event soon got a mainstream boost on July 15, 2014, when Matt Lauer performed what was called “the Ice Bucket Challenge” live on NBC’s Today Show, raising funds for the Hospice of Palm Beach County at the suggestion of golfer Greg Norman.

The shift to ALS specifically started with Chris Kennedy, a golfer from Florida. In mid-July 2014, Kennedy took the challenge and, thinking it might bring some cheer to his cousin’s husband, Anthony Senerchia—who had ALS—tied the challenge to the disease for the very first time. Kennedy nominated Senerchia’s wife, who then spread it to her own network, including Pat Quinn of Yonkers, New York.

Pat Quinn picked up the idea and pushed it onto Facebook, where Pete Frates—his friend and a former Boston College baseball player diagnosed with ALS in 2011—joined in. Frates’ Boston sports connections turbocharged the challenge, especially in the Boston area, which saw a higher concentration of posts than anywhere else in the U.S. Pete Frates had already won the Stephen Heywood Patients Today Award in 2012 for his work in ALS fundraising and advocacy. He became the fourth person to complete the challenge for ALS and started leveraging Twitter to call out friends, teammates, and celebrities.

As the summer unfolded, more celebrities and public figures took notice. By June 30, 2014, the phenomenon was aired live on the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive. Then, in an August 2014 video, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking—who had ALS—declined to participate due to health risks but encouraged others, with his three children taking the challenge for him.

The President of the United States at the time was challenged by Ethel Kennedy and others, but chose instead to make a $100 donation rather than take the plunge. Former President George W. Bush went through with getting doused and then nominated another former President to carry on the chain. In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister was challenged by both Alex Salmond and Russell Brand and also declined in favor of a donation. Major celebrities like Justin Bieber, LeBron James, and “Weird Al” Yankovic also participated, using their platforms to call out the President as well.

The structure of the challenge was simple but powerful: accept a nomination, pour ice water over your head on video, and then nominate at least three more people, giving them 24 hours to respond. If they didn’t comply, they were supposed to make a charitable donation, but most people chose to do the stunt and donate—or just the stunt.

From July to August 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge exploded. Mashable dubbed it “the Harlem Shake of the summer.” People shared more than 1.2 million videos on Facebook between June 1 and August 13, and mentioned the challenge more than 2.2 million times on Twitter between July 29 and August 17. The ALS Association reported receiving $41.8 million from over 739,000 new donors in just a few weeks, more than double what they’d received in the entire previous year.

Globally, the challenge raised over $220 million for ALS organizations. The ALS Association in the United States alone received $115 million. ALS Society of Canada got $26 million, the UK’s Motor Neurone Disease Association received £7 million, and the ALS Foundation Netherlands pulled in €1 million. Still, the majority of participants did not donate, especially in the UK, where only one in six people joined in and just ten percent donated.

Much of the money raised went directly into research. In July 2016, the ALS Association announced that, in part thanks to Ice Bucket Challenge funds, researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School identified NEK1 as a gene linked to ALS. This gene discovery provided a new target for therapies and focused drug development. Project MinE, a multinational gene sequencing effort, received $1 million from challenge proceeds, allowing them to broaden their research and include more genetic data from around the world.

The ALS Association distributed its windfall by allocating about 67% of funds—roughly $77 million—to research, 20% to patient and community services, 9% to education, and the remaining 4% to fundraising and processing fees. The association’s clinical network expanded by 50%, adding 29 new ALS Certified Treatment Centers of Excellence and 20 new recognized treatment centers.

The Ice Bucket Challenge had ripple effects far beyond ALS. In India, drought and water scarcity inspired the “Rice Bucket Challenge,” which involved donating a bucket of rice to someone in need instead of pouring water. A “Pie In The Eye Challenge” in support of breast cancer awareness saw participants take a pie to the face. In the UK, the Milk Bucket Challenge was organized by dairy farmers to draw attention to their financial struggles. In Jordan and Gaza, the Rubble Bucket Challenge used sand and stones to highlight homelessness caused by conflict.

But the challenge wasn’t without criticism. Some observers dismissed it as “slacktivism,” arguing that it prioritized entertainment over action. Willard Foxton, writing in The Daily Telegraph, called it “a middle-class wet T-shirt contest for armchair clicktivists.” Steve-O, a well-known stunt performer, pointed out that most celebrity videos never mentioned donating at all. There were also health concerns: at least one death and several injuries were linked to variations on the challenge, including people jumping into ice water.

In California, during the 2014 drought emergency declared by Governor Jerry Brown, local news stations and activists criticized the waste of five million gallons of water used in challenge videos. Some participants responded creatively, using dirt instead of water, or recycled creek and rainwater.

After its viral peak, several organizations tried to revive the Ice Bucket Challenge. The ALS Association and Les Turner ALS Foundation relaunched the challenge in August 2015, but it failed to recapture the same attention. By early October 2015, the new campaign had raised just $1 million—less than one percent of the original 2014 total. Treato, a health analytics firm, found that only 14% of 2014 donors gave again in 2015. In the UK, the MND Association decided not to revive the campaign and instead ran a “Last Summer” awareness effort.

Despite these efforts, the challenge continued to inspire local annual events in places like Yonkers, New York, and at the Empire City Casino, with events dedicated to the memory of Pat Quinn after his death. In 2025, a student club at the University of South Carolina revived the challenge, adapting it for suicide prevention and mental health, raising nearly $440,000 by April 2026 with support from figures like Zach King, Peyton Manning, Scarlett Johansson, and James Charles.

The biggest long-term impact of the Ice Bucket Challenge was the surge in ALS research and patient support infrastructure. Between 2014 and 2018, the ALS Association committed nearly $90 million to research, a 187% increase in its annual research funding. The National Institutes of Health invested nearly $416 million in ALS Association-funded research since the challenge. This research led to the discovery of five new genes connected to ALS: NEK1, KIF5A, C21orf2, TUBA4A, and TBK1. In September 2020, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that the drug combination AMX0035 slowed the progression of ALS, and early research into AMX0035 had been funded with money raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge.

One unresolved question remains: can any future online challenge ever match the Ice Bucket Challenge’s blend of spectacle, celebrity, and real-world impact—or did it only work because it was the right stunt at exactly the right time?