My "Ice Bucket" Challenge: Donate to a Different Cause to Improve the Health & Lives of Millions

This weekend, Thibaud Guymard (@thibaudguymard), Digital Marketing Manager at MSD France, nominated me (and a few others) to take the ALS "Ice Bucket Challenge." You can find Thibaud's video here.

I am game to answer any challenge and make the most out of it PR-wise. So I answered the challenge, but in my own special way.

But I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of donating to organizations that sponsor fundamental research into diseases like ALS. Although it's a worthy cause, I believe that (1) my taxes already help fund basic medical research (e.g.. NIH-funded research) that has made a difference in many people's lives, (2) the ALS Association, which initiated this campaign, has already received more than $100 million in "ice bucket" donations (holy cow! enough already!), and (3) if I do donate, I'd rather donate to a cause that has a better ROI and can change the lives of millions of people immediately rather than 10 years from now.

So I agonized over how to respond to Thibaud's challenge. And then I decided what I could do to respond.

Matt Damon had a different take on how to respond to the Ice Bucket Challenge. His video inspired me:



Toilet water?

OK, I wasn't going to do that, but I found another way to use recycled water at my local athletic club, which so happens to have a big bucket that splashes water on people in the kids' pool. And, after visiting Water.Org, I decided I could put my money to good use (I donated $50 here).

Meanwhile, here's the video of my "Ice Bucket" Challenge (my nominees: you know ho you are :-):