ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Faces Criticism for Overhead Costs and Executive Pay

I have been dubious of the whole ALS ice bucket challenge and this is why:

On Friday morning, the ALS Association announced that donations related to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge had surpassed $100 million in only a month. To put that number into  perspective, that is a 3,500 percent increase from the $2.8 million that the ALS Association raised during the same time period last year. More than 3 million people have donated, the association says.

From a marketing standpoint, the ice bucket challenge is pure genius. The marketing campaign has eclipsed everything else in the charitable fundraising industry, according to experts. It’s fun to do, fun to watch and easy to nominate someone else to participate.

But critics are now saying only a fraction of the money raised is actually going toward ALS research.

According to charitable watchdog groups like the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), over 73 percent of all donations raised are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations. The ECFA won’t deem a nonprofit as a reliable charity unless at least 80 percent of donations make it to their intended projects.

Other charitable watchdogs are citing a pie chart on the ALS Association’s own website that breaks down how it spends the money it receives. According to the chart, 28 percent is spent on research.   [The MIssourian]

The ice bucket challenge has been so pervasive that as the above picture shows it has even been done in North Korea. By the way for those who are interested in giving to a charity I highly recommend the Fisher House Foundation which Charity Navigator has listed as putting 94.7% of their donations towards their programs.  You can go to just about any major military base and see the impact of a Fisher House.