Going Viral

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Ice Bucket Challenge, a wildly successful viral video campaign that raised $115 million for the ALS Association in 2014.

The challenge was simple – and chilling: Videotape someone dumping a bucket of ice over your head, and challenge others to do the same. Then post the video on social media. Those who declined the ice shower were asked to give a donation to the charity of their choice.

The Ice Bucket Challenge wasn’t initially associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a devastating neurodegenerative disease that causes many to lose their ability to eat, speak and breathe. According to Time, Sarasota golfer Chris Kennedy was nominated by a friend to take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge. Since participants could choose any charity to benefit, Kennedy’s friend opted for a local nonprofit that raised money for children with cancer. But Kennedy picked ALS and nominated his wife’s cousin, Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband, Anthony, suffered from ALS. That video, posted on July 15, 2014, seems to be the first occasion when ALS and the Ice Bucket Challenge were linked.

The challenge quickly spread and eventually reached two other men with ALS: Pat Quinn of Yonkers, New York, and Pete Frates of Boston. All three men – including Anthony Senerchia – were well-connected on social media and made their own videos, including filming some together.

That trio of ALS champions is credited with turning the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS into an internet sensation. Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Will Smith and President George W. Bush are just a few of the famous names who participated in the challenge, which has swept the nonprofit scene and changed the way money is raised online.

Since then, there have been many other viral challenges, including this year’s Dance or Donate for United Cancer Front (UCF) and 22 Acts of Kindness, honoring those who were killed during the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. The aim of such campaigns is to raise awareness and funds – and perhaps motivate individuals to join a cause – by harnessing the inherent ripple-effect nature of social media.

Charity challenges, which combine elements of active participation and online sharing, can be entertaining tools for positive change, according to Liz Sommer, who wrote about the trend for the digital publication Stayhipp.

Why an internet challenge goes viral is not always clear because each one is different, and they exist in a variety of forms and across different social media platforms, Sommer writes. What they all have in common is a public call to action, asking people to do something and share it online.

Dance or Donate for UCF aims to help the organization continue seeking a cure for cancer via immunotherapy and targeted treatments. Participants dance for 15 seconds or donate a minimum of $10 to UCF and challenge at least three of their friends to do the same. Celebrities who took part include Jennifer Lopez, Kelly Clarkson, Thomas Rhett and Hoda Kotb. 

Sixth grader Ruben Martinez came up with the 22 Acts of Kindness challenge after telling his mom he wanted to do something to help people after the shooting. She challenged him to think of something that would “show the kindness of El Paso.” Minutes later, the 11-year-old produced a notebook full of ideas. At the top of the list, Martinez wrote: #ElPasoChallenge. He tasked participants with doing 22 good deeds for others.

The Florida Chapter of the ALS Association continues to honor the Ice Bucket Challenge with a plethora of events and similar challenges, including the Pie in The Face through Challenge Me.

“Our participants love it,” says Vincenza Cuvin, regional development manager for Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Pamela Polani, founder and past chairman of Boca Raton’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s (Nov. 10 at Mizner Park), says she participates in the organization’s Purple or Pinch Campaign for a week in September.

“If you don’t see me wearing purple, you get to pinch me,” Polani explains. “And I challenge five other people to do the same.”

A donation is requested, but the goal is more about bringing awareness. 

“We think those kinds of campaigns are great because, even if people don’t participate, it helps get them really interested in what we’re doing,” she says. “It brings more awareness to what our efforts are. And, of course, we’re having fun. Anything that raises awareness and helps encourage others to donate to worthy nonprofits in our community is always a wonderful tool.” 

Viral videos allow us to believe we’re making a positive impact when we participate in spreading them, according to Victoria Johnson, a media specialist for Sharpe Group (a collective of fundraising professionals and volunteers) in an article for FundraisingIP.com. One of the greatest benefits of viral videos, she says, is how accessible they are to potential audiences. And, more importantly for nonprofits, creating viral videos is much less costly than other forms of marketing.

A good viral campaign will rely upon active social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which most nonprofits already use. Not needing to pay each time the video is aired dramatically increases a charity’s ability to share its message with more people while still sticking to its budget.

Yakov Bart, associate professor of marketing at Northeastern University, says that, traditionally, organizations have relied on crafting their message to appeal directly to their target audiences, using communication channels to distribute that message. But the rise of social media has opened multiple new opportunities. 

“No organization can have a marketing strategy these days that doesn’t take into account social interactivity among consumers in open and flexible social media environments with a fast-paced flow of information,” Bart wrote in Phys.org, a science, research and technology news portal. 

Charities are no exception: 98 percent of the top 400 nonprofit organizations are using at least one form of social media, he adds. 

Some insist that viral videos are just a trend. Josh Hirsch, director of mission and communications for Susan G. Komen Florida, agrees that they can draw attention to a cause. 

“But then what?” Hirsch asks. “Where does it go from there? So, ALS raised hundreds of millions of dollars that they otherwise would not have had and have made advances in research and funding a good cause. But OK then what?

“It’s almost a transactional donation verses a causal donation. So, you’re going to give $5 because your friend dumped ice water on their head and challenged you to do it. But you have no connection to ALS, you have no connection to the cause, so you’re really not a donor that they care about.”  

Hirsch points out individuals fundraising for their birthdays on Facebook as an example.

“That’s a big trend now that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars last year, and it’s a low investment from the fundraiser and low investment from someone donating,” he says.

Hirsch himself started one for Komen for his birthday in June and exceeded his goal. 

“But, as the organization, I don’t care about those donors that are donating because it’s my birthday. I care about the person starting the birthday fundraiser, because they’re the ones that have the connection to the cause. It’s the way we look at these trends. Yes, they’re great; we’re raising a lot of money. But how are the organizations following up? What is the stewardship aspect from it, and, more so, how are you keeping them around when you’re not dumping ice on their heads?”

He adds: “There’s no current Komen challenge like ‘dye your hair pink for Komen.’ I focus my fundraising on sharing the impact of what our organization does, on sharing the stories of those that we’re changing through our research dollars investment, through our local dollars investment, through our direct services. But I wouldn’t be so much hung up on the people that are dying their hair pink.” O