You must be totally off the grid if you haven’t heard of the ice bucket challenge, but just in case, let me tell you about it.

The Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS/MND is a social media campaign that quickly went viral and spread around the world.  It is to raise funds to fight Motor neurone Disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Celebrities jumped on board and participated in the challenge as did ordinary, everyday people.  Here’s Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg getting into it.

Here are the official rules:

A huge amount of money has been raised in a very short time, which is wonderful. In fact, worldwide it has raised more than $100 million to date.

The best thing to come out of the challenge is an increased awareness of the issue and, to some extent, a feeling of ownership from the people who’ve taken the challenge. They want to know that what they did is going to help in some way.

Hm, problem.

You see, according to the ALS Foundation, over 73% of all donations raised are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations. Less than 27% is actually used for the purpose people donated for.

There’s the problem that most charities face. The public wants to see their money going directly to the people the cause supports yet, without funding, the charity will be unable to do their work. Without them, the chances of money reaching people in need is negligible.

We have to ask, is 27% enough to give to the people who need the money?  Where can charities cut back on their own spending so that more money can go to those in need?

How can we find a balance?

Do you think the ice bucket challenge was worthwhile?