--- title: Ice Bucket Challenge Passes $50 Million Mark description: The ALS Association raised more than $10 million on Thursday alone, it said, bringing its total haul since July 29 to $53 million. canonical: https://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-22T14:42:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:48:28.653Z article:section: Health og:title: Ice Bucket Challenge Passes $50 Million Mark og:description: The ALS Association raised more than $10 million on Thursday alone, it said, bringing its total haul since July 29 to $53 million. og:url: https://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca3269532c3bc931/6986a08c06f2c11d113306aa/ice-bucket-challenge1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3542 og:image:height: 1992 og:image:alt: Melbourne Attempts World Record Ice Bucket Challenge og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ice Bucket Challenge Passes $50 Million Mark twitter:description: The ALS Association raised more than $10 million on Thursday alone, it said, bringing its total haul since July 29 to $53 million. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca3269532c3bc931/6986a08c06f2c11d113306aa/ice-bucket-challenge1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ice Bucket Challenge ALS Donations Break $50 Million Mark > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 22, 2014 2:42 PM UTC  Participants tip buckets of ice water over their heads as they take part in the World Record Ice Bucket Challenge at Etihad Stadium on August 22, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Participants tip buckets of ice water over their heads as they take part in the World Record Ice Bucket Challenge at Etihad Stadium on August 22, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Scott Barbour—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 22, 2014 2:42 PM UTC The [Ice Bucket Challenge](http://time.com/3144335/ben-affleck-jennifer-garner-ice-bucket-challenge-als/) is the gift that keeps on giving for the ALS Association. The organization raised more than $10 million on Thursday alone, it said, bringing its total haul since July 29 to $53 million. For comparison’s sake, the group raised $2.2 million during the same period last year. The contributions, which have come from more than 1 million new donors as well as some old donors, are an enormous boon for the ALS Association, whose national office raised only $19 million in all of 2012. Since the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral in early August, social media outlets have been crowded with videos of people dumping ice on their heads after delivering a short message explaining their support for research and treatment of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Public figures who have taken the challenge include politicians like [George W. Bush](http://time.com/3148301/george-w-bush-als-bucket-challenge/) and [movie stars](http://time.com/3144335/ben-affleck-jennifer-garner-ice-bucket-challenge-als/) like Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. The ALS Association is not the only organization to benefit from the viral trend. Opposition to embryonic stem cell research from some [Catholics](http://time.com/3154056/als-ice-bucket-challenge-catholics/) has led to an influx in donations to other charities that support ALS research without using embryonic stem cells. [Project ALS](http://time.com/3136458/viral-als-ice-bucket-challenge-funds-raised-15-million/), a smaller charity dedicated to ALS research, raised huge sums after Ricky Gervais and Ben Stiller took the Ice Bucket Challenge in its support. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/"},"headline":"Ice Bucket Challenge ALS Donations Break $50 Million Mark","datePublished":"2014-08-22T14:42:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:48:28.653Z","description":"The organization raised $64 million in all of 2013","url":"https://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/","keywords":["Research","Religion","Catholic Church","Fundraising","health","Cincinnati","philanthropy","ALS","Ice Bucket Challenge"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca3269532c3bc931/6986a08c06f2c11d113306aa/ice-bucket-challenge1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca3269532c3bc931/6986a08c06f2c11d113306aa/ice-bucket-challenge1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Melbourne Attempts World Record Ice Bucket Challenge","caption":"Melbourne Attempts World Record Ice Bucket Challenge","creditText":"Scott Barbour—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3159673/als-ice-bucket-challenge-donations/","name":"Ice Bucket Challenge ALS Donations Break $50 Million Mark"}}]}] ```