--- 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: 2026-10-01T08:58:09.343Z 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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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday 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 weekday 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=3b044946-82fb-4d40-bd9a-e0980d851004&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: It’ll Be A Cold Day: The Ice Bucket Challenge [Watch (HLS stream): It’ll Be A Cold Day: The Ice Bucket Challenge](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GIHofBBD.m3u8) (1:33)  _Published 2014-08-11. If you’ve seen people all over your newsfeed dumping buckets of ice water on themselves, you’re not alone. The Ice Bucket Challenge is ironically one of the hottest things on social media as it tries to raise money for ALS charities._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 22, 2014 2:42 PM UTC  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. ## Transcript If you've seen people all over your news feed dumping buckets of ice water on themselves, you're not alone. The ice bucket challenge is ironically one of the hottest things on social media as it tries to raise money for ALS foundations. The challenge went viral thanks to former Boston College pitcher Pete Frates, who was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease disease in 2012. So what does the challenge entail? A person dumps ice water on themselves and then challenges six other people to do the same in 24 hours or donate $ 100 to an ALS charity. Celebrities such as The Fault in Our Stars actor Ansel Elgort and Martha Stewart have joined in on the challenge. Boston. com and. Frank's parents organized a mass ice bucket challenge last Thursday, after which, the website challenged New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Some questioned the effect of the ice bucket challenge with the Boston Herald quoting a Twitter user as saying. I don't see how dumping a bucket of ice water over your head can cure a disease. Meanwhile Frates told the paper, via Facebook, that exposure like this is what the ALS community needs so we can even attempt to find a cure and reversal for people living with this insidious disease. The challenge has led to a spike in donations for the ALS Association. The foundation's president, Barbara Newhouse, told CBS's WBZ News Radio that the organization raised more than $ 168, 000 in online donations in the past week, compared to just $ 14, 000 over the same time frame last year. ```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":"2026-10-01T08:58:09.343Z","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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"It’ll Be A Cold Day: The Ice Bucket Challenge","description":"If you’ve seen people all over your newsfeed dumping buckets of ice water on themselves, you’re not alone. 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