--- title: "Lessons From the Ice Bucket Challenge Revival" id: "56449" type: "post" slug: "lessons-from-the-ice-bucket-challenge-revival" published_at: "2025-05-09T16:50:13+00:00" modified_at: "2025-05-09T16:50:13+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/09/lessons-from-the-ice-bucket-challenge-revival/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/09/lessons-from-the-ice-bucket-challenge-revival.md" excerpt: "The viral phenomenon is back, and throws some cold water on assumptions associations make about engagement." taxonomy_category: - "Fundraising" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AI" - "AssociationsNow" - "Business and Analytics" - "Business Development" - "Fundraising" - "Social Media" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "C-Level" - "Director" - "Executive Team" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Lessons From the Ice Bucket Challenge Revival A few weeks back, my 14-year-old son walked past me as I sat on the living-room couch and informed me that he was headed to the backyard to pour a bucket of ice water on his head. “Okey-doke,” I said, as dads will. He was still a toddler when dousing yourself in ice water was a subject of such casual conversation. The ALS Association created the ICE Bucket Challenge in 2014 as a way to build awareness around the neurodegenerative disorder. On that front, mission accomplished: The quirky, social-media-ready trend earned scads of media coverage—[including plenty in Associations Now](https://associationsnow.com/?s=ice+bucket+challenge) —attracted tens of millions of dollars in donations, and led to some [legitimate research breakthroughs](https://associationsnow.com/2016/07/researchers-funded-ice-bucket-challenge-discover-als-gene/) . However, despite various efforts by the ALS Association to keep the energy of the Ice Bucket Challenge going, social media does what it always does, finding other trends and moving on. The challenge is back, though. In April, a student group at the University of North Carolina launched its own Ice Bucket Challenge with the hashtag #speakyourmind, this time to promote awareness of mental health. A campus initiative with a modest $500 fundraising goal became a national phenomenon with celebrity participants. Thus far it’s raised more than $250,000, getting everyone from Peyton Manning to an aspiring baseball player in Arizona to take part. > Associations sometimes force committee-made hashtags onto its membership, ignoring ones its members are already coalescing around. There are a couple of lessons for associations from the ice-bucket, one of which is that while it’s worth making efforts to boost engagement, sometimes the most successful engagement efforts happen organically. As Brett Curtis, CEO of Active Minds, the nonprofit benefiting from the new challenge, told NBC News: “I think fundraising professionals and nonprofits and causes have sat around tables for years trying to say, ‘[What’s going to be our ice bucket challenge (opens in a new tab)](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/ice-bucket-challenge-mental-health-rcna201978) ?’ I do think there’s a little irony in that it is just the ice bucket challenge again, this time to talk about mental health.” Associations can sometimes get in the habit of trying to force a committee-made hashtag onto its membership, without paying attention to the ideas and themes that its members are already coalescing around. The second lesson an association can take from this is that old ideas aren’t necessarily dead ones—they may just need their proper moment. Wisely, the ALS Association used the latest ice-bucket challenge as an opportunity for partnership with Active Minds, [agreeing to cross-promote their missions (opens in a new tab)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-als-association-and-active-minds-collaborate-for-als-and-mental-health-awareness-month-302443960.html) and share hashtags; representatives from both organizations, of course, made a video of their doing the challenge together: As ALS Association CEO Calaneet Balas said in a release about the partnership, the original challenge “showed how grassroots action can transform health outcomes—and we’re pleased to see that same energy now being used to advance mental health awareness, as well.” It may be that your association had an initiative some time back that wasn’t right in the moment but might work now in a different context; or that had value in a past moment and might be ripe again. Every association should go through the process of identifying how to best serve its members and stakeholders, and generate new ideas about how to do that. Just don’t forget that sometimes the best ideas are the ones you’ve already come up with. [istock/AlexanderYershov] [Mark Athitakis](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Tags: [#AI](https://associationsnow.com/tag/ai/) [#Business and Analytics](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business-and-analytics/) [#Business Development](https://associationsnow.com/tag/business-development/) [#Fundraising](https://associationsnow.com/tag/fundraising/) [#Social Media](https://associationsnow.com/tag/social-media/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [Video2025 Summit Award Recipient: Florida Association of Free and Charitable ClinicsOctober 3, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/10/03/2025-summit-award-recipient-florida-association-of-free-and-charitable-clinics/) - [Video2025 Summit Award Recipient: Building Owners and Managers Association of Greater Los AngelesOctober 3, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/10/03/2025-summit-award-recipient-building-owners-and-managers-association-of-greater-los-angeles/) - [VideoA Donor First Look, “Unlocking Legacy: Estate Planning Essentials for Association ProfessionalsJanuary 7, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/01/07/a-donor-first-look-unlocking-legacy-estate-planning-essentials-for-association-professionals/) - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2025%2F05%2F09%2Flessons-from-the-ice-bucket-challenge-revival%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !