As of this morning, The ALS Association reported receiving $88.5 million in donations compared to $2.6 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 26). These donations have come from existing donors and 1.9 million new donors to The Association, which is incredibly grateful for this tremendous outpouring of support.
This incredible year-over-year growth is due largely to The Association’s Ice Bucket ChallengeTM, which you’ve probably seen taking over your Facebook, Twitter or other social streams. You may even have taken the challenge and added to this staggering number yourself.
The challenge reached our Rick Erwin, President, Consumer Insights and Targeting, yesterday via Bill Demas, CEO of Turn. Rick accepted the challenge and in the 24-hour period was able to raise $2,000 from Experian employees to help #StrikeOutALS. Additionally, he has offered The ALS Association $20k worth of our consumer marketing data to enable them to do further outreach with their fundraising.
Watch Rick get soaked:
Anne Doherty, SVP Sales, Consumer Insights and Targeting for Experian Marketing Services, Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path, and Joe Zawadski, CEO of MediaMath, you have 24 hours!
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually, people with ALS lose the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, which often leads to total paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. There is no cure and only one drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that modestly extends survival.
Since 1985, through the Translational Research Advancing Therapies for ALS (TREAT ALS™) program, The ALS Association has funded more than $99 million in research and clinical management projects. This unrelenting focus has resulted in some of the greatest ALS research discoveries to date. Through public outreach, media relations, social media and the Internet The Association continually raises awareness about ALS and the search for a cure. You can donate to this cause here.