More than $100 million.
That’s how much the ice bucket challenge has raised for ALS, courtesy of three million plus people. According to the ALS Association, that represents a 3,500% increase from the $2.8 million that the organization raised during the same time period last year.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to pinpoint why. Fun, social media, dare, fun, easy, viral, important cause, funny, catchy. And fun.
As the ice bucket saturation point reaches full absorption, the ALS challenge is finally starting to wane. But oh what a drench it’s been.
There’s an important takeaway here, both for nonprofits searching for their own addictive marketing campaigns and for companies seeking to engage employees in their corporate philanthropy: viral fun works.
The Movember Foundation gets that lesson. From the simple concept of challenging men to grow mustaches for the month of November, Movember has become a household name, the “leading global organization committed to changing the face of men’s health.”
Getting men to embrace their inner mustache is a goofy conversation starter that puts an important cause front and center. Literally. It’s a hip, hilarious, visible challenge that triggers more people to get involved.
The marketing of Movember keeps things catchy and light. Mo Bros grow the mos. Mo Sistas support the Bros. And for companies, the mo challenge unites employees around a worthy goal. Movember gamifies their efforts to the hilt, providing all sorts of ways for teams to form within companies, departments, industries, schools, cities and beyond, and encouraging winners and prizes, including the crowning of a Man of Movember and Miss Movember at the end of it all.
From Shave the Date kickoff parties, to the Mustache Dache racing series, to other MOVE events, and concluding with Movember Gala Parte’s to celebrate the end of the challenge, Movember understands that the easiest way to engage volunteers is to appeal to their sense of humor, gamesmanship and social instincts. Google, Amazon, Pepsico and General Mills agree, which is why Movember has become a campaign that their employees embrace with the full support of company leadership.
Darelicious is a new organization that encourages people to challenge others or themselves to complete a dare in exchange for a fundraising pledge towards a nonprofit. Participants must spread the word via social media and post video of the dare being completed. The Darelicious community votes on whether the dare was accomplished, and then the pledger pays up.
Whether it’s skydiving in a Power Rangers suit, sniffing random strangers in a grocery store, or (for a college dean) dying one’s hair pink to support breast cancer awareness, the element of promoting a witty, viral challenge for a cause is the common link that Darelicious shares with Movember and the ice bucket challenge. As such, there’s reason to believe that the organization will catch on; people gravitate to these sorts of funny, shared challenges, especially when they’re all towards a good cause.
Corporate giving program managers would be well served if they kept this in mind when thinking through their own volunteer campaigns and events. As I mentioned in a recent post, most program managers struggle with how to increase volunteer participation. Creating highly social, accessible, low barrier to entry opportunities that have a sense of humor about them can go a long way towards getting employees engaged and keeping them hooked.
