# ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

> The ALS Association received $100 million during the 2014 challenge’s first wave.

- Owner: null
- Kind: Activity
- Sector: Politics & civic
- Seed date: 2014-07-15
- Peak date: Week of Aug 20, 2014
- Date basis: Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 30 (Niche, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Challenge, Response chain, Platform jump, Political adoption, Press loop

## Summary

An existing ice-water challenge became linked to ALS through personal networks. Named nominations connected families, athletes and public figures. Participation spread across social platforms while charities reported increased donations.

## Timeline

- 2014-07-15 — Chris Kennedy (Facebook) — Chris Kennedy posted an ice-bucket challenge linked to ALS and nominated Jeanette Senerchia.
- 2014-07-31 — Pete Frates (Facebook) — Pete Frates posted a challenge to his Facebook network using ALS-related hashtags.
- 2014-08-13 — Jacob Davidson (Press) — A TIME commentary questioned whether challenge videos adequately explained ALS.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/als-ice-bucket-challenge

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.” Case HIS-01000. Spread Score v1.2: 30/100. Updated 2026-10-17. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01000