Unless you’re living under an Internet rock, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has probably monopolized your Facebook feed over the past few weeks. Everyone from Justin Bieber to Ben Affleck to Anna Wintour has taken a cold shower to raise money for research on Lou Gehrig’s disease. But how can other charities compete? Will copycat programs be successful? What are some fun—and maybe warmer—ways to raise money and gain recognition for an organization you’re passionate about?

The Ice Bucket challenge is hardly the first philanthropic endeavor to go viral. Movember was one of the first fundraising campaigns to make waves online, encouraging men to grow mustaches for the month of November to support donations towards prostate cancer and men’s health research. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, its combination of a real- life action with online activism worked to increase accountability and visibility for an issue. It also takes a “guy thing,” growing a mustache, to raise money for, well, more serious guy things. The best campaigns not only are fun, they are also related in some way to the cause they support. An organization that I work with, the national writing and tutoring centers of 826.org, has hosted a number of local events that combine a fun, word-related activity with raising money. We’ve hosted a Scrabble for Cheaters event and a Spelling Bee for Cheaters—events that combine a love of words with support for an organization that nurtures young writers.

In the wake of the Ice Bucket Challenge, many organizations are trying to come up with their own unique ways to go viral and take advantage of the Ice Bucket Bump (apologies to Stephen Colbert). A Wall Street Journal article this week mentions the Doubtfire Face for Suicide Prevention, which asks its Facebook fans to don whipped cream a la Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire and share photos to raise money, and the Eat Pie for HI campaign, which supports people coping with congenital hyperinsulinism. Certainly there are only more similar campaigns to come. Copycat ideas aren’t a bad thing – any way to be more creative around fundraising and help worthy organizations should be welcomed online with open arms – it’s all about trying different things and seeing what sticks.

Raising money isn’t the only way to help a cause. Getting a Twitter hashtag to catch on can spark conversations around hot button issues in new ways and bring awareness to topics that in an earlier era might have fallen on deaf ears in the back pages of the newspaper. The #BringBackOurGirls campaign earlier this year increased awareness of the Boko Haram kidnappings in Nigeria and brought worldwide attention to crisis there, prompting a response from the White House. One.org has also had success raising awareness for poverty issues by posting ways to get involved in emerging issues in a timely way. Around the recent U.S.-Africa leaders conference, they provided sample tweets, a live “blanket of hope” that anyone could add a photo to, and provided information about global health that was easy to share with your network.

While participating in a viral campaign is fun, finding a cause you’re passionate about and discovering your own way to get involved is even more rewarding in the long run. So keep watching Jennifer Garner get thrown in the pool, but consider looking around your community for ways to get involved for longer than the length of a 30-second video. Participate in a voluntourism trip as part of your next vacation or brainstorm the next viral idea for a cause you care about.

By Laura Hertzfeld

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