One of the biggest campaigns to go viral on social media had nothing to do with politics, but everything to do with awareness. 

If you were on Facebook during the last few months, you were bombarded with videos of people dumping ice water over their heads to raise awareness and money for the ALS Foundation.  Celebrities did it, athletes did it, politicians did it ... it seemed like everybody was doing it.

So where is the money actually going?  If you're to believe the bloggers, that money is being used for a lot of things besides research.  In an Aug. 28 post, the blog PoliticalEars.com made this claim:

"We've been duped. America is filled with fun-loving and caring people. The viral ice bucket challenge has combined both our sense of responsibility to our fellow human with fun. And it has been fun! Who didn't love seeing Sarah Palin doused?    

"But wait? Ice Bucket Challenge donations are nearing $100 MILLION. Where is that money going?     According to the ALS Foundation, not towards ALS.

"Over 73% of all donations raised are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations. Less than 27% is actually used for the purpose we donated for.    

"According to the ECFA, a charitable watchdog, 27% of donations actually making it to the cause they are donated to is unacceptable. In fact, the ECFA won't deem a non-profit as a reliable charity unless at least 80% of donations make it to their intended projects. ...

"The ALS Foundation is a terrible organization to send your money. If you decide to take the Ice Bucket Challenge, may I humbly suggest that you select a well-researched charity (on your own, no endorsements here) and send it to them."

Our partners at PolitiFact decided to take up the challenge of investigating this claim.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that the blog's claim gets a PANTS ON FIRE rating.  Gillin says that there's a lot of things wrong with these assertions.

"Unfortunately, just about the only thing they got right was the 27 percent number," said Gillin.  "However, that comes from the ALS Association, not the ALS Foundation, which are two distinctly separate entities.  Money from the ALS Association goes to things like research, referrals for patients to help with their disease, advocacy for more funding, et cetera, et cetera ... Seventy-nine percent of the ALS Association's money goes toward their stated goals, but keep in mind that this is not the ALS Foundation."

Gillin said that if that's as far as the claim went, then it may have been rated FALSE, but what pushed it to the PANTS ON FIRE realm was the secondary claim about the ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) being a watchdog.  "We called the ECFA and asked them about this," said Gillin.  "They told us that they don't administer any sort of tests like that, that they don't rate them, and that basically that the assertions in the claim really had nothing to do with them."

Based on the lack of verification from the ECFA and the mistaken use of the numbers between the ALS Foundation and the ALS Association, this claim was rated PANTS ON FIRE by PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter.

 

SOURCES: ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE MONEY