Yesterday, I was nominated for the Ice Bucket Challenge. I declined. Let me explain.

There’s no denying the #ALSIceBucketChallenge has been a huge success. It has set an unprecedented benchmark for charitable viral campaigns. Everyone from your next-door neighbour to the biggest celebrities have accepted the craze in the name of motor neurone disease.

When a friend’s father nominated me yesterday, I was left with a bit of dilemma.

I’m all for charity. I give up a lot of my time for local communities and regularly donate to charity.

On the flip side, I felt compelled to accept the challenge purely because of peer pressure. I have no direct association with ALS/MND so I was doing it for the wrong reasons.

It turned out I wasn’t alone. A few people in the web community were in a similar boat – Dan James puts it best:

Something about the ice bucket challenge irks me. There is a gimmickry about it that takes away from the charity. The important thing seems to have become watching people pour ice water on their heads. The donations, the charity, the giving, has become a side effect (with indisputable financial results) of a viral sensation.

With that in mind, I have “wimped out” and decided to name the charities that mean something to me instead.

My wife and I both donate monthly to Cancer Research UK. We have both witnessed family members suffer from The C Word in the past so it’s a no-brainer for us. There have been major leaps forward with cancer research in the past year and this wouldn’t be possible without the donations made globally. I have also donated an extra £10 this week to signify this call to action.

I am also signed up for the Payday Pennies scheme through work. They basically round your monthly pay packet down to the nearest pound, donating the remaining pennies directly to charity.

Time for the nominations:

  1. Sam Hardacre
  2. Gareth Brown
  3. Anthony Killeen

You have 48 hours to respond. (I will link to your efforts when/if you do.)