ALS v MND

[HappyAgainOneDay]

ALS has notched up £30m or so, MND has £250,000. I just wondered if people in the UK realise the difference between the two. ALS - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - is the American version of MND -known in the UK as Motor Neurone Disease. If you donate to ALS it goes to the American charity. Nothing wrong with that if that what you intend but why has MND such a small percentage of what ALS has gained judging by the number of videos I have had to watch have been looking at.?

I really do apologise if anything I have said is incorrect but can anyone tell me - and the rest of us - anything different?

Macmillan have behaved appallingly, IMO.

How does texting work to donate the money? I have a monthly contract with GiffGaff for £7.50. If I want to donate £10 how do they get the money?

Well, it started here and the US is bigger, so we're going to "win" the numbers game as far as people donating and making videos.

I did the challenge, and donated to ALS. I am in Canada, and hadn't even heard of the Macmillan thing until I saw it on MN.
This is (over here in North America at least) definitely an ALS thing. I don't know very many people who haven't participated yet, and everyone I know of has made donations. Most work places and teams and such are doing it too.

Plenty of charities are promoting it, not just MND and Mac.

Bun it gets added onto your contract for the month

I think we should be donating to MND in the UK

Donkir I am not sure where you got that from. All new medications are tested on animals in the UK and animals are used extensively in medical research. I believe it's illegal to test cosmetics on animals in the UK.

The point of the ice bucket challenge is that it simulates the effects of early mnd, albeit for seconds. And any research done in America will benefit uk sufferers and vice versa. MacMillan have acted appallingly.

The ice bucket challenge originally had nothing to do with ALS, people could choose what charities they did the challenge for and donated to, which they have every right to do.

www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2014/06/keegan-bradley-poured-ice-wate.html

www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/08/12/icebucketchallenge_you_don_t_need_an_ice_bucket_to_donate_to_als_research.html

Nobody owned the idea and nobody stole it. What a ridiculous concept! If charities had that possessive attitude then it would make fundraising very difficult. Macmillan doesn't say no other charity can have a fundraising coffee morning! I did the challenge for Macmillan because they have helped my family so I wanted to give something back and also because they don't test on animals. Macmillan's supporters wanted to do the icebucket challenge for them and they recognised and responded to that. The attacks on Macmillan over this are uncalled for.

Topaz, all medicines are tested on animals and Macmillan have no control over what the actual researchers do, they just donate the money.
I saw someone do it for prostate cancer the other day.
My gripe is that the big charities like Macmillan and cancer research donate much more money to the more common cancers and the rarer cancers don't get proportionately what they should. Having lost my husband to a brain tumour I am appalled at the lack of funding. Breast cancer survival has increased hugely thanks to research but brain tumour survival is still horrendous and like MND has huge disabling effects.

What Topaz says is correct, however I think there is a subtle difference between people choosing themselves to donate to charities other than the one with which the challenge has now become predominantly associated (ALS/MND) and a completely different charity actively associating itself with it. I'm sure all's fair in love and fundraising and fair play to the Macmillan marketing team, but that doesn't mean people who appreciate a lesser-known and horribly debilitating terminal condition having its profile raised for a little while are wrong to feel that, however legally they may have behaved, Macmillan haven't quite "played fair" over this one.

More people will be affected by cancer then they will b MND

And far more people already donate to McMillan & they have their own fundraisers.

probably because they have better marketing people Not least because they have more funds to throw at a marketing campaign, because of all the past donations.

MND do not have the kind of income that McM do, therefore couldn't afford a large campaign!

I donated to MND after benedict cumberbatch's sterling efforts now I've been nominated I'll be doing it tomorrow with a big MND poster to try and divert funds to the rightful UK organisation.

Macmillan are bloody thieves over this

Of that £189m MM spent £121m on care and £58m on marketing/advertising. That speaks volumes about their set up and priorities.

Another here who believes that they have been underhand in paying for Google advertising so that when you type in ALS ice bucket challenge, you get an advert for MM asking you to donate to them. Shocking behaviour.

I'm another who feels that Macmillan were out of order in paying to come top on google search of ice bucket challenge searches. I know they do great work but from reading the other thread it seems they also get credit for work they don't actually do.

I donated to MND last week although hadn't been nominated. I have now been nominated and am thinking of upending an empty ice bucket over my head and telling people I am donating to Water Aid! Wonder if I could get that going viral! Some people seem to be overthinking the ice bucket challenge. A bucket of water is one thing but some of it is ridiculous. Carol Vorderman for instance.

Topaz, all medicines are tested on animals and Macmillan have no control over what the actual researchers do, they just donate the money.

Charities choose which research projects to fund and whether or not to fund animal testing and Macmillan doesn't, there are alternatives.