Macmillan accused of hijacking the Icebucket Challenge

No, some members of my family donated to Macmillan in error.
They said that whilst they would normally support this worthy cause, on this occasion they thought they were supporting the less high profile MND charity and were upset.

The Icebucket Challenge has captured people's imaginations and they have decided what charity they want to support. In my family, Cancer UK, Alder Hey Children's hospital, Macmillan Nurses and the James McArthur fund have all been supported. It's been good for several charities and I have no problem with people choosing who they want to fundraise for.

Yes When, people should be free to choose who to donate to - but apparently some people are so upset that Macmillan appear to have 'taken over' this particular initiative and perhaps diverted money from a much smaller charity, that they are stopping their regular donations to Macmillan.

There was a Dispatches programme a couple of weeks ago which was very critical of certain charities and their aggressive fundraising www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/11024478/Charity-telephone-fundraisers-lied-and-targeted-the-vulnerable.html

It seems that if there is an ethical code for charities, some of them don't seem to take much notice of it.

I don't understand aggressive fund-raising - it's counter-productive and loses donations. Any charities that bother me get short shrift, whether I routinely donate to them or not, and if they do it again, they've lost a supporter. I find another way of giving to whom I want.

I wasn't aware of the controversy involving Macmillan, nor that the Ice Bucket Challenge was related to Motor Neurone Disease, until a few days ago after it had become more high profile. It's a thing that has gathered its own momentum and benefited several charities. We all have particular favourite charities and MND will be getting support anyway because this challenge has become far bigger than anticipated. I do hope that competition between charities isn't going to get nasty - no-one can make people donate, it's their choice.

I really don't think it matters which charity benefits as long as one of them does and the younger members of my family seem to be very happy (perhaps that's not the right word ) to be involved.

I do find repeated advertising on TV, particularly those suggesting that I need to send money otherwise a child will die, absolutely awful. I also notice Macmillan Nurses ads are beginning to annoy more and more. I don't want anyone suffering with cancer to face it alone but then I don't want anyone suffering with Alzheimer's to face it alone either, or with any of the other awful diseases of our time. Worse still, and much more likely to make never put a £1 in a bucket again are the constant postal nagging which include "presents". I cannot see why they would spend money, donated for a charity, on such things.

I think it started as a challenge to raise money for ALS ( known as Motor Neurone Disease in the UK.)
Macmillan (an extremely worthy cause of course) started taking over and advertising their text number as the one to use to donate money. People did not realise that this had happened and were justifiably miffed when they realised.

No-one is arguing that one should not donate to Macmillan or any other causes, rather that originally a small charity was intended to benefit, a larger charity with huge marketing resources decided it was a good idea and started asking for donations to be diverted to them in effect.
Macmillan are well able to think up and market their own way of raising money without cheekily taking over the donations intended for another, much smaller charity who desperately need funds.

A high profile charity like Macmillan surely has no need to do this and some people may hesitate to donate to them in future as a result of a, dare I say it on here, underhand tactic.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis
www.mndassociation.org/

'which desperately needs'

That's a good post rosequartz. My sister-in-law died of MND a couple of years ago and her children and grandchildren have been doing the ice bucket challenge to raise donations for that charity. If they thought they had inadvertently donated to a different one they would be very disappointed.

Does anyone know the correct text address for the MND charity?

The Motor Neurone Disease Association can also be donated to by texting ICED55 £5 - or any amount - to 70070

(copied this from the link provided by the OP)

Thanks, Ana