This article, written by friend Nancy Weingartner originally appeared in Franchise Times Magazine

Franchising embraced the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Although the videos on Facebook of various franchise executives dumping a bucket of ice water over their heads didn’t have the page views as the celebrities, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Governor Chris Christie, there were no shortage of franchise challenges.

As of August 27, the ALS Association received more than $94.3 million to fund research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. The challenge started July 29—a short window for raising that amount of money. According to the ALS Association, the donations have come from 2.1 million new donors, plus existing donors.

Paul Pickett of Wild Birds Unlimited and His Duck

We’re not friends with everyone in franchising so we didn’t see all the challenges, but we were impressed with the camaraderie we did witness. Our bucket list is too long name, but our favorite was Paul Pickett of Wild Birds Unlimited, who dumped ice water over his own head and then warmer water over the head of his pet duck—just in case someone from the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals was watching.

José Cofiño of BeyondALS.org

One of the reason the franchise community was so anxious to donate—besides liking to call each other out—was José Cofiño, a franchise luminary who was recently diagnosed with the disease. Cofiño, a partner with Desert West Ventures, a consulting firm, was on the June/July 2008 cover of Franchise Times, when he worked with the U.S. master franchisee of Pollo Campero. Cofiño and his partner founded Beyond ALS, a Facebook page that posts both personal and news-related items about living with ALS.

Keep ALS Research Donations Coming

We’re glad the challenge raised lots of money. Let’s just hope that when the weather is no longer conducive to ice baths, the money raised results in a cure—and the donations don’t stop.

Nancy Weingartner is a friend and the executive editor for Franchise Times & FSN. She likes yoga, traveling, not training for half-marathons, and listening to people tell their stories over a glass of wine. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nanweingartner.