I reckon all of you have seen the ice bucket challenge by now. You dump a bucket of ice water over your head, you challenge a few friends and there’s supposed to be something about raising money for ALS in there somewhere. I recently had to do a complete 180 on this one, and I’d like to share what I learned about a great cause and my own stubbornness.

I was first challenged by my close compa (baseball slang, a word stolen, as usual, from Spanish) Bob Sturm of 1310 the Ticket in Dallas:

The translation of my answer to Bob: “Go away.” He was undeterred. What an asshole. Bah, humbug. I didn’t respond.

A pretty strong response, I admit. If you could have read my thought bubble, it would have gone something like this:

“How dare you bother me with this nonsense, Bob? Who is the sponsor, Coca Cola? And how much money is the charity going to get? Pennies on the dollar, I bet. Furthermore, I bet the CEO of the organization is making 7 figures. Psffftttt.”

I am perpetually skeptical about viral fundraisers. I inherently question who is benefiting, and it is rarely the people in need. Cynical? Perhaps, but I think it’s justified. There are many “charitable” organizations out there that don’t do shit to help folks, causes or anything but their board. They are tax shelters or revenue generators or bank account fertilizers. Cancer Fund of America sounds like an organization with great intentions, but according to tampabay.com, things aren’t always what they seem:

Year after year CFA raises millions and sends 82 percent to its for-profit fundraisers. Over the past decade, fundraisers have collected $98 million in donations. Patients have gotten less than $1 million in direct cash aid over those 10 years, IRS records show.

As far back as 1991, CFA’s founder, James T. Reynolds Sr., said he intended to reduce the charity’s high-fundraising costs. But more than 20 years later, fundraising still takes more than 83 cents of every dollar raised.

CFA isn’t the only charity with this sort of track record; there are thousands who belong in the same scum bucket (see?).

Not all organizations are poorly run or mismanaged. I received a hands-on introduction when I launched my own, an anti-domestic violence organization I ran with my then wife Lisa. The two of us, along with my mom, spent countless hours and learned how every dollar was used. It takes work, but I have no patience for organizations that do otherwise.

Back to the story. Bob was not as satisfied with my non-response as I was.

I got this tweet from him a few days later.

No shame in my game - Next up, @gabekapler @taz3311 and @tweetgrubes #ALSIceBucketChallenge #HeyGirls #VictoryGreen https://t.co/EqXx9Qvuig

— Bob Sturm (@SportsSturm) August 10, 2014

He took his annoying request public? I had done zero research, but I knew I wasn’t going to be participating. I dug my heels in and retweeted him. This had to shut him up. It worked. He disappeared. As Bob vaporized, more stepped in to take his place. They too were ignored until one man almost penetrated my shield (that’s how much I love him).

One of my all time favorite teammates, Trot Nixon, sent me this text:

Seriously, check out this awesome video:

So now I’m screwed. If I do it for Trot, I won’t be able to look at my other friends who have reached out to me. This is getting deep. I’m starting to sense that I have some homework to do (or is that the guilt talking?). When it rains, it pours.

With a heavy conscience, I had more coming by the day. I received further challenges from my producers at FOX, asking to me to dump water over my head on camera for FOX Sports Live and MLB Whiparound. I turned them both down. I had a principled stance, and I had already stiff armed my loved ones.

I dug myself a hole, filled it with concrete and sat in it as it hardened.

I have preached the benefits of altering course too many times on this blog to not take my own advice. I decided to rethink my stance because I believe in the concept of considering the source. The folks who challenged me are sharp. Sure, one or two of them could have been misinformed, but when many men and women who have, over the years, earned my respect are all participating, perhaps it its I who is missing the boat.

There is one more important element I considered. If, at the end of the day, I assisted in lining some random dude’s pocket, was this my worst-case downside? If so, could I live with that? Yes, I could.

It was time to buckle down and do some research. I probably should have hound-dogged the day Bob reached out initially. Instead, I just recently began to sniff around.

Turns out, I was, quite frankly, wrong. The ice bucket challenge has been exceptionally productive. From Time.com:

The Ice Bucket Challenge is the gift that keeps on giving for the ALS Association. The organization raised more than $10 million on Thursday alone, it said, bringing its total haul since July 29 to $53 million. For comparison’s sake, the group raised $2.2 million during the same period last year.

The contributions, which have come from more than 1 million new donors as well as some old donors, are an enormous boon for the ALS Association, whose national office raised only $19 million in all of 2012.

I was happy to see that this challenge was actually raising money, and not just spotlighting people performing some ridiculous task. That’s great, but I needed to know whether this was just supporting extravagant lifestyles for “philanthropists” running the charity.

The ALS Association’s ratings are stellar. According to charitynavigator.org, the organization’s president and CEO is paid under $300,000 annually, a very reasonable 1.50% of the expense budget. They gave out more than $18M in gifts and grants for research into Lou Gehrig’s disease.

There’s no question now. I have to swallow my pride and do my part in the viral madness. After all, my own son beat me to the punch a few days ago

http://instagram.com/p/rzodwCtvno/?modal=true

Here goes.

I may be cynical, but I’m glad I did my research on this one. If you take away nothing else from this blog, remember to do your own research, and practice your own trial and error. I’m proud to say that I was wrong on this issue and happy to have had the chance to correct myself.

Kap