People criticising the Ice Bucket Challenge are idiots.
Firstly you waste more water flushing the toilet or doing your washing than throwing a bucket over your head. The droughts in Africa are not related to water being thrown on the floor in America or Europe.
Secondly without the gimmick no one would have heard of ALS so stop saying just write a check if you want to help.
Thirdly the fact you even mock it for being a stupid activity proves that they have raised your awareness of ALS and thus it has worked. How many of you have heard of United Way, Food for the poor, Compassion International, Direct relief or Kingsway? How many debilitating diseases can you name? Clearly asking people to just write a check doesn't work.
Lastly it doesn't matter if you nominate and don't write a check... That is THE POINT. You may not write a check but you have nominated three people that might. Fact is they have raised over 50 million dollars, so it obviously does work.