I didn't donate to ALS, but my personal donation habits don't matter here.

I was director of development for a large non profit in SF for many years. less than 5% of our solicitations for donations were successful. Does that mean it was not a successful strategy? Not at all. We generated $1.85 for every dollar we spent and the donations accounted for over 30% of a non-foundation support.

"Most" people didn't donate to ALS. But did you read the statistic that THAT month they collected $100 million, when the entire year previous they collected $3 million in donations??

"Most" people don't donate to Huntsman Cancer institute. or to the CF foundation.

You should understand that marketing (also known as "awareness") builds the case; it is not THE case. Consider how many people see an advertisement for a product or event, compared to the number that attend or purchase. Generally, a very small conversion rate is still considered quite successful.

The ALS social media bucket challenge, especially for return on the dollar (!) was one of the most successful fundraising campaigns EVER. In history.