TORONTO — Sunwing Vacations’ Facebook campaign that was launched late last month to promote the company’s Ice Bucket Challenge generated a $10,000 donation to ALS Canada in less than 24 hours.

The campaign, which invited Facebook friends of the tour operator to share a video where nine of the company’s Toronto-based executives met with a cascade of frigid water cooled off by over 20 kgs of ice, pledged a $10 donation each time their status update was shared; rising to a maximum of $10,000. The goal of $10,000 was achieved in the first 11 hours that this video was posted on Facebook.

The campaign was significant for the company, as it was the first time that its social media channels had been employed to assist with charity fundraising.

Chief Operating Officer Andrew Dawson commented that “ALS is a devastating illness that has touched the lives of many of our employees to differing degrees. So, when we were approached as an organization to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, we were keen to spread the message as far as we could, and encourage not only our employees, but also our customers and their friends to make a donation. We believe that by pledging our donation through this social campaign, we have been successful in doing so”.

In addition to the $10,000 donation to ALS Canada, to offset the use of water during the Ice Bucket Challenge, the company also presented a cheque for a $2,000 donation to its regular partner OneXOne, which coordinates a number of water projects across Africa.

Dawson was joined by Group Vice President, Lawrence Elliott, and company founder and Chairman, Colin Hunter, together with members of staff from the tour operator’s head office that had helped coordinate the challenge last month for a photo to commemorate the donations raised.