1 year ago 
 
 (CNN) - Former President George W. Bush took the ice bucket challenge, and is now challenging his predecessor in the White House to follow in his footsteps. 
 
 In a video posted on his Facebook page, Bush takes a soaking from his wife, former First Lady Laura Bush, and then nominates former President Bill Clinton to take the challenge. 
 
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 The challenge is raging this summer on social media, as people get doused with a bucket of ice water in order to bring awareness – and raise money – to combat amyotropic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. 
 
 Politicians get soaked 
 
 $15 million pours in from ice bucket challenge 
 
 "Thanks to Jenna Bush Hager, Rory McIlroy, Woody Johnson, and Coach Jim Harbaugh for the #IceBucketChallenge," wrote Bush on his Facebook page. 
 
 In the video, Bush said "to you all who've challenged me, I do not think it's presidential for me to be splashed with ice water, so I'm simply going to write you a check.” 
 
 Moments later, after she pours a bucket of ice water on top of her husband, the former first lady said "that check is from me. I don't want to ruin my hairstyle." 
 
 Bush then called on Clinton to get wet, saying, "Now it's my privilege to challenge my friend Bill Clinton to the ALS challenge. Yesterday was Bill's birthday and my gift to Bill is a bucket of cold water." 
 
 Celebs embrace ice bucket challenge 
 
 Bush's successor in the White House so far has decided to stay dry. President Barack Obama has declined to take the challenge, but instead has made a donation to an ALS charity, according to the White House. 
 
 Bush's chilly dunking was arranged, in part, by his daughter Jenna Bush Hager, an NBC "Today" show correspondent. ||||| Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter 
 
 / Updated By Ian Sager 
 
 The Ice Bucket Challenge just got the presidential treatment. 
 
 President George W. Bush accepted the challenge — with a little help from former first lady Laura Bush — after he was called out by a number of people, including his daughter, TODAY's Jenna Bush Hager. 
 
 WATCH: Jenna Bush Hager challenges her dad and mom to the Ice Bucket Challenge 
 
 So who did the former president challenge? A fellow commander in chief, of course. 
 
 
 
 Today 
 
 The challenge has been a trending topic across social media for weeks, and as a result, has raised nearly $22.9 million for ALS in the last three weeks alone. 
 
 Have you done the Ice Bucket Challenge? Tell us about it on our Facebook page. ||||| Bill Gates taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. 
 
 The ALS Association, the organization behind last-year’s ubiquitous Ice Bucket Challenge, is plotting a re-launch of the marketing stunt in August. 
 
 The non-profit it trying to revive the viral video craze that had millions of people including celebrities, politicians and tech moguls dumping buckets of ice water on their heads in an effort to raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) last summer. 
 
 To help jump-start the effort, the ALS Association will be launching a small advertising campaign, which will include ads on social media sites, at the end of July. The organization says the ad space is being donated. The campaign also will unveil a new microsite, created pro bono by Omnicom Group’s TBWA, that will host some of the more popular videos and also allow people to more easily donate online. 
 
 Repeating last year’s success won’t be easy. The Ice Bucket Challenge wasn’t a carefully orchestrated marketing stunt but instead a grass roots effort that started when a golfer in Sarasota, Fla. created a video that showed him dumping a bucket of ice water on his head. Thanks to social media sites such as Facebook, the effort took off and helped ALS Association raise $115 million from July 29 to Sept. 15, a far cry from the $5 million it raised in the year-earlier period. 
 
 All told, 17 million videos were created, 159 countries participated, and 70 billion video views were counted, ALS said. 
 
 ALS knows recreating the viral nature of last year’s effort may be an uphill climb and the organization says it will tread lightly when it comes to marketing. 
 
 “We never want this to be something that is too corporate or too slick,” said Brian Frederick, chief of staff at the ALS Association. 
 
 The group wants to maintain the “integrity” of the original challenge but also “remind people that it’s happening again,” Mr. Frederick added. “There is a fine line between orchestrating it and having it be organic.” 
 
 Mr. Frederick and Pat Quinn, a New Yorker who has ALS and is one of the people that helped start the challenge, spent last week making the rounds at the Cannes Lions advertising festival visiting with media, technology and ad companies in an effort to drum up help for the relaunch of the challenge. 
 
 –ALS team receiving their Cannes Lion award. 
 
 In between meetings, the Ice Bucket Challenge raked up over 11 Cannes Lion awards including landing the Grand Prix for Good award, which recognizes exceptional campaigns for charities or public service messages. 
 
 “It’s been awesome,” said Mr. Quinn, during an interview last week. 
 
 CORRECTION: Social media services are donating ad space for the ALS campaign. An earlier version of this post said the organization was paying for ads.
– The Ice Bucket Challenge is now claiming former heads of state as victims. But former President George W. Bush didn't really want to have a bucket of ice water dumped on his head. "I do not think it's presidential," he says in a video posted today on Facebook. He opts instead to write a check, but Laura Bush had other plans. She sneakily arrives on camera with a bucket in hand, and … well, you can guess what happens next. "That check is from me. I don't want to ruin my hairstyle," she quips. Bush was challenged to join the cause by several people, including daughter Jenna Bush Hager, CNN reports. Dubya passes on the challenge to Bill Clinton, saying "yesterday was Bill's birthday and my gift to Bill is a bucket of cold water." President Obama has apparently agreed that getting splashed with water isn't presidential—he's written a check to an ALS charity. The Ice Bucket Challenge has raised $22.9 million, reports NBC. Meanwhile, someone who might be looking to win the Oval Office in 2016 has already taken the plunge.