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Good Question: What Causes Do We Give To?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- You probably remember millions of people pouring buckets of ice water over their heads two years ago. Now, the ALS Association says the money raised from the Ice Bucket Challenge helped lead to the discovery of a gene connected to the disease.

Every year, we donate millions of dollars to medical research. So, what causes do we give to? Good Question.

Eight percent of the $375 billion we donate each year goes to health.

Patty Porter is the Vice President of Development for the University of Minnesota Foundation.

"So, we see the big three. Really these are children's health, cancer and cardiovascular disease," she said.

Charity monitors don't keep stats by disease, but here's what some of the most well-known fundraisers brought in in 2014:

The American Heart Association's Heart Walk -- $117 million
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge -- $115 million.
Stand Up To Cancer -- $109 million
Breast Cancer's Race for the Cure -- $86 million
The Walk to End Alzheimer's -- $67 million
Prostate Cancer's Movember -- $20 million
And the Ride to End AIDS -- $15 million.

"One of the things that's very true about medical funding -- even for things like breast cancer -- is discoveries in one area can lead translate into other disease areas," Porter said.

Though donations to medical research are important, they are still a very small part of the overall budget. The bulk of the funding sources are from the National Institutes of Health, and drug and biotech companies.

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