( CNN ) -- The Ice Bucket Challenge invites eye rolling . By definition , all gimmicks are designed to jump the shark , eventually . And gimmicks that look like one big selfie orgy may run into backlash faster than most . Considered another way , however , I side with those who see the Ice Bucket Challenge as a marker of something larger and something special occurring across the culture . It 's not the funny videos that matter . It 's the power of the peer-to-peer economy , driven by young people , now rippling through the social sector . Businesses such as Airbnb , Uberx and `` P2P '' lending firms such as Prosper Marketplace have demonstrated the heft of peer models . While the Ice Bucket Challenge itself will come and go , peer-to-peer fundraising and activism will stick around . Beth Kanter , an author and expert on nonprofit trends , points to `` PhilanthroKids '' who are leading the way . Kanter writes that `` we are starting to see a rise of crowd funding projects done by and for kids . ... These are teens ( and pre-teens ) with a passion for social change and who grew up not knowing what it was like to not have a cell phone or be connected to Facebook . '' With the Ice Bucket Challenge , she explains , `` this was not a campaign started by the ALS Association , but young people who wanted to support the cause . '' The dual forces matter . With the arrival of the sharing economy and the generational shift in deciding how to allocate scarce resources -- charitable donations and volunteer time -- donation-dependent and volunteer-dependent organizations must prepare for a new and different future . Arts researcher Alan Brown was the first person I met who figured out how peers influence how we decide which social and cultural events are worth our time and dollar , and which are not . Indeed , our study from a decade ago showed the importance of peer influence on interest in classical music concerts . In more than 11,000 interviews across 15 U.S. cities , we found 20 % of adults reported attending a classical music concert in the past year . Yet nearly three times that share -- 56 % -- said they would accept an invitation from a friend or family member to attend a classical music concert . What we hinted at then and now see as brutally clear is that it 's all about who 's doing the asking . When my sister participates in a fundraising run and sends an email asking me to donate , I do . When the professional expert from that same nonprofit organization asks me to donate , I treat the note as spam . So the critical innovation of the Ice Bucket Challenge is not the funny visual . It 's what comes at the end of the videos , when the soaked participant looks into the camera and challenges family or friends to do the same . As the great songwriter Steve Goodman knew , we all want to be called out by our names . When I phoned Alan to get his take on the Ice Bucket Challenge , he noted the `` social validation '' produced through this kind of interchange . Most charitable giving is private and personal . This peer-based alternative creates a lasting good feeling that can only be realized through a kind of social alchemy , not a private act . `` There is also a generational thing we 're seeing , '' Brown said , `` where young people are moving from relying on an expert critic to relying on a peer . I guess this is an extreme manifestation of that . I 'm shocked by how many people have thrown buckets of cold water over their head . '' A hundred years ago , Andrew Carnegie was in the midst of building 2,509 libraries around the world -- becoming , almost literally , the bedrock of American philanthropy . His money , his deal . Today , formal authority has lost some of its value . Instead of outside experts driving the allocation of volunteer time and charitable donations , `` in our world , it 's the power of suggestion , when a friend invites you to something or suggests a piece of music , '' Brown told me . `` It 's not just the music coming your way . It 's the social imprimatur . '' Because individual donations as a percentage of disposable personal income do not fluctuate much , we may find that the overall level of giving remains steady but that young people seek out charitable causes that provide the best peer-to-peer connections and honor informal influence over traditional authority . If so , the Ice Bucket Challenge is causing more than a shock to the system of the person doused . It may be sending a shock to the system of traditional fundraising .
. Bare : The Ice Cream Challenge is eye rolling , it seems gimmicky . Bare : But it may signal a new kind of trust and peer - to - peer fund - raising which will stick around . He says the demographic shift and arrival of the sharing economy change models of charitable giving . Bare : The rise of peer influence may send a shock to the foundations of traditional fund - raising .