The Motor Neurone Disease Association has raised £6.8m from the viral fundraising craze the ice bucket challenge, while Macmillan raised £4.5m.

The challenge, which sees participants chuck a bucket of ice water over their heads and make a donation to charity, has hit headlines over the last month. MNDA and Macmillan were two charities who raised the most from the campaign in the UK. In America, the charity ALS Association, which also supports those with motor neurone disease, raised around $100m (£61m) from the craze.

Douglas Graham, director of fundraising at the MND Association, said: “We are delighted by all the incredible generosity and support we’re receiving at the moment. This unexpected bonus of £6.8m will allow us to make progress in key areas of our core work.

“It will help fund world class research, improve care and support for people living with motor neurone disease and help raise even more awareness about this rare and incurable disease.”

Figures released earlier in the month by online giving platform JustGiving showed that over 765,000 individual donations have been made to charity pages for the ice bucket challenge. It saw 247 charities receive challenge donations, with 90 per cent of donations from the challenge coming via text.