This September marks the fifth anniversary for charity: water, and I’ve had the priviledge of knowing some of the people involved in the organization for much of that time. I first met its founder, Scott Harrison when he was out here speaking in Los Angeles 3 years ago. He was incredibly unassuming in his manner and deeply passionate about the cause. At that time, the achievements of the charity were far more modest but his ambitions were enormous. I have since seen Scott speak at several conferences around the country, and most recently again here in LA. When he had a moment to chat I asked him how many LA/NY trips he made last year to support the cause and he confessed more than 70. This is someone who is really investing sweat equity in the clean water cause.
As I came to understand the organization better, my respect only grew. I got to meet Paull Young, and other great people who work at the organization. I went and visited their offices, and as someone deeply invested in the social change space, I was struck by the consistent integrity of their purpose, of their people and of their accountability to their donors.
So here’s three reasons to have confidence that your time and donations will be well spent by supporting charity: water.
1. STORYTELLING: One of the great challenges for non-profits face is to become effective storytellers, and perhaps no other charity has done a better job of bringing their mission and purpose to life than charity: water with their wonderful films and advertising campaigns which have enlisted the support of partner brands. This bodes very well for their future success.
2. TRANSPARENCY: charity: water has maintained unparalleled transparency by ensuring that 100% of people’s donations go to drilling for clean water, while using separate funds to cover their staffing and office costs. Over the last 5 years they have continued to add to that transparency so donors could have peace of mind that their dollars were being well spent. Right now that includes using the web and GPS location technology that allows people to actually see where the wells are being dug by donor dollars. As the film above explains, that will soon extend to seeing where the new drilling rig is located as well as the work that it’s doing.
3. AMBITION: charity: water has demonstrated a consistent breadth of ambition that matches the scale of the water crisis that the developing world faces. It takes such a rare blend of madness, inspiration and work ethic to make such a goal possible and they have it in spades.
charity: water is comprised of people who are deeply committed to achieving what you want for others in their lifetimes: clean water and everything that makes possible. Please watch this film and share it. Help them buy their first drilling rig. Help them make this the first of a fleet of rigs changing the lives of millions. And make a donation by clicking here. Congratulations to the entire team at charity: water for their amazing five years of work.
