Charity: Water is a non-profit organization dedicated to tackling the global water crisis. Founded in 2006 by club promoter Scott Harrison, the charity has since raised over $300 million to fund projects providing water to people in developing countries.[1]
A young girl holds two glasses of water, one dirty and one clean. Charity: Water aim to ensure people across the globe are able to access clean water, always. Charity: Water, with permission
The Global Water Crisis
Access to clean water and adequate sanitation is a fundamental human right. However, as of August 2024, 703 million people globally do not have access to clean water and 1.69 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation.[2] This leads to the spread of diseases like cholera, diarrhea, and dysentery, which are fatal to more than 1,000 infants under the age of five every day. Many women and girls around the world are left with the burden of walking an average of six kilometers to collect water; collectively, they spend around 200 million hours walking for water a day. It also has a detrimental effect on girls’ education, as many are forced out of education when they begin menstruating if their school is unable to provide access to clean water and sanitation.[3]
Charity: Water, with permissionA woman collects water from a pail of unclean water.
Early Beginnings
New York City club promoter Scott Harrison witnessed the effects of the global water crisis when volunteering in the Republic of Liberia in 2004 with Mercy Ships.[4] In 2006 he returned to NYC from his trip inspired to make a change and founded Charity: Water, working from his tiny apartment in Manhattan with a small group.[5] Their mission? To raise enough money to fund clean water projects in developing countries all over the world.
Help From the Tech World
Trying to gain more traction for the charity, Harrison knew he needed to utilize the quickly-developing technology available to him and reached out to tech giants such as Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg and Bebo’s Michael Birch for advice.[6] Inspired by Charity: Water’s mission, Michael Birch responded, offering to redesign the charity’s website, donate $1 million towards the cause, and introduce Harrison to other tech moguls that might be willing to help.
It wasn’t long before many figures in the tech world got involved, captured by Harrison’s unique charity model. Harrison emphasized the importance of transparency when working as a non-profit organization; every project built is done so with a GPS tag and is linked to Google maps, meaning donors are able to see exactly what the money is funding. Not only this, but donors can see how much each project cost, which of Charity: Water’s partners built it, and which community is benefiting from it.[7]
Charity: Water, with permissionA group pose after building a water project funded by Charity: Water.
Big Milestones
Since it was founded, Charity: Water has funded 154,000 water projects in 29 countries,[8] and raised more than $300 million from more than one million individual donors.[9] 18,608,090 people have benefited from the projects funded by Charity: Water.[10]
Charity: Water, with permissionA young woman drinks clean water from an installation built by a partner of Charity: Water.
Use their interactive map to see where those people are around the world.
The 2024 Charity: Water Tiny Heroes
Each year, Charity: Water celebrates young heroes who have raised money to provide clean drinking water to children and their families on the other side of the world. Charity: Water’s 2024 Tiny Heroes are Hudson and Curren Graves from Hawaii, Miles Honeycutt from Indiana, and Betty Tudor-Hocking from East Sussex in the United Kingdom. Hudson and Curren Graves, upon learning about Charity: Water’s work, set up a stand at their local farmer’s market at which customers could take part in activities and purchase note cards painted by the siblings. The pair had a goal of raising $4,000 for the charity but surpassed their goal, raising $6,300 for Charity: Water. Miles Honeycutt decided that instead of asking for gifts for himself for his tenth birthday, he would ask his friends and family for monetary donations that he could give to Charity: Water; he raised $800. Betty Tudor-Hocking learned about how harmful dirty water is to people that have no choice but to use it and decided to give away her favorite toys to raise funds to help. She raised over $100.[11]
Explore more of Charity: Water’s Tiny Heroes here.
[1] Clifford, Catherine. How Charity: Water’s founder went from hard-partying NYC club promoter to helping 8 million people around the world. [Online] Available https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/22/how-scott-harrison-founded-charity-water.html. 2018.
[2] Omer, Sevil. Global water crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. [Online] Available https://www.worldvision.org/clean-water-news-stories/global-water-crisis-facts. 2024.
[3] Ibid.
[4] https://www.charitywater.org/uk/about/scott-harrison-story
[5] Ibid.
[6] Bertoni, Steven. How Charity: Water Won Over The Tech World. [Online] Available https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2013/12/19/how-charity-water-won-over-the-tech-world/. 2014.
[7] Ibid.
[8] https://www.charitywater.org/uk/our-work
[9] Clifford, 2018.
Page created on 8/26/2024 4:26:55 PM
Last edited 8/27/2024 6:56:12 PM
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