An evening with Scott Harrison of charity: water

Lately I've noticed this new wave of rockstars in our culture. I like to call them the Rockstars of Giving.  They've got success, they've got lots of fans, they mingle with celebs, but most importantly they've got the most inspiring Living by Giving stories, which in my world is what gives them rockstar status.   A couple of weeks ago, I got to meet one rockstar, Blake MyCoskie, of TOMS Shoes.  Continuing on my tour, last night I got a chance to spend an evening with Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water. (Thanks to two of my fav Rockstars of Giving: Dan and Garrett!) 

Ten years ago, you would have found Scott Harrison hanging out with the uber-wealthy and the uber-celebrity as one of New York's top club promoters.  A decision to take a year of his life and dedicate it to helping others overseas, changed the course of his future for good.  No longer drinking the finest Cristal, Scott embarked on a mission around clean water for all.  Three years ago, he formalized his concept and started charity: water.

After this small gathering with friends, I came away entertained, inspired, and newly informed of just how vital his business and the movement following him is to our global community. The guy is as passionate about water, as rockstars are about their music.  Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s one in eight of us! charity:water is a solution to the crisis through its mission to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

What makes Scott a unique social entrepreneur is that as he launched his socially-driven business model, he knew he wanted to build a charitable company that answered all of the speculation and criticism often thrown around by his friends..."How much of my donation goes to the project vs. overhead costs?"  " How do I know my donation is making a difference?"  Scott's answer was two-fold: he would guarantee that 100% of public donations would go to his projects, and his non-profit would be as transparent as possible.  (You can find his financial statements visibly posted on the website.)

In three years, he has not only stuck to his word, but he has reached unimanigable success.  Here are some of my favorite things I learned:

-- With five weeks of operating $$ in the bank, Scott's dream was almost over after its first year.  But thanks to a $1m gift from the Founder of Bebo, instead of closing the door, his venture took off at an amazing pace. (Can you imagine receiving that email? I dream of it.)

-- I love their Birthday campaign. They have developed a tool on their website that allows people to set-up pages for their birthday and ask friends and family to donate in honor of the big day.  Celebs such as Alyssa Milano have even participated. You can start your page here: http://mycharitywater.org/p/signin

-- Since 2006, get this...charity: water has funded the construction of more than 2,321 projects that, when completed, will provide clean drinking water to over 1,000,000 people.  $20 can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years.

Check out this cool PSA with Jennifer Connelly:

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