To be a social entrepreneur, one must have a passion, a calling, and a lot of determination. Nonprofit organizations often rely on other people’s giving to fund an idea, and in order to run a nonprofit, one must have the charisma that is necessary in order to inspire consumers to give to a cause. One social entrepreneur that has this ability, and has been running one of the world’s largest nonprofits for the past decade is Scott Harrison. Harrison is the founder of charity: water, which is a charity whose main goal is to provide clean drinking water to countries where it is scarce.

While Scott Harrison is a successful and inspiring entrepreneur today, he never planned to be. He grew up New Jersey with his mother and father in a suburban neighborhood. His mother was exposed to carbon monoxide in their home, and because of this, she grew very ill. Harrison spent much of his childhood taking care of his mother, since her immune was very weak. He has mentioned in interviews years later that taking care of his mother is what sparked his interest in helping people in need. When Harrison was eighteen, he enrolled at New York University. He majored in communications, however he never really knew what he wanted to do as a career after college. Harrison didn’t take college very seriously, earning mostly C’s and spending most of his time causing trouble rather than doing his work. After college, he started his career as a nightclub promoter in New York City. He spent the following decade throwing parties for big-name companies like VH1 and MTV, earning a small fortune. This lifestyle ultimately led Harrison to become involved with hard drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine.

When Scott Harrison was twenty-eight, he went on a vacation to Uruguay, where he had something of an epiphany. While he was there, he realized that the lifestyle he was living was selfish and worthless. In later interviews, he has mentioned that during this time in his life, he felt like he was the absolute worst person that he knew.

When Harrison got back to the United States, he quit his job, and started volunteering as a photojournalist for Mercy Ships, which is a Christian organization which provides free healthcare for those in need. Through Mercy Ships, Harrison got the opportunity to travel all around Africa on mission trips. While on these trips, he was exposed to the harsh conditions of those countries, and was especially shocked by the lack of drinking water that some countries had. It was through being exposed to these intensely harsh conditions that Harrison found God’s calling for him. He concluded that he would devote all of his time into starting an organization to help these countries obtain clean drinking water.

In order to start this organization, which he would eventually name, charity: water, Harrison quit volunteering at Mercy Ships, and returned to his apartment in New York City. On Harrison’s thirty-first birthday, he threw a massive party at the Tenjune Nighclub in New York City in order to raise money to start charity: water. He charged each guest twenty dollars to get into the club, and in that single night, he raised a total of $15,000. Ever since that night, charity: water has grown to become a massive nonprofit that helps thousands of people in foreign countries every year. Since its establishment, charity: water has provided nearly six million people with clean drinking water.

Scott Harrison never expected to work as a missionary, to start a charity that would help millions, or even become an entrepreneur. However, through listening to God’s calling for him, he was able to acheive all of these things, and do them in a way that brought glory to God. Harrison is still working as the founder of charity: water, and on the side, he speaks to people around the world, telling his story. Through being a powerful social entrepreneur, Scott Harrison has changed the world in a positive way.