The Foundation
The story of Scott Harrison, founder of the organization charity: water, does not begin like the stories of the average social entrepreneur. Scott spent the first 10 years of his adult life as a night club promoter in New York City. His life consisted of striving after more money, more status and better parties.
At age 28, Scott had the realization that the life he was living was not only unfulfilling, but destructive to himself and the people by whom he was surrounded. Scott describes his revelation as follows: “I was the worst person I knew…I was emotionally bankrupt, I was spiritually bankrupt. Everything I had as a value I walked away from…. There [wasn’t] a single redemptive thing about my life.”
Scott, after a process of returning to Christ, decided to begin applying for positions at various charities. He started questioning what he could do to give back and live the exact opposite of the life he had lived before. He asked himself:
“What if I tried to serve God?… What if I actually served others?…What if I give back 1 of the 10 years and serve?”
After being rejected from every nonprofit to which he had applied, Scott was finally given the opportunity to work with Mercy Ships, an organization that provides surgeries on the coast of Africa from a boat-turned-hospital. Scott spent two years with them as a photographer, documenting every surgery and subsequent transformation that took place.
During a gap year, Scott returned to New York and held a photo show displaying the images he had captured over that first year. The show raised $100,000, 100% of which went to Mercy Ships.
Not only was he extremely impacted by the work that God was doing through Mercy Ships, but he also sought a solution to the root problems of the Mercy Ship patients, many of whom suffered from severe tumors and infections. Scott discovered that 80% of the illnesses that these people suffered from were caused by lack of clean water.
Although Scott was ashamed of his past life choices, he utilized his connections by hosting his 31st birthday party charging $20 admission to 700 of his friends. He earned $15,000 in one night. He used this initial capital to build 3 wells in Northern Uganda and repair 3 others. Charity: water had begun.
The Model
As Scott Harrison set out on the journey to start his own nonprofit, he wanted to reform the way charities are set up. Firstly, he wanted to change the answer to the question “How much of my money will actually go to the actual cause?” For charity: water, the answer to that question, from the beginning, is and has always been 100%.
The second aspect of charity he wanted to incorporate was the ability for contributors to see exactly where their money is going. To do this, charity: water tracks the GPS location of each well that is excavated, making the specific wells available to view through Google Earth. Charity: water also tracks which donations are funding which project.
Other innovative campaigns such as a mobile exhibit that displayed dirty water in tanks as well as gave information about water 
quality around the world, have been utilized by this organization. Said exhibit would be set up in different parks in New York City, to educate as well as fund-raise by selling $20 water bottles to support the organization.
One of charity: water’s main sources of donations is through a campaign called “birthdays”, which began with Scott’s idea to send out an email asking for $32 (the age he was turning) from each individual as a donation to charity water. He raised $59,000, only a year after he had started charity: water. Supporters of charity water can now do the same through the charity: water website.
The Impact
Since its establishment charity: water has funded 9,015 water projects, providing 3,300,000 people with clean water, in 20 countries. Its renown and impact are growing every day, especially with a focus on design and marketing as well as authenticity and transparency as a nonprofit. To learn more visit their website or watch the interview with Scott Harrison below:
charitywater.org
http://youtu.be/yPLcMSpYisg
Not only an awesome business model setup, but an incredible testimony! I think two of the best things he did was show his donors exactly where there money was going, and use everyday opportunities to raise money. When people can see that there money is going to a specific town and how the project is going, they are much more likely to trust an organization. I also am impressed by how he raised funds through his birthday, generating that much money simply by switching gifts for donations. If we all lived life like that, the world would be a much better place.
I really like this non-profit. I like that he turned an old lifestyle into a way to raise money. I love that after a rough time in his life he turned everything around and became such an influential person. It is amazing that all the money he raises goes towards his projects. I love that he decided to dig even deeper into the problems that the Mercy Ship had to fix. He realized that the people wouldn’t need these surgeries if they had clean water.
Wow. Fantastic story. He started out living one way until he took a step back, found a real problem and did something about it–for the right reasons. He wanted not only to change people’s lives, but more importantly, he wanted to preserve them.