We’re turning six. To celebrate, we launched the September Campaign to bring clean water to the people of Rwanda.
From tragedy to triumph, Rwandans have rebuilt their country faster than anyone thought possible. Now, they’re working to give clean water to every single person. You can help.
Since we didn’t get to introduce our Summer interns when they began, we’re taking this opportunity to give them a great big THANK YOU. We’re pretty sure they’re the hardest working group of students and recent grads that any organization could ask for, and we’re sad to see them go. What’s next? Find out below.
I’d love to continue using my design skills to draw attention to and promote the message of good causes.
I love contributing to the charity: water mission – it’s so fulfilling to have my work be part of a bigger picture. The team is passionate about everything they do, so the spirit of this place is contagious. And, of course, sitting next to Greg each day is a dream.*
(*That last one was not strongly suggested AT ALL.)
I’m not leaving! I’ve gotten too attached to charity: water and will happily continuing to work here as I finish up my degree.
Love on donors. Motivate others to bring justice for those in need. Witness the end of the water crisis. I know, I’m a pretty ambitious chick.
Hands down, special acknowledgments. Throughout my internship, I came to realize that our donors are our heroes, and we’re their sidekicks! The efforts of our contributors never cease to amaze me and put hope into charity. I get to send out welcome packages and write thank you letters to these awesome people. And this goes without saying, but the dev team – best part.
To be determined. Stay tuned!
Type Designer (But seriously? Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Tester. C’mon, who wouldn’t?)
Anytime I get to talk to charity: water staff about what projects they are working on; there’s almost always something interesting going on, and it’s great to hear about what they are doing.
Headed back to school this semester!
I care more about the mission and values of the organization I work for than my specific role there… but I’d love to be a liaison between a health-focused nonprofit and the population it works with.
I have loved the incredible conversations, because everyone always has really insightful input even when a conversation has nothing to do with an individual’s specific role. I think that all of the collective brainstorming is a huge part of why charity: water is so successful. I also love the collective charity: water sense of humor, even if it means hearing the occasional bad joke.
Graduate from Barnard with a degree in Sociology and Human Rights, possibly attend public health graduate school, and enjoy every bit of living in New York while I’m at it!
To be the CEO of my own nonprofit organization
The people! Not just the people in the office, though they are incredibly amazing, but also our donors and partners. Everyone that is a part of charity: water, even in the smallest ways, are what have made my experience at charity: water one of the best experiences of my life.
I’ll keep you guys posted…
Make a difference! I don’t 100% know how or where or when, but I know I want to make a difference in the lives of as many people as possible.
Being surrounded by the most passionate and dedicated people who all have the same goal: end the water crisis. Spending my days with our staff and interns has reinforced why I fell in love with charity: water and its mission in the first place. Well, that, and coming into a relaxed office, getting work done while sitting on a comfy (donated) couch every day hasn’t been too shabby either!
Attend my final year at Penn State while remaining crazy passionate about the water crisis by spreading awareness and raising funds for charity: water through the club I founded — appropriately known as charity: water Penn State!
The environment in the office is amazing, and I’m so glad to be working with such cool people who are just FILLED with joy and integrity. I’ve learned so much about what the people on the inside of an organization have to do, believe, and stand for as individuals and as a team. Any kind of real change or growth works from the inside out.
Not exactly sure (though SO STOKED for whatever it is) — definitely finishing up school and definitely getting to know God and His dreams for my life.
In one night, EastLake Community Church raised $709,034 for charity: water. At Drinks4Drinks, a benefit concert, Pastor Ryan Meeks jokingly suggested they reversed the first miracle of Jesus by turning wine into water.
The Herding Cats warm up the crowd at Drinks4Drinks.
The EastLake community underwrote the entire event so they could uphold our 100% model and send every penny of the funds raised that night straight to the field. With it, we’ll help our partners, Samaritan’s Purse, teach families in Cambodia to build their own biosand filters (BSFs). We’ll also train communities on health, sanitation, and hygiene and show them how to take care of those filters for years to come.
In 2010, a church we’d never heard of popped up on our radar. They were trying to raise $16,000 to build wells through a campaign called Drinks4Drinks. That year, they went on to raise over $400,000, giving clean water to 12,500 people in Central African Republic. (Check out their water projects.)
In December 2011, EastLake was the biggest sponsor of our annual charity: ball and gave $100,000 to fund our operations. Twenty-eight church members flew to New York to attend the event and rushed the stage during the live auction, promising to match Tyler Perry’s $500,000 pledge to fund water projects in Cambodia.
On August 3, 2012, EastLake hosted their second Drinks4Drinks to raise the $500,000 they pledged in December. Over 2,700 people packed the church hall that had been converted into a concert venue, decorated with LED lights and a four-foot tall disco ball. The parking lot was transformed into a biergarten serving local brews to the jeans and T-shirt-clad crowd, many of whom hadn’t set foot in a church for years.
In between sets by the cover band, The Herding Cats, Pastors Ryan Meeks and Jeremy Johnson hosted a live auction. At the end of the night they had raised enough to provide 54,541 people in Cambodia with access to clean water and exceeded their goal by $209,034!
But this isn’t a one-off event. EastLake has woven charity: water into their ministry and mission. This “church for the rest of us” makes clean water projects a budget line item and gives $5 to charity: water in honor of every first-time visitor. They even have two foosball tables in the children’s ministry area that cost 25 cents per game–all proceeds go to charity: water.
Pastor Ryan, easily moved to tears, urges his church to be “doers of the Word [the Bible] and not hearers only.” EastLake will continue to fundraise as a community though campaigns started on Drinks4Drinks.com through the end of the year.
-Stacie Zellmer, School and Faith Liaison
charity: water
People get excited about our mission. They like knowing they can participate in solving the water crisis – through money, fundraising, sharing the charity: water story. And they like seeing their contribution in action.
Talenthouse thought this made us a great fit for one of their Creative Invites. Dedicated to giving artists a chance to determine their own creative destinies, they asked members of their community to take a shot at designing a charity: water T-shirt.
186 people took up the challenge. charity: water staff and guest judge, John Vechey, picked this winning design by Jeremy Sanford for its clever use of our icons and overall brand fit.
The runners up were designed by Andres Moreno,
and Michael Achleitner.
What happens when you hit up your boss for a donation to his own charity? Dani and Mohini found out: he makes a ridiculous request, and you comply with a smile.
Two months into their mycharity: water campaign, Chipotle Challenge, the girls were suffering withdrawals from their favorite food. But they’ve given it up until they reach $5,000 for a clean water project, so they asked Scott to help.
Nearly everyone in the office had pitched in. Most folks gave the cost of a typical Chipotle meal. Some, in solidarity, actually gave up their own favorite food and donated what they would have spent. (Jasdeep, one of our developers, skipped his croissant and coffee stop for one month and donated $109.50 to the Chipotle Challenge. Paull Young, Director of Digital, on the other hand, ate a giant Chipotle burrito in front of Dani and donated in proportion to his eating enjoyment – $100.)
Scott, however, pledged $200. With a catch–that Dani and Mohini wear outfits made of aluminum foil for a day.
Ladies and gentlemen, we present: FOIL FASHION!
And they didn’t stop there. Check out this amazing spoof Dani, in full foil fashion, did of Gotye’s “Someone That I Used to Know.”
DESIGNED BY
DEVELOPED BY
