But in light of the attacks that occurred in Brussels this morning, we’ve decided to pause the launch of our 10th anniversary campaign.
Moments like this remind us how small the world is, how fragile life is, and how lucky we are to have the people we love. And it doesn’t feel right to ask you to give your thoughts, heart, or attention to anything other than those affected by these attacks.
We’ll continue the conversation about water soon. Today, we’re taking a step back, hugging our families and friends a little tighter, and sending all of our love to Brussels and everyone else suffering around the world.
World Water Day is one of our favorite days of the year. It always inspires us to see the way our community floods the Internet with the hope of clean water.
This World Water Day, we introduced people to Nora, a six-year-old who mailed charity: water $8.15 from her piggy bank because she “wanted people to stop dying.” We were so moved by her compassion and generosity that we centered our World Water Day campaign around growing her impact.
The response was awesome. Over 3,600 people joined her in giving and raised enough money to bring clean water to more than 2,500 people in need.
It wasn’t just one-time donations that made this day successful, but also our community of corporate supporters that found unique ways to make a difference. This year, we were thrilled to see the community use their brands to raise awareness and funds for clean water.
Here’s what they did to change lives…
Corkcicle created a limited edition charity: water bottle and donated $8.15 for each one sold. They also surprised every charity: water staff and intern with their own!
1,000 folks made their dentist (and us!) proud by purchasing Quip’slimited edition yellow metallic toothbrush featuring our beloved Jerry Can. They committed to donating $8.15 for each one sold, and even matched that for a total of $16.30 per brush. The best part? They sold out!
InStitchu has a range of (8) suits with custom charity: water lining donating $150 of the proceeds and one navy suit, The Tetbury, where they will be donating $30 of proceeds.
Getty Images and FCB Chicago launched Watermarks for Water, a collection of images that highlight the global water crisis. Getty Images will donate 10% of every licensing fee from the collection of images to charity: water. They also celebrated the launch of this campaign by showcasing some of these photos in a NYC gallery on World Water Day.
Aura launched another limited edition digital picture frame: the Crystal Blue Frame. Aura created 750 of them and will donate $60 for each one sold. They’re engraved with the charity: water logo, and Aura will keep you connected to your impact by sending photos and stories of our work straight to your frame.
Quirky launched a Water Changes Everything invention challenge to inspire people to invent an everyday product that promotes responsible water use. Once the invention is produced and on the market, they’ve committed to donating a portion of the profit to charity: water.
Nautica encouraged their customers to “Give Change to Make Change” for charity: water and generously matched the first $5,000 raised.
Gundry MD used their popular newsletter to share Nora’s story with their fans and directed them to our World Water Day site. The email alone generated 627 donations totaling more than $10,000 and 25 new Spring members.
Clothing company Warp and Weft gave it their all on World Water Day by donating 100% of their proceeds that day to charity: water.
Finally, a special shoutout to our friends that showed us some love on social media to lift this cause a little higher:
Endless thanks to each and every brand that cares about this cause and uses their platform to help more people receive access to clean and safe drinking water!
If you’re interested in partnering with us, please email corporategiving@charitywater.org
Today is World Water Day. It’s a day when we can be thankful for the clean water coming out of our taps and turn the world’s attention to the 800 million people still living without access to clean water.
And that’s our plan.
We’ve got a whole bunch of exciting things in store this year — and support from a lot of awesome people. Here’s a little sneak peek of what’s to come:
Installation in Times Square
We’re raising awareness about the water crisis by setting up a Waterwalk in Times Square. Millions of people around the world walk hours each day to collect dirty water, so we’re asking people to walk a fraction of the distance to experience it for themselves. If you’re in New York City, come check it out.We’ll be located in Duffy Square (between 45th and 47th Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue) between 2pm and 7pm.
Jerry Cans Around the World
Our incredible network of volunteers will be out in full force tomorrow. In elementary schools and on the Atlanta Beltway, delivering PSAs and hosting their own Waterwalks. We shipped Jerry cans to friends all over the world to help make a scene. It’s going to be great. Keep an eye on our Facebook,Twitter and Instagram feeds to see some of that in action.
Birthday Stories
More than anything this year, we want as many people as possible to pledge their birthday to clean water projects. So we’ve created some video inspiration and pulled together all of our favorite stories to inspire you. Take a look at the brand new charitywater.org/birthdays!
TEDxRVA
There are also some really cool events happening. Like TEDx on Friday night in Richmond, Virginia — which will include the installation above, as well as a Waterwalk through the city.
We’re excited. It’s going to be a pretty amazing day — and hopefully an impactful one. You can join us by pledging your birthday or donating right now!
Thousands of you took part in InstaMeets around the world this past World Water Day. You came out in groups. You got creative with Jerry Cans. You brought children and giant balloons and flags and smoke bombs. You climbed jungle gyms and mountainsides. You waded into water. And best of all, you helped us remind the world that 748 million people still lack access to clean water on this planet.
We saw hundreds and hundreds of your photos, and we just want to say thank you. Thank you for giving up part of your weekend. Thank you for celebrating community. And thank you for lending your creativity to this cause. You make our work possible!
Water is powerful. It can be beautiful and brutal, cleansing and contaminated, lethal and life-giving. Whatever it’s form, water is essential to life.
This Sunday is World Water Day. And we’re speaking up for the #748million people who don’t have access to clean water.
There are three things you can do to help!
1. Share the video
Help spark a conversation about the abundance and scarcity of water in our world by sharing our video with your friends and family.
2. Join an Instameet
Go to one of Instagram’s Worldwide InstaMeets this weekend, and make it about water. Tag your photos with #748million. Rally your friends to do the same.
Or join one of ours! We’re hosting more than 20 of our own InstaMeets around the world to help raise awareness about the water crisis. Check out the list…you’re welcome at any of them.
Not a photo-taker? Feel free to use ours. We’d love to see our images on your photo stream, Facebook page, or Twitter feed. Just tag @charitywater when you post them, so we can be part of the adventure. (And use that #748million hashtag, too!)
3. Donate
Above all, the most important thing you can do to help this weekend is donate. Give someone clean water and change their life forever. No matter how much you give, 100% of your donation will fund clean water projects.
Together — this weekend — we can make a difference. Join us.
This World Water Day (Sunday, March 22nd), we’re gathering friends around the world to bring awareness to the fact that #748million people live without access to clean water, and you can help!
It’s about the contrast between the abundance and scarcity of water. We want to juxtapose photos of beautiful water destinations with a reminder that #748million people currently lack access to clean water around the world.
If you’re headed to one of Instagram’s Worldwide InstaMeets this weekend, make it about water! Tag your photos with #748million. And rally your new friends to do the same. Yes, there’s a trip to India on the line. But it’s also a huge opportunity for us to tell the world about the water crisis.
If you don’t have an InstaMeet to attend, come join one of ours! We’re partnering with friends and organizations we love to host more than 20 InstaMeets around the world on Saturday and Sunday. From Johannesburg and London to New York City and Whitefish, Montana. And you’re welcome at any of them.
Together, we’re going to make this an unforgettable year for the #748million people who lack access to clean water!
Traveling is a key component of our work here at charity: water.
Our programs team spends around 30% of their time in the field checking in with our local partners on the progress of water projects around the world. Our creative team packs up and travels abroad to meet the people we serve and collect their stories so we can connect our supporters to our work. Even our fundraising team is constantly on the road all around the US and beyond to meet with donors, attend speaking engagements, and host events.
Having the opportunity to travel and meet with our supporters, partners, and beneficiaries face to face adds so much value to the work that we do. It gives us the chance to form real relationships throughout the charity: water community and truly show them how important they are to us and our work.
That’s why we are so excited to announce the launch of our partnership with Away, an amazing travel brand founded on the idea that all trips are worth taking, and the more connections made between people, places, and ideas, the better.
We collaborated with Away to create luggage that helps support our mission of bringing clean water to people worldwide. The special edition suitcases are black with a bright charity: water-yellow zipper, co-branded handles, and a custom interior lining inspired by prints from Niger.
With every purchase of a special edition Away suitcase, $30 will be donated to charity: water. Together, we’ll give a community in need access to clean water. So not only is this luggage that helps you see the world, it helps make the world a better place too.
“We’re proud to be working with a company like Away that shares our core values of transparency and brand excellence,” our founder, Scott Harrison, said. “Our hope is that through this partnership, we can inspire the Away community and together, bring many more people clean and safe drinking water.”
The collaboration will feature Away luggage in two sizes—The Carry-On and Bigger Carry-On—and will launch on World Water Day, March 22nd.
We often talk about the burden women and young girls face every day walking miles and hours just to obtain water. Water that isn’t even clean or safe to drink. In Jerry Cans that weigh 40 pounds.
But what does 40 pounds really look like?
On World Water Day, Emergen-C® kicked off a three-year partnership with charity: water by launching the #40Pounds Challenge. This challenge aims to demonstrate the burden of collecting dirty water that people around the world have to face on a daily basis. As long as this weight has to be lifted, women and young girls will be held back from education, access to basic personal care, and safety.
The challenge is a fun and creative way to get involved and raise awareness about the water crisis. All it takes is snapping a picture holding 40 pounds of anything found around the house and uploading it to Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #40Pounds and tagging @EmergenC. There’s even a hilarious segment on Jimmy Kimmel which features our partnership and introduces the #40Pounds Challenge to the world.
In just a matter of weeks, a ton of amazing people have already gotten involved. From lifting cat litter and televisions to bags of garden soil and huge canoes, there’s been no limit to people’s creativity as they help raise awareness about the struggles women and young girls in the developing world have to face every day.
And for every picture uploaded, Emergen-C® will donate $5 to charity: water up to $50,000!
40 pounds doesn’t just represent the physical weight of a full Jerry Can. It symbolizes the overall burden people who don’t have access to clean and safe water have to carry every day. We are so thankful to Emergen-C® for not only this awesome challenge but for also helping to build a community of world-changers who are working together to raise awareness and funds to support our mission.
Thank you, Emergen-C®! We can’t wait to continue collaborating with your innovative team to help bring clean drinking water to communities in Ethiopia!
Some days we’re better at being adults than others. Today is not one of those days. Halloween justhappens to be something we’ve always taken pretty seriously at charity: water.
Highlights from our office this year include: a very lovable Garth and Kat, a very terrifying set of twins from the Shining, a human taco, some mac n cheese, Amelia Earhart, a ship captain, an ape, a viking, a Frank head and some very scrappy ninja turtles. Enjoy.
Also– did you see our Snapchat (@charitywater) this morning?!
Even the charity: water staff who’ve never met Sarah Peck know her name. She’s famous in our office. Not for the number of campaigns that she’s run or even the amount of money she’s raised… but forone very crazy promise she made years ago.
It was 2012. 28-year-old Sarah had just heard charity: water’s founder, Scott, speak at Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit, and she was fired up. She wanted to do something to help bring clean water to people in need, and there wasn’t time to wait.
Within 48 hours, Sarah had created her fundraising campaign. She set a $29,000 goal (for her 29th birthday) and announced her terms:
“If enough people donate a crazy amount of money, I promise to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco in the murky, cold waters — in nothing but my birthday suit.”
Yep. You read that correctly. Sarah Peck volunteered to swim 1.5 miles in freezing cold water, wearing only a swim cap, to raise money for clean water.
“Water is incredibly important to me because it’s what makes me feel at home. I have the luxury of splashing around in giant bodies of water and I realized that some people don’t have enough to stay clean, I want to change that.”
The first $7,000 came quickly. But soon things started to slow down. Even though $29 donations were coming in from all over the place, it still felt like the needle wasn’t moving. That’s when Sarah’s competitive side really came out.
“I made it my personal mission for several weeks to ask as many people as I could — and to ask everyone I came in contact with, whether or not I knew them! I ended up taking taxis and using the ride time to share the story, and drivers would donate my fare or a cup of coffee to the cause, and I’d translate that into donations.”
With the help of 460 donations, Sarah didn’t just reach her $29,000 goal, she surpassed it. Her final tally: $32,398. Which meant that it was time to push aside fears of sharks, tides and giant ships and fulfill her promise.
She studied tide charts, hired a boat captain, notified the Coast Guard. And on a cold day at the end of September 2012, she became a charity: water legend.
It’s fair to call it crazy. Everyone at charity: water calls it crazy. Sarah herself called it crazy.
But crazy is what makes it memorable. Crazy is what inspired hundreds of donors. And, in this case,crazy is what brought clean water to more than 650 people in Ethiopia.
“At the end of the day, my discomfort came from being cold for about an hour, and breaking through some of my social insecurities to ask people for money — that’s nothing compared to not having access to water.”
In addition to the people who took part in her campaign, and the taxi drivers and baristas she befriended, Sarah has inspired every one of us. Our slogan, “the craziest thing we can do is nothing,” was written with her in mind. And her campaign is one we will share forever.
Thank you, Sarah, for giving your voice, your time and your humility to our cause. Here’s to the crazy ones, indeed.
“The world is not transactional. Love and light are expansive. Giving isn’t part of a zero-sum game. When you give, you don’t lose — you get something else in return, and the world keeps moving.”
That’s the number of people who have gained access to clean and safe water thanks to our brand partners. We are incredibly grateful for this community of like-minded brands and their ability to raise awareness for the water crisis in powerful and creative ways.
To celebrate their work and inspire new collaborations, we hosted our third annual Brand Partnership X Summit at Canoe Studios in NYC! This year, we were joined by over 65 brands for a day of insightful conversations. We focused on innovation and what it means for our work at charity: water, in partnerships, and in the world around us. From groundbreaking sensor technology and the launch of The Pool to jewelry crafted from meteorites and sprinkle-filled rainbow cakes, we left feeling inspired to keep creating and pushing the boundaries.
Check out the highlights from this year’s event:
We are so grateful to everyone who joined us. The Summit would not have been possible without our speakers who generously gave their time to help us see how purposeful innovation can drive change. A very special thank you to:
Professor, author, and entrepreneur Scott Galloway, for showing us the importance of having a meaningful career and helping us understand our life strategies, not just business strategies.
Kristin De Simone and Sylvia Hartley, Partners at Thrive Market, for sharing the story of how Thrive Market decided to partner with charity: water and for reimagining what giving means for their brand and customers.
Simon Sinek, optimist and bestselling author, for teaching us what it means to feel fulfilled and reminding us that we need to build the future together.
Artist and designer Monique Péan, for sharing her story and inspiring us with her incredible craft and unwavering commitment to sustainability and support of local communities.
Paull Young, Partner at Facebook, for showing us what being a true partner really means and encouraging the importance of working in tandem to create change.
Amirah Kassem, baker and entrepreneur, for urging us to be our true selves and demonstrating how working hard and inspiring joy can go hand-in-hand!
Another special thank you to Canoe Studios for the beautiful space and delicious catering; Taylor Creative for the comfortable and stylish furnishings; Badger Mountain Vineyard and Sunday Beer Co for providing the wine and beer for cocktail hour; Thrive Market and Scott Galloway for helping us fill our swag bags; C2 Imaging for printing and installing the stunning branding elements; Dear Bayard for the beautiful greenery; The Spaniard for hosting our pre-event cocktail party; and all of the volunteers who worked tirelessly and joyfully to ensure the day went off without a hitch.
