Water.org for the Public Good

water.org is a non-profit organization and its social good initiative aims to break the cycle of poverty to achieve global equality by providing access to clean water to more than 4 million people around the world that lack water and sanitation access. Water.org works alongside in-country partners such as Caterpillar, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and Bank of America in strategic alliances to help finance and provide safe water access to communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

This non-profit collects online donations and there are also branches off of water.org, specifically “Water for Ethiopia” run by author and youtuber John Green aiming to reach $100,000 in donations to establish clean water access in Ethiopia. The interesting aspect of Water for Ethiopia being a smaller branch of water.org, is that the non-profit company was supported by social media followers of the youtube brothers John and Hank Green. These followers are part of a collective community called “NerdFighters” that align together to help propel social change in real communities using support from social media. The Water for Ethiopia cause gained such a large amount of momentum media-wise that Bill Gates offered to match the funding if NerdFighters raised $100,000 for Ethiopia — which they did! Water for Ethiopia raised $326,438.33 and achieved its goal.

John Green paired with the Gates Foundation to visit Ethiopia and raise awareness about the safe water and sanitation needs of Ethiopia through his Youtube channel, which reached his NerdFighter audience and thus creating and growing a potentially financially supportive audience. I think utilizing a famous youtube platform counts as creating a specific audience and strengthening big data connections through audiences and organizations that are likely to support non-profit funding.

water.org is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and meets the Council of Better Business Bureau’s Standards for Charitable Solicitations and provides their annual fiscal reporting, IRS Form 990s, and audited Financial Statements online. water.org has a WaterCredit Investment Fund 1 (WCIF1) to provide lower costs and dedicated loan capital to its highest performing WaterCredit partners in India. WaterCredit is partnered with water.org to help sustain the organization in local commercial and social investment capital for water and sanitation lending.

I think it’s a great campaign that is tied to some really large company and individual names that’s trying to make a difference in the world. I learned about water.org through John Green’s youtube channel and even though I didn’t contribute, I found the reaction of audiences to this cause to be very impressive. Gathering social awareness about social good initiatives by utilizing a media platform, as shown by Water for Ethiopia exceeding its fundraising goal thanks to online support, shows that online fundraising may be the fastest growing way to implement real-world change.