Charity Water is a perfect example of a non-profit using all the best new technologies and media outlets to further its cause. They have a long list of celebrities behind them and even better, empowering fund raising methods.
Scott Harrison had a foot in each world, working in communications (and NY nightclubs) and then as a volunteer photojournalist. In 2006 he founded Charity: Water to promote "simple things that work. Things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters. For about $20 a person (the price of a bottle of the Charity's water) , we know how to help millions of people." Now he has started a new campaign, to bring clean, safe water to the people of Ethiopia. It is an unusual idea- if your birthday is in September (as is his) ask for donations instead of presents. 33 bucks, because that his how old Scott is this year.
Running a campaign to raise money focused on the founder's birth month and age sounds strangely narcissistic. Yet the campaigns work because they are simple ideas, powerfully expressed with some of the best video I have seen. (Watch the trailer for the September Birthday campaign and tell me you aren't impressed and moved.) http://www.charitywater.org/birthdays/intro/trailer.html
They know how to work a camera and make it work for them:
"When we started charity: water, the first thing we did was build a well, and take a picture of it. Then we told the story of the lives changed in that community to everyone back home. We've been doing that ever since. We want to show the immense need for clean water, and how that looks, really, not through statistics or numbers, but by looking at individual lives it affects. We've found this is our most powerful tool. Armed with a Nikon D200, we send photographers into the field to document the work being done, and to bring back proof once it's finished. Along with GPS coordinates and photos of every well, they usually bring back phenomenal stories of lives changed and communities revived."
Scott Harrison had a foot in each world, working in communications (and NY nightclubs) and then as a volunteer photojournalist. In 2006 he founded Charity: Water to promote "simple things that work. Things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters. For about $20 a person (the price of a bottle of the Charity's water) , we know how to help millions of people." Now he has started a new campaign, to bring clean, safe water to the people of Ethiopia. It is an unusual idea- if your birthday is in September (as is his) ask for donations instead of presents. 33 bucks, because that his how old Scott is this year.
Running a campaign to raise money focused on the founder's birth month and age sounds strangely narcissistic. Yet the campaigns work because they are simple ideas, powerfully expressed with some of the best video I have seen. (Watch the trailer for the September Birthday campaign and tell me you aren't impressed and moved.) http://www.charitywater.org/birthdays/intro/trailer.html
They know how to work a camera and make it work for them:
"When we started charity: water, the first thing we did was build a well, and take a picture of it. Then we told the story of the lives changed in that community to everyone back home. We've been doing that ever since. We want to show the immense need for clean water, and how that looks, really, not through statistics or numbers, but by looking at individual lives it affects. We've found this is our most powerful tool. Armed with a Nikon D200, we send photographers into the field to document the work being done, and to bring back proof once it's finished. Along with GPS coordinates and photos of every well, they usually bring back phenomenal stories of lives changed and communities revived."
topics:
Earth and Science,
Environment,
Science,
Technology,
Climate Change,
Education,
Design,
Water,
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- vavavicky
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- added August 19, 2008
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