5 Lessons From Charity: Water's Success

This September, charity: water, a New York-based nonprofit providing clean water in 24 countries, had its 10th birthday. I realize it’s odd to talk about an organization having a birthday, but a birthday is at the heart of charity: water’s founding and its trailblazing fundraising strategies.

Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water, launched it with a birthday fundraiser 10 years ago, raising $15,000 from friends and family for a water project in Northern Uganda. Scott committed to go to the project site, take photos and show his skeptical supporters that the well was built and functioning. Crowdfunding and radical transparency.