Rob Eshman

July 27, 2010

Charity: Effective

By Rob Eshman

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Scott Harrison flipped open his MacBook Pro, spun it around and launched PowerPoint. The laptop sat in the middle of a conference table, and a dozen invited guests leaned in to see the photographs appearing on his screen. Harrison narrated.

The first photo showed Harrison, a lanky man with Midwestern good looks, then 28 years old, in a New York bar. He was a sandwiched between other denizens of the night, two women and a pony-tailed man, and his wrist was tilted unnaturally outward, so the photographer would catch the Toyota-sized Rolex he was wearing.

This was taken a few years ago, after Harrison had left his strict Christian upbringing to become a wealthy nightclub promoter in Manhattan, selling VIP access and $5,000 bottles of Cristal champagne. Harrison woke up not long after that picture was taken and decided there must be more to life. He joined a floating surgical ship called Mercy Ships, which delivers medical services to some of the neediest places on earth, and soon found himself face to face with the horrors of poverty and underdevelopment. At this point, the PowerPoint photos, taken from some 50,000 Harrison shot while on Mercy Corps, show young women with facial tumors the size of volleyballs. “After 40 minutes of surgery, they’re cured,” Harrison said. “They have their lives back.”

Harrison learned that 80 percent of the diseases in the world are caused by lack of clean water and sanitation. On the laptop, Harrison flashed a photo he’d taken of village women “purifying” water by straining it through folded-over pieces of old cloth. The end result is murky brown. The next slide showed a microscopic analysis of that same water, crawling with parasites and bacteria. Harrison learned that the cost of a simple well that can provide fresh water to an entire village of 250 people and eradicate water-borne diseases is $5,000 — the same as the price of a bottle of Cristal in one of his nightclubs. The cost worked out to about $20 per person per village. Harrison returned to New York and used his networks and talent to create an organization with one single-minded purpose — to build those wells.

And this is where the story becomes really interesting. Because if you check Charity Navigator, an organization that evaluates America’s charities, you’ll find that everybody and his mother, from American Jewish World Service to Matt Damon (really), is trying to do something about the world water crisis. But in just three years, Charity: Water has provided 1.5 million people with fresh, clean water in 17 countries through 2,500 water projects. It has raised $21 million from 100,000 donors and effectively raised awareness of the water crisis among millions of Americans. “[Charity: Water] is doing it faster, better and cheaper than anyone else,” former Charity Navigator CEO Trent Stamp wrote. “It’s one of the best groups I’ve ever seen. And quite frankly, in this job, I’ve seen a lot of groups.”

So this isn’t just a story about water and Scott Harrison’s redemption; it’s about how to address a desperate need in today’s world. Harrison’s polished PowerPoint presentation is an object lesson in effective contemporary philanthropy — which is why, though neither he nor his organization is Jewish, the people who gathered to hear him last week were rabbis and leaders of local Jewish agencies. The man has a lot to teach us.

He boiled down his message on how to quickly create an effective charity to three points:

1. Create Trust.

Harrison found that most of his friends didn’t believe charities use their money in the way they promised. So Harrison resolved that Charity: Water would use every donor dollar given to dig wells, to dig wells. He created two bank accounts, one for the organization’s low overhead, sponsored by a handful of private donors and foundations, the other for actual projects.


2. Prove It.

His friends wanted to see how their money was being used. Harrison used GPS technology and Google Earth to show each project from the start. It’s an emotionally satisfying way to “close the loop” between a donor in Kansas and the well she funded in Ethiopia.


3. Brand Excellence.

Harrison’s models weren’t other charities but his generation’s most famous brands, like Nike and Apple. “I didn’t want to create the best Web site in the nonprofit world,” Harrison said. “I wanted to create the best Web site in the world.” Charity: Water has used top Hollywood talent (donated) to create captivating PSAs and viral Web-based marketing campaigns. His goal is not to own the charity market, but to solve the water problem — and that will require an exponential leap.

“We’ve solved one-thousandth of the problem,” Harrison said. “We need to raise $2 billion in the next 10 years. That’s a 60 percent ramp-up — that’s Facebook or Google.”

When he finished talking, a good many people in the room were ready to help him — passion aligned with purpose and competence is an aphrodisiac in the nonprofit world.

One of Harrison’s final slides showed a group of villagers surrounding a well-digging drill. On screen, the PowerPoint slide suddenly starts moving, becomes a short film clip. Water gushes from a pipe and sprays the villagers, the cameraman — the world turns wet, and a huge cheer erupts.

“It’s awesome when you hit water 300 feet down,” Harrison said. “It’s fun to take pictures of.”

A version of this article appeared in print.

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Yes, Scott Harrison has done an amazing job with great contacts & creativity.  Here in the Journal’s own backyard, Wells Bring Hope, with Gil Garcetti, is raising money to drill wells in Niger, W. Africa, the poorest country in the world—34 to date, using donor $$ only for wells. All donations are matched, $ for $. Please join our cause!

Comment by Barbara Goldberg on 8/03/10 at 2:39 pm

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