In the past six years, charity:water has succeeded in bringing fresh water to more than three million people, funding nearly 9,000 local water projects in 20 countries.
Vice-president of growth Yukari Matsuzawa MBA '05 joined charity:water after four years helping Twitter and Google expand their reach in Japan. Matsuzawa’s current role brings her to communities in need of water across four continents, fulfilling the organization’s ambitious role to be the funding clearinghouse for all water projects worldwide.
"I joined this organization because I saw the potential in how the 100% model, proof and brand enables everyone to make a difference in this water crisis," Matsuzawa says.
Touting a no-overhead model with dedicated donors covering admin fees, charity:water crowdsources both its donor base and its water projects, letting potential donors create accounts, manage campaigns, and creatively fundraise while doing much the same for potential water projects. When a project that donors have helped fund from my.charitywater accounts reaches completion, they are sent coordinates and aerial views of the new well or water basin.
The organization focuses on water projects one at a time on its website. This month’s feature project, Gram Vikas, is in India.
Since 2006, charity:water has partnered with nearly 9,000 such locally-run water projects in the world, funding well-digs that have brought more than 3 million people fresh water. By 2015, Matsuzawa hopes to double its reach. She believes that this model is the best, most scalable way to prevent 90 percent of the world’s water-related deaths.
Charity:water appeals to millennials, reports the New York Times, quite differently than organizations like the Peace Corps appealed to idealists a half-century ago. Using microfinancing and short pop-videos to entertain and educate its target audience has won it acclaim from leading philanthropists and celebrity endorsements from Jessica Biel to Tony Hawke.
Christine Lee ’09 launched a charity:water project last year. “I had learned about how critical clean water is from a D-Lab, my favorite class at MIT. As noted in my campaign page, a trip to Ghana with D-Lab showed me first-hand how much I undervalued the easy access to clean water we enjoy.”
“Their mission and vision is simple and clear: give access to clean water to people in need,” says Omar Fernandez ’10, who asked that his MIT graduation gifts be given to charity:water. “I'm a big fan of looking for the things that can be changed that would trigger a positive chain reaction of events and giving a community access to clean water is one of those.”
