First Time Founders with Ed Elson – This Non-Profit Raised $1B to Bring Clean Water to the World

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0:00:33 I can’t prove, and neither can anyone else,
0:00:37 that a computer is alive or not or conscious or not or whatever.
0:00:40 I mean, all that stuff is always going to be a matter of faith.
0:00:46 But what I can say is that this emphasis on trying to make the models
0:00:48 seem like they’re freestanding new entities
0:00:52 does blind us to some ways we could make them better.
0:00:57 So how can we make artificial intelligence better?
0:00:59 That’s this week on The Gray Area.
0:01:00 New episodes every Monday.
0:01:07 Scientists find weird kinds of life all the time.
0:01:09 And normally, they can run experiments.
0:01:12 If I hypothesize, life can live in bleach.
0:01:15 Well, I can get bleach and see if life lives in it.
0:01:18 But what if the weird thing about the life they find
0:01:22 is that it lives for millions of years?
0:01:22 Time.
0:01:25 I don’t have any control over that.
0:01:27 I can literally do nothing with time.
0:01:43 Scott, we talk a lot about how to make money on this podcast.
0:01:46 We talk less about how to give money away.
0:01:49 What are your thoughts on philanthropy?
0:01:52 And how do you decide where to donate your money?
0:01:57 So just to be clear, I’ve been extraordinarily un-philanthropic the majority of my life.
0:02:02 And the only time I ever gave money before the age of 40 was so I could go to some cool party
0:02:05 and hang out with cool people and pretend I was being philanthropic.
0:02:08 So I wouldn’t describe myself as philanthropic.
0:02:14 I’m trying to catch up and invest in non-profits that are really well-run
0:02:17 where I believe that I’ll get a great return on investment.
0:02:18 And that is they’ll have a big impact.
0:02:23 And the two areas I’m focused on are mostly our teen suicide prevention
0:02:25 and vocational programming for young men.
0:02:28 You actually donated to our next Founders non-profit.
0:02:31 What made you want to get involved with this charity?
0:02:35 Simply put, Scott is just an inspiration.
0:02:40 I’ve said that in 100 years, there’s a few people I know that I think will be remembered,
0:02:42 but I think Scott is right up there.
0:02:50 He’s brought incredible vision, innovation, design, technology to the world of non-profit.
0:02:55 And I want to be clear, I’m not passionate about potable water in sub-Saharan Africa,
0:03:01 but Scott is just such a visionary that you know he’ll be a great fiduciary for your money.
0:03:03 And just personally, I just think a great deal of him
0:03:06 and the transformation he’s gone through.
0:03:08 So it’s, I mean, I just think about it.
0:03:10 It really is an inspiring story.
0:03:17 Welcome to First Time Founders.
0:03:18 I’m Ed Elson.
0:03:23 Every month on this show, we talk to founders from a wide range of industries.
0:03:26 But one sector we’ve yet to explore is the non-profit world.
0:03:31 The U.S. is home to over 1.8 million non-profit organizations,
0:03:34 each addressing critical issues in unique ways.
0:03:40 Now, 19 years ago, my next guest founded one of the most influential non-profits in the country
0:03:44 with a mission to bring clean water to those without access.
0:03:53 Since then, his organization has raised over $1 billion, funding more than 184,000 water projects in 29 countries
0:03:57 and providing clean water to over 20 million people.
0:04:03 This is my conversation with Scott Harrison, founder and CEO of Charity Water.
0:04:09 You are the first non-profit founder that we’ve had on this podcast.
0:04:12 We’ve had many founders, a lot of tech founders.
0:04:15 We had Bobby Brown, who was a makeup founder.
0:04:17 We had Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix.
0:04:19 We’ve never had a non-profit founder.
0:04:20 So I’m very excited.
0:04:21 It’s an extinguished honor.
0:04:24 I think we’re very excited to have you.
0:04:29 And I want to start with your history because it’s actually very unusual.
0:04:31 So you grew up in New Jersey.
0:04:35 You went to NYU for college.
0:04:36 That part isn’t unusual.
0:04:40 But then you started your career, actually, as a nightclub promoter.
0:04:45 And here you are today, the founder of one of the largest and most successful
0:04:49 non-profit organizations in America and in the world.
0:04:52 That’s not a normal career trajectory.
0:04:54 So take us from the beginning.
0:04:58 Tell us about your upbringing and how it led to your life,
0:05:02 not as the founder of Charity Water, but as a promoter in New York City.
0:05:04 Well, when I was four, my mom almost died.
0:05:07 Like you said, I was born in Philadelphia, actually.
0:05:10 We had moved to Jersey to get closer to my dad’s job.
0:05:12 And we had just bought this very ugly gray house
0:05:15 at the end of a cul-de-sac in the dead of winter.
0:05:18 And we didn’t know that we had just bought a house
0:05:20 with a carbon monoxide gas leak.
0:05:21 Oh, wow.
0:05:25 And we started getting these strange symptoms, headaches and migraines.
0:05:29 And on New Year’s Day, 1980, my mom passes out.
0:05:32 She’s unconscious on the bedroom floor.
0:05:35 And she’s essentially the canary in the coal mine,
0:05:39 which leads to the discovery of massive amounts of carbon monoxide
0:05:42 in her bloodstream, leads to the discovery of the leak,
0:05:46 which was a improperly installed heat exchanger in the basement.
0:05:52 And my dad has an HVAC guy friend come over and they rip this thing out.
0:05:56 And I remember this crumpled heater on the curb
0:06:01 that really did irreparable damage to our family.
0:06:06 And what happened with my mom specifically is her immune system irreparably shut down
0:06:08 after the carbon monoxide poisoning.
0:06:13 And she was disabled and invalid for the rest of her life.
0:06:15 My dad and I bounced back.
0:06:17 We were only sleeping in the house.
0:06:18 We were sleeping upstairs.
0:06:23 She was 24-7 unpacking boxes, you know, putting things in the basement
0:06:25 and got the brunt of the exposure.
0:06:32 So life had a radical change at four years old when I became a caregiver.
0:06:35 Dad was a middle-class business guy,
0:06:38 worked kind of in the electrical engineering space.
0:06:41 Mom had been a successful writer.
0:06:42 She was a journalist.
0:06:44 And everything just stopped for her.
0:06:49 So she was allergic, the best way to describe it is she was allergic to the world.
0:06:54 If it was chemical and if it smelled, it made her sick.
0:06:57 Perfume, car fumes, fabric softener.
0:07:00 There were signs on the outside of our house,
0:07:03 keep out, chemically sensitive patient.
0:07:08 I remember if I went to church and a lady hugged me
0:07:10 and I came back with a little whiff of perfume,
0:07:12 I would have to strip naked in the garage.
0:07:15 change into surgical clothes,
0:07:18 like hospital scrubs that had been washed in baking soda.
0:07:20 And then I was allowed in my own house.
0:07:24 So that was kind of, you know, chapter one of life.
0:07:29 Very traditional Christian family, non-denominational.
0:07:31 My parents prayed a lot.
0:07:36 They went to church and they really would rely on their faith
0:07:37 to get them through, you know,
0:07:40 what would be decades of sickness and illness.
0:07:43 So I grew up in that context,
0:07:47 going to Christian school, then, you know, a public high school.
0:07:50 I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up.
0:07:52 I had dreams of going to Johns Hopkins
0:07:55 so that I could get a medical degree and cure my mom
0:07:58 and then cure others with her condition.
0:08:01 Didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t sleep around,
0:08:04 didn’t cuss, you know, was on the good path.
0:08:10 And then act two started at 18 when I came to New York City
0:08:12 and somebody took me to a nightclub.
0:08:15 And I remember it was called Club USA
0:08:17 and there was a slide that went from the balcony
0:08:20 into the throng of the dance floor.
0:08:22 And I remember going down that slide
0:08:25 and feeling like I had arrived.
0:08:26 You came out a new man.
0:08:27 I came out a new man.
0:08:29 So I announced to my parents
0:08:31 that instead of going to, you know, Hopkins,
0:08:33 which I probably couldn’t have gotten into anyway,
0:08:36 I would be moving to New York City
0:08:38 to become a nightclub promoter
0:08:42 because I learned that this was a pretty unusual profession
0:08:44 that you could party for a living.
0:08:46 So if you were not allowed to smoke or drink
0:08:48 or have sex or cuss,
0:08:50 you could actually do all of these things
0:08:53 with reckless indulgence and get paid
0:08:55 if you got the right people in the right clubs,
0:08:58 which is where my story intersected with Galloway
0:09:00 because he was a customer of mine
0:09:01 for many, many, many years.
0:09:04 That’s the connection between you and Scott Galloway.
0:09:05 Oh, Scott, Scott.
0:09:07 I used to host Scott back in those days.
0:09:11 My parents are horrified that their only son,
0:09:13 you know, is now in New York City
0:09:15 filling up nightclubs
0:09:17 before he’s even legally allowed to be in clubs.
0:09:17 Right.
0:09:19 And I joined a band.
0:09:21 I grew my hair down on my shoulders,
0:09:23 so I was playing in a rock band part-time.
0:09:25 I was going to NYU part-time
0:09:27 just because dad had saved up
0:09:28 and, you know,
0:09:29 it felt like I should take a couple courses
0:09:31 and eventually mail him a degree
0:09:33 that I never even saw for years.
0:09:36 And I just loved every minute of it.
0:09:40 I mean, this was lights and glamour
0:09:42 and dinner at 10 p.m. with fashion models
0:09:46 and other people’s money and other limousines.
0:09:50 And, you know, it was kind of the dawn of bottle service
0:09:52 where we all realized
0:09:54 that you could sell a bottle of Absolute Vodka
0:09:57 for $300 that cost $20.
0:09:59 So that was not true before?
0:10:00 It wasn’t.
0:10:00 When did that happen?
0:10:01 It was, so this is,
0:10:05 my years were 1994 to 2004.
0:10:06 Okay.
0:10:12 So this was clubs like Lotus, Halo, Sweet 16.
0:10:14 You know, this is before kind of marquee
0:10:16 for people that, you know, know that club.
0:10:18 It was Peter Gation at the Limelight
0:10:23 and Tunnel, Club USA, Buda Bar, Donald Varick.
0:10:26 So it was, I mean, I just loved every minute of it.
0:10:28 And it also felt rebellious.
0:10:29 Yeah.
0:10:31 You know, I’m living out my childhood,
0:10:34 the childhood I never got by having fun
0:10:36 and having, you know, illicit fun.
0:10:37 Right.
0:10:40 So, you know, I play this out for a while
0:10:42 and I’m climbing up the ranks
0:10:44 and I’m trying to chase models
0:10:47 and make sure I own a BMW or a Mercedes
0:10:49 and have a nice place.
0:10:50 And it’s exhausting.
0:10:55 Number one, it’s really an unhealthy schedule.
0:10:57 Your dinner was at 10 p.m.
0:10:59 The club was at 12.
0:11:01 After hours was at 4 a.m.
0:11:04 And going to sleep was at noon.
0:11:09 High on cocaine, taking Ambien to come down
0:11:11 so that you could wake up at 7 p.m.
0:11:13 and do it all over again.
0:11:14 Sounds good.
0:11:15 I don’t have a problem with that.
0:11:17 And, well, I didn’t for a while.
0:11:21 I think it was Hemingway that said,
0:11:22 you know, going bankrupt,
0:11:24 like, you know, it happened slowly
0:11:25 and then suddenly.
0:11:26 Yeah.
0:11:30 So I remember this one moment on Houston Street
0:11:32 where I was crashing at a friend’s place
0:11:34 and it was noon.
0:11:37 and I remember taking sheets and comforters
0:11:39 and trying to block out the light
0:11:40 at 12 o’clock
0:11:42 and looking out on Houston Street
0:11:45 at people in suits on their lunch break,
0:11:46 you know, getting salads.
0:11:47 Doing life, yeah.
0:11:48 Salads, right?
0:11:50 They had gone to the gym
0:11:52 when I was at the After Hours Coke bar.
0:11:53 Yeah.
0:11:54 And just remember thinking,
0:11:55 wow, this is so unhealthy.
0:11:59 And the kind of end of chapter two for me
0:12:02 happened in Punta de Lesta in Uruguay.
0:12:03 I was on a vacation over New Year’s Eve.
0:12:05 I’d been in the business a decade.
0:12:08 And I just,
0:12:09 I had enough of the things
0:12:10 that I had been chasing
0:12:13 to realize that they were not going to make me happy.
0:12:16 And I think I realized
0:12:18 just how far I had come from
0:12:20 this little boy who wanted to be a doctor
0:12:21 to help others.
0:12:22 Yes.
0:12:25 the little kid who played piano in church
0:12:27 and prayed and wanted to live a,
0:12:28 you know,
0:12:29 virtuous,
0:12:31 high integrity life.
0:12:33 And I missed home.
0:12:34 I mean, in some ways,
0:12:36 it’s kind of like the parable,
0:12:37 the prodigal son,
0:12:37 you know,
0:12:39 he finds himself halfway around the world
0:12:42 covered in pig feces,
0:12:43 you know,
0:12:47 spoiling everything about his life
0:12:48 and like wanting to come home.
0:12:49 Yeah.
0:12:52 So I came back from that vacation
0:12:57 knowing that a pivot was not needed in my life.
0:12:58 You know,
0:13:01 180 degree course correction was in order.
0:13:01 Yeah.
0:13:03 And I got the idea to,
0:13:04 you know,
0:13:06 I grew up with this kind of Christian principle of tithing
0:13:09 where you give 10% of your money to the poor.
0:13:10 Well, I thought,
0:13:12 what if I gave 10% of my time?
0:13:14 What if I gave one year?
0:13:16 Penance is probably not the right word,
0:13:17 but kind of as a,
0:13:17 you know,
0:13:19 as a tithe of the 10 years
0:13:21 that I had selfishly wasted.
0:13:23 And I went and tried to serve others.
0:13:26 Could I find my way on a humanitarian mission?
0:13:28 And would I have any skills at 28 years old
0:13:30 that would be useful to others?
0:13:32 So I,
0:13:32 you know,
0:13:34 I’m a pretty extreme guy.
0:13:35 I sell everything I own
0:13:38 and I start applying to the famous
0:13:39 humanitarian organizations
0:13:41 I’ve tangentially heard of.
0:13:42 Save the Children,
0:13:44 Doctors Without Borders,
0:13:46 World Vision,
0:13:47 the Red Cross,
0:13:48 Salvation Army.
0:13:49 It turns out
0:13:51 that none of these organizations
0:13:53 are interested in hiring a nightclub promoter
0:13:54 even for free.
0:13:56 So I’m denied by everyone.
0:13:59 And I just remember being so frustrated.
0:13:59 I mean,
0:14:00 here I’m ready to go.
0:14:02 I’m ready for the life change
0:14:03 and no one will take me.
0:14:04 So finally,
0:14:05 this one organization
0:14:06 writes me back
0:14:08 and I dusted off an NYU degree
0:14:09 that I’d barely gotten
0:14:11 majoring in communications
0:14:12 because it was the easiest thing.
0:14:14 And I found this one organization
0:14:15 and they said,
0:14:15 Scott,
0:14:17 if you pay us $500 a month
0:14:19 and if you’re willing to go live
0:14:21 in post-war Liberia,
0:14:22 West Africa,
0:14:23 which at the time
0:14:24 was the poorest country in the world,
0:14:25 having just exited
0:14:27 a 14-year civil war,
0:14:28 they said,
0:14:29 we’ll take you on
0:14:31 as our volunteer photojournalist.
0:14:32 And I’m like,
0:14:32 great.
0:14:34 Here’s my credit card details.
0:14:35 When does the mission start?
0:14:36 And they said,
0:14:36 a few weeks.
0:14:39 So I finally have
0:14:40 one organization
0:14:41 who was willing to give me
0:14:42 a shot at a year.
0:14:45 And in some ways,
0:14:47 I didn’t even know it then,
0:14:48 I was uniquely qualified
0:14:50 to do this volunteer job
0:14:51 as a promoter,
0:14:53 as a storyteller.
0:14:53 Now,
0:14:54 I had been telling the story
0:14:55 for 10 years
0:14:57 that if you get past
0:14:58 my velvet rope,
0:14:59 if you spend lots of money
0:15:01 in the club,
0:15:03 if you rub shoulders
0:15:03 with a celebrity
0:15:05 or a movie star,
0:15:07 your life has meaning.
0:15:10 So I had actually been promoting
0:15:12 40 different clubs
0:15:13 over 10 years.
0:15:14 And I got a chance
0:15:15 to promote something
0:15:16 very different.
0:15:18 And this group
0:15:20 was a charity
0:15:22 that consisted of doctors
0:15:23 and surgeons
0:15:23 and nurses
0:15:26 who would all give up
0:15:27 vacation time.
0:15:29 They would fly to West Africa
0:15:30 and they would
0:15:32 offer free medical services
0:15:34 to people who had
0:15:35 no ability
0:15:36 to afford them.
0:15:38 And they operated,
0:15:38 which was unique,
0:15:41 from a 500-foot hospital ship.
0:15:42 So an old,
0:15:44 kind of broken down,
0:15:46 converted ocean cruise liner
0:15:48 had been gutted
0:15:48 and turned into
0:15:49 a state-of-the-art hospital
0:15:51 that sailed up and down
0:15:51 the coast of Africa
0:15:55 with 350 volunteer crew,
0:15:57 all paying $500 a month
0:15:57 like me,
0:15:58 which helped
0:15:59 the organization run.
0:16:01 So I had never heard
0:16:02 of Liberia before.
0:16:04 I couldn’t have found it
0:16:04 on the map.
0:16:06 You know,
0:16:06 I joke,
0:16:07 and I don’t think
0:16:08 this is hyperbole,
0:16:09 I think I thought Africa
0:16:09 was a country
0:16:11 not made up of 50.
0:16:12 Some geography
0:16:14 had been a distant past.
0:16:16 I learned quickly.
0:16:19 And my third day there,
0:16:22 I had a really important moment
0:16:24 where it was called
0:16:25 the patient screening.
0:16:27 And in advance of the ship
0:16:29 with the doctors
0:16:30 coming into the port,
0:16:31 a small team
0:16:33 had posted flyers
0:16:35 advertising the gum
0:16:36 of these doctors
0:16:37 throughout the country.
0:16:38 And these flyers
0:16:39 had pictures of conditions
0:16:40 that we treated.
0:16:41 Cleft lips,
0:16:42 cleft palates,
0:16:43 flesh-eating disease,
0:16:44 facial tumors,
0:16:46 people who had been burned
0:16:47 during the war
0:16:48 who needed reconstruction.
0:16:50 And, you know,
0:16:51 we arrive at the port
0:16:53 my third day in Africa.
0:16:55 We wake up at 5 a.m.
0:16:57 And the government
0:16:57 has given us
0:16:58 the soccer stadium,
0:16:59 the football stadium
0:17:00 in the center of the city
0:17:02 to triage the people
0:17:03 who had come
0:17:03 and put them
0:17:04 through our stations
0:17:05 and then hand out
0:17:06 these surgery cards.
0:17:07 And I knew that we had
0:17:09 1,500 available surgery cards.
0:17:12 And when we turned up
0:17:13 around 5.30 in the morning
0:17:15 to the parking lot,
0:17:17 there were over 5,000 people
0:17:18 waiting for us
0:17:19 to open the doors
0:17:19 of the stadium.
0:17:22 And that hit me really hard,
0:17:24 seeing a need
0:17:26 that was so much greater
0:17:28 than what we were prepared
0:17:29 to meet.
0:17:32 And then actually seeing us
0:17:33 turn away
0:17:35 more than 3,000 sick people
0:17:37 who had come.
0:17:38 Many of them
0:17:38 had walked even
0:17:39 for more than a month
0:17:41 from neighboring countries
0:17:42 as the word had spread.
0:17:43 And they didn’t get a chance
0:17:44 to see a doctor
0:17:45 because we didn’t have
0:17:45 enough doctors.
0:17:47 So you’re working
0:17:48 at Mercy Ships.
0:17:49 You’re doing this work
0:17:51 for two years.
0:17:53 At what point
0:17:53 do you then decide,
0:17:54 okay,
0:17:55 enough of working
0:17:56 for other people.
0:17:57 I want to do
0:17:57 something myself.
0:17:59 So I loved it.
0:18:00 I took 50,000 photos
0:18:01 the first year.
0:18:02 I got to watch
0:18:04 every single patient
0:18:05 pre and post-op.
0:18:07 And the cool thing was
0:18:08 I actually had
0:18:09 a pretty big email list
0:18:10 that I developed.
0:18:12 So like it or not,
0:18:13 you know,
0:18:14 you went from getting
0:18:16 an invitation
0:18:17 to the Prada megastore
0:18:18 opening in Soho
0:18:21 to Alfred is 14
0:18:22 and suffocating
0:18:22 to death on his face
0:18:23 with the tumor pictures.
0:18:25 So there were
0:18:26 some unsubscribes.
0:18:26 I mean,
0:18:26 back then,
0:18:27 email open rates
0:18:28 were basically 100%.
0:18:29 You know,
0:18:29 you send an email
0:18:30 and people opened it.
0:18:32 So some people
0:18:33 got off the list,
0:18:34 but others began
0:18:34 to forward it
0:18:35 and the list
0:18:35 actually grew.
0:18:37 And I think
0:18:37 some of my friends
0:18:38 were just fascinated.
0:18:39 Like,
0:18:40 weren’t you doing
0:18:41 coke with Scott
0:18:42 like last month?
0:18:42 Like,
0:18:43 where’s Liberia?
0:18:44 You know,
0:18:45 what is this
0:18:46 hospital ship mission?
0:18:49 So I was blogging a lot.
0:18:50 I was sending out
0:18:51 photos and videos
0:18:52 and I wound up
0:18:53 raising money
0:18:54 for the organization
0:18:55 over $100,000
0:18:57 just by telling
0:18:57 these stories.
0:18:59 So I think
0:18:59 that was kind of
0:19:01 this aha piece
0:19:01 that maybe
0:19:02 the same gift
0:19:03 for promoting
0:19:04 could be aimed
0:19:05 in a completely
0:19:05 different direction
0:19:06 and could be used
0:19:07 to raise money
0:19:08 that helped people
0:19:09 get these life-changing
0:19:10 surgeries.
0:19:11 So the year ended.
0:19:12 I just signed up
0:19:12 for a second year
0:19:14 and it was really
0:19:15 in that second year
0:19:16 that I went
0:19:17 into the rural villages
0:19:19 and I saw people
0:19:20 drinking dirty water.
0:19:22 And I had never
0:19:24 experienced dirty water
0:19:25 in my human life.
0:19:25 I was born
0:19:26 into a middle-class family.
0:19:27 Water came out
0:19:27 of the sink.
0:19:28 You know,
0:19:29 we bought,
0:19:30 I used to sell
0:19:31 Voss water
0:19:32 for $10 in the clubs
0:19:33 to people
0:19:33 who wouldn’t even
0:19:34 open the water
0:19:34 because they were
0:19:35 drinking champagne instead.
0:19:38 So I saw humans
0:19:40 drinking toxic
0:19:42 contaminated water
0:19:43 from brown
0:19:44 viscous swamps
0:19:45 from green ponds
0:19:47 and I learned
0:19:48 that half of the disease
0:19:49 in the country
0:19:50 was waterborne
0:19:52 and that half
0:19:52 the country
0:19:54 was drinking dirty water.
0:19:56 So I had this,
0:19:56 you know,
0:19:57 eureka moment
0:19:58 in year two
0:19:59 saying here we are
0:20:01 with not enough doctors
0:20:02 turning thousands
0:20:03 of sick people away
0:20:03 with stuff growing
0:20:04 on their faces
0:20:05 but yet
0:20:06 half the country
0:20:08 doesn’t have the most
0:20:09 basic need for health met
0:20:11 and at the time
0:20:11 there were over
0:20:13 a billion people
0:20:14 drinking dirty water
0:20:14 on the planet
0:20:15 out of 6 billion people.
0:20:17 One in six people alive
0:20:19 were drinking
0:20:21 unsafe dirty water
0:20:21 every day.
0:20:23 So I remember
0:20:24 showing the pictures
0:20:25 I was taking
0:20:25 in the villages
0:20:27 to the chief medical officer
0:20:27 and at the end
0:20:28 of that second year
0:20:29 he just simply
0:20:31 encouraged me,
0:20:31 says,
0:20:31 why don’t you go
0:20:32 make this your problem?
0:20:32 Why don’t you go
0:20:33 back to New York
0:20:34 and bring clean water
0:20:35 to everybody in the world?
0:20:36 And I was like,
0:20:37 all right,
0:20:38 I guess I’ll try.
0:20:40 So the second year ended,
0:20:41 I was 30,
0:20:42 I was broke,
0:20:43 nightclub promoters,
0:20:44 at least I was not good
0:20:45 at saving money,
0:20:45 I was very good
0:20:46 at spending it.
0:20:48 And I just came back,
0:20:49 I had given everything
0:20:50 that I had to
0:20:51 Mercy Ships
0:20:51 and the people
0:20:52 that I’d met
0:20:52 in Africa.
0:20:54 So I came back
0:20:56 really penniless,
0:20:56 then I found out
0:20:58 that my club promoter
0:20:59 partner had not
0:20:59 dissolved the company,
0:21:00 so I came back
0:21:01 to a big tax debt.
0:21:02 And he said,
0:21:03 sorry about that,
0:21:04 but you can sleep
0:21:05 on my closet floor
0:21:06 for free in Soho.
0:21:07 Yeah,
0:21:08 I read that you,
0:21:09 when you started this out,
0:21:10 you started out
0:21:11 by reading
0:21:12 the non-profit kit
0:21:12 for denies.
0:21:15 And as you mentioned,
0:21:15 you also turned
0:21:17 to your contacts
0:21:18 in the nightlife industry,
0:21:19 I’m sure you probably
0:21:20 turned to Scott Galloway
0:21:20 himself.
0:21:22 In other words,
0:21:24 very scrappy beginnings
0:21:25 is what I would say.
0:21:27 I’m sure so many founders
0:21:28 you’ve had on here,
0:21:28 you know,
0:21:30 if we really knew
0:21:30 what we were doing,
0:21:31 we probably wouldn’t
0:21:31 have done it.
0:21:32 Or if we knew
0:21:33 how hard it would be.
0:21:34 Right.
0:21:35 So I think that
0:21:36 ignorance really helped.
0:21:36 And that’s, by the way,
0:21:37 the common theme
0:21:38 that you see.
0:21:38 I mean,
0:21:40 I think when we hear
0:21:41 about these stories
0:21:41 in retrospect,
0:21:42 it kind of sounds like,
0:21:43 oh, I started out
0:21:44 with my pitch deck
0:21:45 and then I went
0:21:46 to the VCs
0:21:47 and we raised the money
0:21:48 and step one,
0:21:48 two, three, four.
0:21:50 But it’s,
0:21:50 the beginning
0:21:52 is a mess.
0:21:53 So paint us the picture
0:21:54 of how messy
0:21:55 it really was
0:21:56 starting out
0:21:57 and just how little
0:21:58 you knew about
0:21:59 how to tackle this.
0:21:59 Well, I’ll be honest,
0:22:00 I don’t talk about this,
0:22:01 but the actual place
0:22:02 that I was staying
0:22:02 was a little bit
0:22:03 of a drug den.
0:22:04 Okay.
0:22:05 People would come in
0:22:06 and do drugs,
0:22:08 but it was free rent
0:22:09 and the couch
0:22:11 was where I could work
0:22:12 with a laptop.
0:22:13 You know,
0:22:14 I learned by
0:22:14 non-profit
0:22:15 for dummies
0:22:15 or whatever,
0:22:16 you need a board,
0:22:17 you need this thing
0:22:18 called a 501c3.
0:22:19 Yeah.
0:22:20 You need to hire lawyers.
0:22:20 Well, I didn’t have
0:22:21 money for lawyers.
0:22:24 And in those early days,
0:22:25 what I did have
0:22:26 was two years
0:22:27 of photos and stories
0:22:29 that, you know,
0:22:30 Brian Stevenson
0:22:32 from EJI
0:22:33 talks a lot
0:22:34 about proximity.
0:22:36 I had the authority
0:22:37 that came
0:22:38 with proximity
0:22:39 to this issue.
0:22:39 I had been
0:22:40 in these villages.
0:22:42 I had seen
0:22:43 wells drilled.
0:22:43 I had seen
0:22:44 how water
0:22:45 changed people’s lives
0:22:46 and I had the photos
0:22:47 and the videos
0:22:47 to prove it.
0:22:49 So in those early days,
0:22:49 I remember going
0:22:50 to Double Seven
0:22:50 or Lotus
0:22:51 and I would
0:22:52 get led into
0:22:53 a DJ booth
0:22:54 and I’m clicking
0:22:55 through on a laptop,
0:22:56 you know,
0:22:57 photos of people
0:22:58 drinking dirty water.
0:22:58 I remember,
0:22:59 you know,
0:22:59 people would say,
0:23:00 Scott, dude,
0:23:01 I’ll give you money
0:23:02 but you are killing
0:23:03 my buzz.
0:23:04 Like, can we?
0:23:05 Time and place.
0:23:06 Can we?
0:23:07 But I was so passionate
0:23:08 about sharing
0:23:09 my experience
0:23:10 and what I’d seen
0:23:11 and inviting them
0:23:12 to be a part of it.
0:23:13 And, you know,
0:23:14 it turns out
0:23:15 very little money,
0:23:16 maybe no surprise,
0:23:17 came from the people
0:23:17 who were going
0:23:18 to nightclubs.
0:23:19 So those former contacts,
0:23:20 the people who were
0:23:21 buying bottles,
0:23:22 were not the ones
0:23:22 who were buying wells.
0:23:23 Not the philanthropists,
0:23:24 yeah.
0:23:26 But the first idea
0:23:26 I had
0:23:28 was to throw myself
0:23:29 a birthday party
0:23:31 in a nightclub
0:23:32 on day one
0:23:33 during fashion week.
0:23:34 Nightclub promoters
0:23:35 always,
0:23:36 you kind of call
0:23:37 in a lot of favors.
0:23:37 You have a birthday,
0:23:38 everybody knows
0:23:38 it’s going to be good,
0:23:39 it’s open bar
0:23:40 and, you know,
0:23:41 everybody comes out.
0:23:44 So I tried to turn
0:23:44 my birthday
0:23:45 into the day one
0:23:47 fundraising moment
0:23:48 and it was a place
0:23:49 called Tenjun
0:23:51 in the Meatpacking District.
0:23:52 I remember putting out
0:23:53 this big plexi box
0:23:54 at the door
0:23:55 and if you wanted
0:23:55 to get into
0:23:56 my birthday party,
0:23:58 you had to put $20
0:24:00 into that box.
0:24:01 And I actually remember
0:24:02 there was a weed dealer
0:24:04 who I knew very well
0:24:08 and he put $500
0:24:09 in the box
0:24:10 and he said to me,
0:24:11 this is the first
0:24:12 charitable gift
0:24:13 I’ve ever made
0:24:14 in my life
0:24:15 but I trust
0:24:16 where it’s going.
0:24:18 And,
0:24:19 you know,
0:24:19 what I learned
0:24:20 as I talked
0:24:21 to everyday people
0:24:21 was there was
0:24:23 a lot of mistrust
0:24:24 when it came to charities.
0:24:25 There were a lot of people
0:24:26 who were cynical
0:24:27 or skeptical
0:24:28 about where
0:24:29 charitable donations went.
0:24:30 I would hear,
0:24:30 you know,
0:24:31 the expression
0:24:32 the black hole of giving.
0:24:33 Charities are black holes.
0:24:34 I don’t know
0:24:34 where my money goes.
0:24:37 So I wondered,
0:24:38 what if I created
0:24:39 a charity
0:24:41 where 100%
0:24:42 of all the money
0:24:43 we would ever raise
0:24:44 would go directly
0:24:45 to get people clean water?
0:24:49 And I wasn’t sure
0:24:49 how,
0:24:50 it was a very
0:24:51 non-traditional
0:24:52 business model
0:24:53 but I talked
0:24:54 to the lawyers about it
0:24:54 and they said,
0:24:54 well,
0:24:55 if you open up
0:24:56 two distinct
0:24:57 bank accounts
0:24:59 and you promise
0:25:00 to put all the public’s money
0:25:00 in one account
0:25:01 that only builds
0:25:02 water projects
0:25:03 and then you raise
0:25:03 overhead
0:25:04 in the second account
0:25:06 from other people,
0:25:06 yeah,
0:25:07 you could do this.
0:25:09 So I remember
0:25:09 going down
0:25:10 to the Commerce Bank
0:25:11 on Broadway and Bond
0:25:11 in New York City
0:25:12 and opening up
0:25:13 these two accounts
0:25:14 and I promised
0:25:15 to that birthday party
0:25:16 that all the money
0:25:16 would go directly
0:25:18 to help people
0:25:19 living in a refugee camp
0:25:20 in northern Uganda.
0:25:22 So I raised $15,000
0:25:23 that first night.
0:25:25 I remember we audited it.
0:25:26 I take a lot of photos.
0:25:27 You know,
0:25:27 a bunch of people
0:25:28 are counting the money.
0:25:29 This is the money
0:25:29 from the cash.
0:25:30 From the $20.
0:25:30 Yeah,
0:25:31 700 people came.
0:25:32 Unbelievable.
0:25:32 Yeah.
0:25:34 And I take that money
0:25:34 and we build
0:25:35 our very first well
0:25:36 in Uganda.
0:25:37 We fix a couple wells
0:25:39 and then we document it
0:25:40 so carefully
0:25:40 with photos
0:25:41 and video
0:25:42 and satellite images
0:25:44 so we send people
0:25:45 the Google Earth
0:25:46 satellite coordinates
0:25:47 pictures
0:25:48 and we said,
0:25:48 look,
0:25:49 this is where
0:25:49 your money went.
0:25:51 You came,
0:25:51 you gave $20
0:25:54 and people are drinking
0:25:54 clean water
0:25:56 because of you
0:25:58 and that closed loop
0:25:59 proof of concept
0:26:02 was so powerful
0:26:04 and so unique.
0:26:04 Other charities
0:26:05 weren’t doing that.
0:26:06 They were not telling people
0:26:07 where their money went.
0:26:08 They just kept asking
0:26:09 for more and more money
0:26:10 that I realized
0:26:11 I was really on to something.
0:26:12 so that became
0:26:13 kind of the first pillar
0:26:15 of how we would reinvent
0:26:16 or reimagine charity
0:26:18 for this generation.
0:26:19 How we would take
0:26:19 the cynic
0:26:20 and the skeptic
0:26:21 and say,
0:26:22 you know,
0:26:23 come look at us.
0:26:24 We’re going to do things
0:26:25 very, very differently.
0:26:27 The second then
0:26:28 follow-on idea was,
0:26:29 well, wait a minute.
0:26:30 If money isn’t fungible
0:26:31 in the way
0:26:32 that we’ve set up
0:26:32 the structure,
0:26:35 I can build technology
0:26:36 that tracks
0:26:38 every single micro donation
0:26:39 to the source.
0:26:40 Right.
0:26:41 if we’re going to be
0:26:42 building infrastructure
0:26:43 in Malawi
0:26:43 and Uganda
0:26:44 and Bangladesh
0:26:44 and India,
0:26:47 these are real things.
0:26:48 They’re water projects
0:26:50 with actual costs
0:26:51 and an actual location.
0:26:52 So I remember
0:26:53 meeting the founder
0:26:54 of Google Earth
0:26:55 and he’s like,
0:26:56 yeah, you could put
0:26:57 all of that up.
0:26:58 You could be the first charity
0:26:58 in the world
0:26:59 just to publish
0:27:01 all of that completion data
0:27:02 on Google Earth,
0:27:04 which we then later
0:27:05 moved over to Google Maps.
0:27:06 So Proof became
0:27:08 this second core pillar
0:27:09 of the organization.
0:27:11 And then the third really
0:27:12 was just a brand.
0:27:13 I wanted to build
0:27:15 an inspirational,
0:27:15 dynamic,
0:27:17 beautiful brand.
0:27:18 I wanted to be
0:27:19 the apple of charities,
0:27:21 the charity that inspired people
0:27:22 with hope
0:27:23 and opportunity
0:27:25 and not shame
0:27:26 or guilt.
0:27:26 Yes.
0:27:29 And, you know,
0:27:30 I figured if I put
0:27:31 these three things together,
0:27:32 we might actually have a shot
0:27:34 at helping millions
0:27:34 and millions of people
0:27:35 get clean water.
0:27:36 We might actually have a shot
0:27:37 at building a movement
0:27:40 that tackled this problem
0:27:40 in our lifetime.
0:27:43 We’ll be right back.
0:27:53 Fox Creative.
0:27:55 This is advertiser content
0:27:55 brought to you by
0:27:57 the all-new Nissan Murano.
0:28:00 Okay, that email is done.
0:28:01 Next on my to-do list,
0:28:02 pick up dress
0:28:03 for Friday’s fundraiser.
0:28:04 Okay, all right.
0:28:05 Where are my keys?
0:28:07 Oh, in my pocket.
0:28:08 Let’s go.
0:28:10 First, pick up dress,
0:28:11 then prepare
0:28:12 for that big presentation,
0:28:13 walk dog,
0:28:14 then…
0:28:15 Okay.
0:28:15 Inhale.
0:28:19 One, two, three, four.
0:28:21 Exhale.
0:28:24 One, two, three, four.
0:28:24 Ooh.
0:28:27 Who knew a driver’s seat
0:28:28 could give such a good massage?
0:28:33 Wow, this is so nice.
0:28:35 Oops, that was my exit.
0:28:37 Oh, well, that’s fine.
0:28:38 I’ve got time.
0:28:41 After the meeting,
0:28:42 I gotta remember
0:28:43 to schedule flights
0:28:44 for our girls’ trip,
0:28:46 but that’s for later.
0:28:51 sun on my skin,
0:28:53 wind in my hair.
0:28:55 I feel good.
0:28:57 Turn the music up.
0:29:01 Your all-new Nissan Murano
0:29:02 is more than just a tool
0:29:03 to get you where you’re going.
0:29:04 It’s a refuge
0:29:05 from life’s hustle and bustle.
0:29:07 It’s a place to relax,
0:29:08 to reset,
0:29:10 in the spaces between items
0:29:11 on your to-do lists.
0:29:13 Oh, wait.
0:29:14 I got a message.
0:29:16 Could you pick up
0:29:18 wine for dinner tonight?
0:29:19 Yep, I’m on it.
0:29:20 I mean,
0:29:23 that’s totally fine by me.
0:29:28 Play Celebrity Memoir Book Club.
0:29:30 I’m Claire Parker.
0:29:31 And I’m Ashley Hamilton.
0:29:33 And this is
0:29:35 Celebrity Memoir Book Club.
0:29:39 It’s been a rough week
0:29:41 for your retirement account,
0:29:43 your friend who imports products
0:29:45 from China for the TikTok shop,
0:29:46 and also Hooters.
0:29:48 Hooters has now filed
0:29:49 for bankruptcy,
0:29:49 but they say
0:29:51 they are not going anywhere.
0:29:51 Last year,
0:29:53 Hooters closed dozens
0:29:53 of restaurants
0:29:54 because of rising food
0:29:55 and labor costs.
0:29:57 Hooters is shifting away
0:29:58 from its iconic
0:29:59 skimpy waitress outfits
0:30:00 and bikini days,
0:30:01 instead opting
0:30:03 for a family-friendly vibe.
0:30:04 They’re vowing
0:30:05 to improve the food
0:30:05 and ingredients,
0:30:07 and staff is now
0:30:07 being urged
0:30:09 to greet women first
0:30:10 when groups arrive.
0:30:11 Maybe in April of 2025,
0:30:12 you’re thinking,
0:30:13 good riddance?
0:30:14 Does the world
0:30:15 still really need
0:30:17 this chain of restaurants?
0:30:20 But then we were surprised
0:30:20 to learn
0:30:21 of who exactly
0:30:22 was mourning
0:30:24 the potential loss
0:30:25 of Hooters.
0:30:25 Straight guys
0:30:26 who like chicken,
0:30:27 sure,
0:30:28 but also a bunch of
0:30:29 gay guys
0:30:30 who like chicken?
0:30:32 Check out Today Explained
0:30:33 to find out
0:30:34 why exactly that is,
0:30:35 won’t ya?
0:30:42 The Nintendo Switch 2
0:30:43 is basically guaranteed
0:30:44 to be the most
0:30:45 interesting gadget
0:30:45 of 2025.
0:30:47 And we learned
0:30:47 a lot of new stuff
0:30:48 about it
0:30:49 this last week or so.
0:30:50 Some of the games
0:30:50 that are coming out,
0:30:51 some of the specs
0:30:52 of the new device,
0:30:52 and the fact
0:30:53 that it’s going to cost
0:30:55 $449.99.
0:30:57 Except maybe it’s not,
0:30:58 because the other thing
0:30:59 going on right now
0:31:00 is tariffs.
0:31:01 And tariffs
0:31:02 threaten to change
0:31:03 just about everything
0:31:04 about tech.
0:31:04 What it is,
0:31:05 how it’s made,
0:31:06 where it comes from,
0:31:07 and crucially,
0:31:08 how much we have
0:31:09 to pay for it.
0:31:10 So that’s what we’re
0:31:11 talking about
0:31:11 on The Vergecast
0:31:12 all week,
0:31:13 wherever you get podcasts.
0:31:22 We’re back
0:31:23 with First Time Founders.
0:31:24 So I just want to
0:31:25 fast forward to today.
0:31:27 Charity Water
0:31:28 has now funded
0:31:29 more than 184,000
0:31:30 water projects
0:31:31 around the world.
0:31:33 Operates in 29
0:31:34 different countries.
0:31:35 It is on track
0:31:36 to serve
0:31:38 more than 20 million people.
0:31:39 Yeah, we’ve already
0:31:39 passed that.
0:31:40 Already passed it.
0:31:42 It has served
0:31:43 more than 20 million people.
0:31:45 We talk a lot about
0:31:46 impact
0:31:48 on this podcast
0:31:49 and how to make an impact
0:31:50 and what it takes
0:31:51 to create impact.
0:31:52 This is like
0:31:53 real impact.
0:31:54 This is probably
0:31:55 the most impactful
0:31:56 organization and founder
0:31:57 we might have had
0:31:57 on this podcast
0:31:59 in terms of actually
0:32:00 changing people’s lives.
0:32:03 So as it stands today,
0:32:04 give us the synopsis
0:32:06 on Charity Water.
0:32:06 Yeah.
0:32:07 What is Charity Water
0:32:08 doing today
0:32:09 and how is it
0:32:10 helping people?
0:32:11 You know, it’s interesting.
0:32:12 I mean, in some ways
0:32:13 we’re doing the same things
0:32:14 as when we started
0:32:15 18 years ago.
0:32:15 You know, we’ve now
0:32:17 raised over a billion dollars,
0:32:19 which is not that much money,
0:32:20 you know, at this table,
0:32:20 right?
0:32:21 The people who have sat
0:32:22 in this chair.
0:32:23 But we’ve been able
0:32:24 to mobilize a couple
0:32:25 million people
0:32:26 to give that.
0:32:27 So the money has not
0:32:28 come from governments
0:32:30 or primarily foundations
0:32:31 or corporations.
0:32:32 It’s been everyday people.
0:32:32 Yeah, you don’t have to go to Soft Bank
0:32:32 and raise a billion
0:32:33 in a night.
0:32:33 Yeah.
0:32:36 I’ll say as well,
0:32:38 you know, we’ve really
0:32:39 helped bring awareness
0:32:40 to this issue.
0:32:41 And I think that
0:32:42 the entire sector
0:32:43 has grown.
0:32:45 We now stand
0:32:46 at 700 million people
0:32:47 without water
0:32:48 on a close to
0:32:49 8 billion population.
0:32:50 So we’ve gone from
0:32:52 one in six alive
0:32:52 to one in 10,
0:32:53 one in 11 alive.
0:32:54 So we’ve actually
0:32:55 made huge progress.
0:32:56 And I think that’s important
0:32:58 because, you know,
0:32:58 with any of these
0:33:00 paralyzing global issues,
0:33:01 I think to some people
0:33:02 it feels like
0:33:03 there’s no end point.
0:33:04 Right?
0:33:05 Ah, we’re just sending
0:33:06 more money to Africa.
0:33:08 You know, sending more money
0:33:08 to these.
0:33:10 No, we’re actually making
0:33:11 huge, huge progress.
0:33:13 The biggest challenge
0:33:14 that I tell our team
0:33:15 is, you know,
0:33:16 no one listening
0:33:18 to this podcast
0:33:19 woke up this morning,
0:33:21 turned the tap on,
0:33:22 took their shower,
0:33:23 you know,
0:33:24 used filtered water
0:33:25 for their coffee,
0:33:25 you know,
0:33:27 maybe grabbed a bottle
0:33:28 on their way to the gym
0:33:29 or the yoga studio
0:33:30 and said,
0:33:31 my gosh,
0:33:32 I’m so grateful
0:33:34 for the clean water
0:33:36 to the privilege
0:33:37 that I was born into.
0:33:39 Let me go find
0:33:40 a water charity
0:33:41 so that I can go
0:33:43 help people
0:33:43 who are suffering.
0:33:45 We have no customers,
0:33:45 right?
0:33:45 Right.
0:33:46 So I think
0:33:47 the biggest challenge
0:33:48 is
0:33:50 how do we get people
0:33:51 to even
0:33:52 pause
0:33:53 and consider
0:33:55 the problem
0:33:55 that they have
0:33:57 never experienced.
0:33:58 You’ve raised
0:33:59 more than a billion dollars
0:34:00 to date.
0:34:02 That’s more money
0:34:03 than many of the largest,
0:34:04 most successful startups
0:34:05 in the world can say.
0:34:06 And you did it
0:34:07 for something
0:34:07 where there was
0:34:09 no economic incentive
0:34:09 for the people
0:34:10 who are funding you.
0:34:12 So, I mean,
0:34:14 I think that you are
0:34:14 a lot of things.
0:34:15 One of the things
0:34:16 that you certainly are,
0:34:17 in my view,
0:34:19 you are a master fundraiser.
0:34:21 What would you say
0:34:21 is the secret
0:34:23 to fundraising
0:34:24 and what do you think
0:34:24 it takes
0:34:25 to raise
0:34:26 hundreds of millions
0:34:27 of dollars?
0:34:28 I still am
0:34:29 looking for
0:34:30 that key,
0:34:31 you know,
0:34:32 the unlock
0:34:33 to generosity.
0:34:33 I’ve picked up
0:34:34 some things
0:34:34 around the world.
0:34:35 I’ll tell you
0:34:38 one really powerful
0:34:38 conversation
0:34:39 I had.
0:34:40 I was about to go
0:34:41 and ask somebody
0:34:42 for $10 million.
0:34:44 Young tech
0:34:45 entrepreneur,
0:34:46 been a part
0:34:47 of a multi-billion dollar
0:34:48 IPO.
0:34:50 And I was
0:34:51 flying out to Hawaii
0:34:52 and I stopped
0:34:54 in San Francisco
0:34:54 and I was meeting
0:34:55 somebody at the battery
0:34:57 and he was
0:34:58 an older gentleman.
0:34:59 I think he was
0:35:00 a Goldman Sachs partner
0:35:00 for many years
0:35:01 and I said,
0:35:01 hey,
0:35:01 I’m about to make
0:35:02 this ask.
0:35:03 So,
0:35:04 this is more money
0:35:05 than I’ve ever asked
0:35:06 a human for.
0:35:07 I don’t get any of it,
0:35:08 right?
0:35:08 I mean,
0:35:09 100% of it goes
0:35:09 straight to the,
0:35:11 but I said,
0:35:13 how do you feel
0:35:15 when someone asks you
0:35:16 for a whole lot
0:35:16 of money?
0:35:18 and he said
0:35:19 one word
0:35:20 that has just
0:35:21 changed the paradigm
0:35:21 for me
0:35:22 and it was
0:35:23 not what I was
0:35:24 expecting.
0:35:25 I was expecting
0:35:26 him to say
0:35:26 offended,
0:35:28 uncomfortable,
0:35:30 and he said,
0:35:32 I feel flattered.
0:35:33 He said,
0:35:33 I feel flattered
0:35:34 that they think
0:35:35 I would be that
0:35:35 generous.
0:35:37 And I wound up
0:35:38 making the
0:35:39 $10 million ask,
0:35:40 actually getting
0:35:41 a $12 million gift
0:35:42 from that family
0:35:45 and I had
0:35:45 an experience
0:35:47 a couple years
0:35:48 later where
0:35:49 I was going to
0:35:49 make another
0:35:50 $10 million ask
0:35:52 and I asked
0:35:53 the founder
0:35:55 and I did it
0:35:55 in a really
0:35:56 interesting way
0:35:56 and it was
0:35:57 kind of a
0:35:58 beautiful proposal
0:35:59 that spoke to
0:36:01 the way that
0:36:02 he had made
0:36:03 his money
0:36:04 and he got
0:36:04 back to me
0:36:05 a couple months
0:36:05 later after
0:36:06 getting this
0:36:06 proposal and he
0:36:07 says,
0:36:07 you know,
0:36:07 that was
0:36:07 really beautiful.
0:36:08 Thank you for
0:36:09 honoring me and
0:36:10 my family.
0:36:10 He said,
0:36:11 I have only one
0:36:12 question.
0:36:13 why did you
0:36:14 ask me for
0:36:14 so little?
0:36:17 And I said,
0:36:17 well,
0:36:17 because I
0:36:17 didn’t have
0:36:18 the guts
0:36:18 to ask you
0:36:19 for $40 million.
0:36:21 And he said,
0:36:21 well,
0:36:22 I’ll do that
0:36:22 then.
0:36:24 He said,
0:36:24 I need 10
0:36:26 years and I
0:36:26 can send
0:36:26 four right
0:36:27 now.
0:36:29 I think
0:36:30 those two
0:36:30 things,
0:36:31 that it’s
0:36:32 okay to
0:36:33 stretch someone,
0:36:34 it’s okay to
0:36:35 ask them
0:36:37 to think
0:36:38 about radical
0:36:39 generosity,
0:36:41 to think
0:36:41 about using
0:36:42 their resources
0:36:44 to end the
0:36:44 needless
0:36:45 suffering of
0:36:45 others,
0:36:47 maybe in a
0:36:47 way that they
0:36:47 hadn’t even
0:36:48 contemplated before.
0:36:51 And I still
0:36:51 think like maybe
0:36:52 we’re just not
0:36:53 asking for
0:36:53 enough.
0:36:54 You know,
0:36:55 maybe we’re just
0:36:56 leaving so much
0:36:58 human capacity
0:36:59 for good,
0:37:00 for generosity
0:37:01 on the table
0:37:02 by not being
0:37:03 bold.
0:37:03 You know,
0:37:04 somebody told me
0:37:05 once a fundraiser,
0:37:05 listen,
0:37:07 there’s only three
0:37:08 things that people
0:37:09 can really say.
0:37:10 And if you’re
0:37:10 okay with all
0:37:11 three of them,
0:37:12 then you just
0:37:13 got to keep
0:37:13 showing up.
0:37:14 You know,
0:37:14 so what can
0:37:14 people say?
0:37:15 They could say
0:37:16 no.
0:37:17 Right.
0:37:17 They could say
0:37:20 less or not
0:37:20 now.
0:37:22 And if you’re
0:37:22 okay with all
0:37:23 three of those,
0:37:23 right?
0:37:24 And how many
0:37:25 founders here have
0:37:26 had, you know,
0:37:27 no, you know,
0:37:28 pitch decks and
0:37:28 people probably
0:37:29 crapping on their
0:37:30 ideas, crapping on
0:37:30 their pitch decks.
0:37:32 So you have to
0:37:33 really be able to
0:37:34 take a lot of
0:37:34 no’s.
0:37:35 Yeah.
0:37:36 And, you know,
0:37:36 I guess the
0:37:37 fourth category is
0:37:38 when people say
0:37:38 they’re going to
0:37:39 do it, they
0:37:39 don’t do it.
0:37:40 That’s probably
0:37:41 the most frustrating.
0:37:41 You know, I’d
0:37:43 rather just not be
0:37:44 strung along.
0:37:46 But, you know,
0:37:47 I remember that I
0:37:48 go home, if I hear
0:37:49 seven no’s in a
0:37:50 day, my kids still
0:37:51 think I’m great.
0:37:52 My wife hopefully
0:37:53 still thinks I’m
0:37:53 great.
0:37:54 And then you get
0:37:55 up the next day
0:37:56 and you go ask
0:37:58 and ask and ask.
0:37:58 And, you know,
0:37:59 there’s something
0:38:01 almost freeing about
0:38:02 the fact that none
0:38:03 of it is personal
0:38:03 gain.
0:38:03 you know, I
0:38:04 froze my salary
0:38:06 six and a half
0:38:06 years ago.
0:38:07 I haven’t even
0:38:08 taken a, you
0:38:09 know, cost of
0:38:09 living increase.
0:38:10 I wanted to
0:38:11 kind of take, you
0:38:12 know, that
0:38:13 incentive completely
0:38:15 out of the
0:38:15 work.
0:38:17 So if I raise,
0:38:17 you know, a hundred
0:38:18 million this year
0:38:19 or a billion for
0:38:21 the poor, it
0:38:22 doesn’t impact me
0:38:23 at all, right?
0:38:24 It’s money going
0:38:24 through your hands.
0:38:26 And I, I remember
0:38:27 just an early
0:38:27 driver.
0:38:27 I was sitting
0:38:29 with a tech
0:38:30 founder, you
0:38:31 know, unicorn
0:38:32 startup, multi
0:38:32 billionaire.
0:38:35 and over
0:38:36 the years, a
0:38:36 lot of people
0:38:37 have said to
0:38:37 me, why
0:38:37 don’t you
0:38:38 just start a
0:38:40 company and
0:38:40 make a lot of
0:38:41 money and give
0:38:41 it away?
0:38:43 You know, you
0:38:44 seem like, you
0:38:45 seem like, you
0:38:45 know, it’s just
0:38:46 very logical.
0:38:46 I probably had
0:38:47 hundreds of
0:38:48 people say, you
0:38:49 know, why don’t
0:38:49 you go start
0:38:50 something, dude,
0:38:50 like ring the
0:38:51 bell, you know?
0:38:53 And I would
0:38:54 always ask them,
0:38:55 how much have
0:38:56 you given
0:38:56 away?
0:38:58 and let’s
0:38:59 say early on
0:38:59 my number
0:39:00 was, okay,
0:39:00 well, I’ve
0:39:01 given away 50
0:39:01 million through
0:39:02 Charity Water
0:39:02 and I’ve
0:39:03 given away 250.
0:39:04 Now at a
0:39:05 billion, I’m
0:39:05 starting to thin
0:39:07 out those people.
0:39:09 I know very few
0:39:10 founders and
0:39:11 probably very few
0:39:12 founders, you
0:39:12 know, sitting at
0:39:14 this table who
0:39:14 have given a
0:39:16 billion dollars to
0:39:17 the poorest people
0:39:17 in the world.
0:39:18 And, you know, I
0:39:19 think we’re in the
0:39:19 beginning of the
0:39:20 second inning.
0:39:21 So I would
0:39:22 hope if I can
0:39:23 continue to lead
0:39:24 this movement and
0:39:25 continue to build
0:39:26 the organization,
0:39:26 you know, that
0:39:27 number might be
0:39:29 50 billion has
0:39:30 gone through my
0:39:31 hands, making a
0:39:32 few hundred grand
0:39:32 a year as the
0:39:33 CEO of the
0:39:34 organization, you
0:39:35 know, being able
0:39:36 to have a fine
0:39:36 living and provide
0:39:37 for my kids.
0:39:38 But the billions,
0:39:39 50, a hundred
0:39:40 billion dollars has
0:39:41 gone to the
0:39:42 poorest people in
0:39:42 the world.
0:39:43 So that’s our
0:39:44 job, is to
0:39:45 inspire people, is
0:39:46 to kind of
0:39:48 winsomely invite
0:39:49 them to make
0:39:49 their legacy
0:39:52 through generosity
0:39:54 more expansive
0:39:55 than perhaps they
0:39:56 even thought
0:39:56 possible.
0:39:57 I want to go
0:39:58 back to the
0:39:59 100% model, you
0:40:00 know, you made
0:40:01 that commitment,
0:40:01 you’re going to
0:40:03 donate 100% of,
0:40:05 or 100% of the
0:40:05 public donations
0:40:06 are going to go
0:40:07 directly into these
0:40:08 causes, and that’s
0:40:08 your promise.
0:40:11 I have a lot of
0:40:12 friends, sounds like
0:40:13 you know these
0:40:14 people too, who
0:40:15 say they don’t
0:40:15 really trust
0:40:16 charities.
0:40:17 You know, I
0:40:18 would give, but
0:40:19 I don’t really
0:40:20 know what
0:40:20 they’re going
0:40:20 to do with
0:40:22 it, you
0:40:23 know, I’ve
0:40:24 heard of this
0:40:25 charity as a
0:40:26 scam, and that
0:40:26 charity is a
0:40:27 scam, and now
0:40:28 we have a lot
0:40:29 of distrust
0:40:30 around NGOs
0:40:31 in general.
0:40:32 How do you
0:40:33 counteract that?
0:40:35 And I’ll also
0:40:36 ask, to what
0:40:37 extent are those
0:40:39 concerns warranted?
0:40:40 Like, how many
0:40:41 charities actually
0:40:42 are scams, and
0:40:43 then how do you
0:40:45 build trust among
0:40:46 your donators?
0:40:48 many, many, many
0:40:49 charities are doing
0:40:50 really great work
0:40:54 at great human
0:40:54 sacrifice.
0:40:57 You know, people
0:40:58 who are living way
0:40:59 beyond the status
0:41:00 that they could be
0:41:01 living at, you
0:41:02 know, even working
0:41:03 at Charity Water.
0:41:03 You know, if I
0:41:04 think about my
0:41:06 software engineers, or
0:41:07 our product people, or
0:41:08 our water programs
0:41:10 team, they could be
0:41:11 making more money,
0:41:12 getting better
0:41:13 benefits and
0:41:14 stock bonuses out
0:41:16 in the, you know,
0:41:16 the for-profit
0:41:17 sector, and they
0:41:18 have chosen to
0:41:18 serve.
0:41:20 So I think there’s
0:41:21 a lot of good.
0:41:23 I think there’s
0:41:23 also a lot of
0:41:26 opacity, and, you
0:41:27 know, what we have
0:41:28 been really trying
0:41:29 to kind of preach
0:41:31 as a value is
0:41:33 build a transparent
0:41:33 organization.
0:41:36 You know, and I
0:41:36 believe donors are
0:41:38 open to myriad value
0:41:38 propositions.
0:41:40 If I told you right
0:41:41 now, the biggest
0:41:41 need we had at
0:41:43 Charity Water is
0:41:44 to fix our copy
0:41:46 machine, and it’s
0:41:47 $1,500 to get the
0:41:48 Epson guy to come,
0:41:50 you would give $1,500
0:41:52 right now to meet a
0:41:52 specific need.
0:41:53 Right.
0:41:54 That’s like the most
0:41:55 overhead-y thing.
0:41:56 Right.
0:41:57 But if it helped the
0:41:58 organization move the
0:41:59 mission forward by
0:42:00 fixing the copy
0:42:01 machine, you would be
0:42:02 willing to do that
0:42:03 and write that check
0:42:03 and pay for that
0:42:04 overhead.
0:42:05 But you would know
0:42:05 where your money’s
0:42:05 going.
0:42:06 And I think with a
0:42:07 lot of organizations,
0:42:09 it’s just, you know,
0:42:12 they do an imperfect
0:42:13 and sometimes a very
0:42:14 bad job at just
0:42:14 telling people where
0:42:15 the money’s going.
0:42:16 Is it going to sit
0:42:17 in an endowment for
0:42:18 the next 50 years?
0:42:19 Is it going to
0:42:19 overhead?
0:42:20 Is it building a new
0:42:20 building?
0:42:21 Is it going to the
0:42:23 field, you know, to
0:42:23 deliver direct
0:42:24 services?
0:42:25 So our model has,
0:42:26 you know, the
0:42:27 separation of kind of
0:42:28 the church and state.
0:42:29 You know, these bank
0:42:30 accounts get audited
0:42:31 by KPMG every year.
0:42:33 And for the last
0:42:34 decade plus, they
0:42:35 write an opinion.
0:42:37 We force them to
0:42:38 audit the 100%
0:42:39 model and then post
0:42:39 that opinion on
0:42:40 the website.
0:42:40 Yeah.
0:42:41 Like to basically
0:42:42 forensically audit
0:42:44 every donation we
0:42:45 use for overhead
0:42:46 needs to have an
0:42:47 audited paper trail.
0:42:49 So trust, I think,
0:42:50 is the, you know,
0:42:51 the overarching
0:42:52 value.
0:42:54 And, you know,
0:42:57 one detail of the
0:42:58 100% model that
0:42:59 most people don’t
0:43:00 know is that we
0:43:01 actually even pay
0:43:02 back credit card
0:43:03 fees so that there’s
0:43:04 perfect integrity when
0:43:05 we say 100%.
0:43:06 So if you went
0:43:07 online after this
0:43:07 podcast and you gave
0:43:08 100 bucks on your
0:43:09 Amex, I’m going to
0:43:11 get 97 from your
0:43:12 donation.
0:43:13 I’m actually pulling
0:43:15 $3 from the overhead
0:43:16 account, adding it to
0:43:18 the 97 I got after
0:43:19 Amex took their
0:43:20 transaction fee, and
0:43:20 then I’m going to
0:43:22 send and track and
0:43:23 prove your $100.
0:43:25 That’ll cost me $800,000
0:43:28 this year to raise for
0:43:29 overhead, to pay back
0:43:30 MasterCard, Visa, and
0:43:32 Amex and make those
0:43:34 donations perfectly whole.
0:43:36 You know, we’ve
0:43:37 raised over a
0:43:37 billion dollars.
0:43:39 I’ve never used
0:43:40 donor money for a
0:43:40 business class ticket for
0:43:41 myself.
0:43:42 I’m doing 80, 90
0:43:43 flights a year.
0:43:44 There’s a value of
0:43:44 stewardship.
0:43:46 You know, do I want to
0:43:47 fly Cochin Air
0:43:47 Ethiopia?
0:43:48 No.
0:43:50 But am I going to
0:43:50 spend an extra 10
0:43:52 grand of donors money?
0:43:53 You know, I haven’t
0:43:54 been willing to do
0:43:54 that.
0:43:55 Believe me, I’ll take
0:43:56 all the upgrades that
0:43:57 the airlines want to
0:43:58 give with status.
0:44:00 I’ve had a donor, you
0:44:02 know, give miles, you
0:44:03 know, in other
0:44:03 circumstances.
0:44:04 But there’s kind of
0:44:05 these values that you
0:44:06 can put into an
0:44:07 organization that really
0:44:09 help you build trust.
0:44:09 Yeah.
0:44:11 And that’s what I’m
0:44:11 hoping.
0:44:12 And the 100% model has
0:44:13 just allowed us to do
0:44:14 that by design.
0:44:16 We have a product that
0:44:17 we’re launching in the
0:44:18 fall called Waterproof
0:44:20 that will track every
0:44:21 single donation.
0:44:22 So if a kid goes out
0:44:24 and sells lemonade and
0:44:27 gives $6.13 to their
0:44:28 parents, and their
0:44:28 parents go on and
0:44:32 give $6.13 online, we
0:44:33 can track that to a
0:44:35 well in Malawi and show
0:44:36 them a satellite image
0:44:37 of the well, exactly
0:44:38 how much that project
0:44:39 cost, and all the
0:44:39 other people they
0:44:40 shared it with.
0:44:43 And, you know, that
0:44:44 helps.
0:44:45 That really helps win
0:44:45 trust.
0:44:47 And it helps win
0:44:47 repeat donors as
0:44:48 well.
0:44:50 We’ll be right back.
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0:46:19 We’re back with
0:46:20 First Time Founders.
0:46:23 On the operational
0:46:25 front, the non-profit
0:46:26 structure versus the
0:46:27 for-profit structure.
0:46:28 There’s a debate in
0:46:29 society about when
0:46:31 non-profits make sense
0:46:33 and when for-profits
0:46:33 make sense.
0:46:34 And a lot of people
0:46:36 believe that non-profits
0:46:39 by virtue of the lack
0:46:42 economic incentive are just
0:46:43 overall less efficient.
0:46:45 They’re slower, they’re
0:46:47 maybe more bureaucratic
0:46:48 than a for-profit
0:46:49 organization that makes
0:46:49 money.
0:46:51 Maybe they attract not
0:46:53 as great talent, for
0:46:54 example, because you can’t
0:46:54 pay them as well as you
0:46:55 could at a for-profit.
0:46:57 What is your view on
0:46:57 that?
0:47:00 Is there truth to that,
0:47:02 you know, skepticism around
0:47:05 non-profits, and how have you
0:47:07 pushed back against that?
0:47:08 How have you made your
0:47:10 organization as efficient as
0:47:12 some of the most well-run
0:47:13 companies in America?
0:47:14 It’s interesting, so when our
0:47:16 donors, and many of our
0:47:17 overhead donors, so I should
0:47:19 just clarify, the way that we
0:47:21 pay for the overhead is a
0:47:22 multi-year giving program
0:47:23 called The Well.
0:47:24 Yeah.
0:47:27 It’s 135 founders,
0:47:29 entrepreneurs, and families,
0:47:31 and the goal is to get that
0:47:32 program to 200, so that’s
0:47:33 growing every year.
0:47:38 So 135 people currently pay for
0:47:40 all of the overhead so that
0:47:41 millions of people can give in
0:47:42 the other bank account in the
0:47:43 purest way possible, so that
0:47:45 maybe just to demystify that.
0:47:45 Yeah.
0:47:47 So I kind of have 135 LPs.
0:47:48 Yeah.
0:47:49 I have to keep them happy.
0:47:50 They are our investors.
0:47:52 Now, those people, because it’s
0:47:54 the founders of Spotify, and
0:47:55 Pinterest, and LinkedIn, and,
0:47:56 you know, a bunch of people,
0:47:57 Shopify, a bunch of people who
0:48:00 have been on this podcast, they
0:48:03 know that an organization is
0:48:04 only as great as the talent that
0:48:06 you can recruit and then
0:48:08 retain, so they don’t mind
0:48:10 building the organization as
0:48:11 long as it’s efficient.
0:48:12 and transparent.
0:48:14 When they look at our numbers,
0:48:16 they can’t believe how much we
0:48:17 do for how little.
0:48:21 So the overwhelming sense is
0:48:23 we’re way more efficient than
0:48:26 their businesses, than the ROI
0:48:28 that they would expect to get
0:48:30 from almost any action.
0:48:32 You know, there was a time when,
0:48:33 you know, almost every employee at
0:48:34 Charity Water was raising a
0:48:35 million dollars.
0:48:36 You know, it was like a million
0:48:36 dollars revenue.
0:48:38 I mean, there’s not that many
0:48:40 companies that are doing a
0:48:42 million dollars of revenue per
0:48:42 employee.
0:48:44 We’re probably at 900,000 now or
0:48:44 so.
0:48:46 So they’ve always kind of
0:48:47 appreciated that efficiency.
0:48:50 I will say that it is really
0:48:52 hard because of the nonprofit
0:48:55 class to retain talent.
0:48:56 I remember in the early days in
0:48:58 New York, we would lose an
0:48:59 engineer to Google who would
0:49:00 triple their salary.
0:49:02 And so that is just a
0:49:05 challenge that you’re just
0:49:06 stuck with.
0:49:09 We did one interesting thing to
0:49:09 meet that.
0:49:11 We designed a program called
0:49:14 The Pool where founders can
0:49:16 donate equity and that gets
0:49:18 profit shared among our
0:49:19 employees.
0:49:21 So our employees had a little
0:49:22 bit of Uber stock.
0:49:23 There are a bunch of founders
0:49:25 as they’re building a company
0:49:26 that will pledge one or two
0:49:27 percent of their personal
0:49:29 equity into a bonus program.
0:49:31 So, you know, it’s still
0:49:32 they’re not ringing the bell.
0:49:34 I mean, this is this is not
0:49:36 significant income, but it’s
0:49:38 it’s helped us feel a little
0:49:40 more like a for profit.
0:49:40 Yeah.
0:49:41 By design.
0:49:42 Yeah.
0:49:43 But it’s a big challenge.
0:49:44 And I think, look, we don’t
0:49:46 really hang out with other
0:49:46 nonprofits.
0:49:47 We’re hanging out with, you
0:49:49 know, I’m taking inspiration
0:49:51 typically from high growth
0:49:52 startup culture.
0:49:53 Right.
0:49:55 I took Daniel Ek from
0:49:56 Spotify to Africa.
0:49:59 And I think Spotify had 900,000
0:50:00 paying subscribers.
0:50:02 And he told me in the back of
0:50:03 a Land Rover, he said, you
0:50:04 know, I stood up in front of
0:50:04 the company.
0:50:06 I said, we’re going to 100
0:50:08 million paid subs and we’re
0:50:09 going to do it in 10 years.
0:50:11 I think it took him 11.
0:50:13 And he’s what now at 300
0:50:15 million going to a billion.
0:50:17 These are the people who have
0:50:18 inspired me over the years.
0:50:21 these really big global
0:50:24 thinkers, maybe less than,
0:50:26 you know, someone trying to
0:50:27 keep the lights on in a
0:50:27 nonprofit.
0:50:28 I know that you’ve used
0:50:30 virtual reality to tell the
0:50:31 stories of what’s happening
0:50:32 at these water projects.
0:50:34 You’ve used drones with
0:50:35 cameras to film what’s
0:50:36 happening.
0:50:36 Yeah.
0:50:38 You’re extremely active on
0:50:38 social media.
0:50:42 Talk about the importance of
0:50:44 leveraging technology and I
0:50:46 think using social media to
0:50:48 keep your business growing.
0:50:49 And it seems like it’s been
0:50:50 endemic to everything you’ve
0:50:51 done.
0:50:52 It’s also getting harder.
0:50:53 So, you know, we were, we
0:50:54 were the first charity to get a
0:50:55 million Twitter followers.
0:50:57 I remember speaking at Twitter
0:50:58 headquarters where there were
0:51:01 38 people working at Twitter.
0:51:02 We were the first charity to
0:51:05 use Instagram on morning one
0:51:07 when they opened it up to
0:51:08 organizations.
0:51:11 So social media was a big part
0:51:13 of our early growth.
0:51:17 It’s really hard to get
0:51:18 people’s attention right now.
0:51:21 So I would say that our
0:51:23 challenge has never been
0:51:24 greater, you know, click
0:51:25 through rates are what?
0:51:27 0.6% now.
0:51:28 Unbelievable.
0:51:31 So how do we get our media
0:51:33 seen is, you know, amidst all
0:51:35 of the scrolling amidst the
0:51:37 diminishing attention spans,
0:51:39 you know, the volume, I woke up
0:51:40 this morning and I had 200
0:51:41 emails.
0:51:44 Like I batch deleted 140 maybe,
0:51:46 including a bunch from charities
0:51:48 like mine doing really good
0:51:50 work, but I didn’t have time to
0:51:51 take in their content this
0:51:52 morning, you know, as you get
0:51:54 ready for your day and, you know,
0:51:56 and the stuff coming in from your
0:51:57 team that needs response.
0:52:01 So I think we’re thinking about what are
0:52:03 the tools of the future
0:52:06 that are going to allow us to move
0:52:10 people towards compassion, to be
0:52:10 generous.
0:52:12 So I think charities have it harder
0:52:15 now, maybe, in this glut of
0:52:18 information world where we’re really
0:52:18 thinking about it.
0:52:19 It’s all about us.
0:52:20 Like everything is personalized.
0:52:24 The technology, you know, I’ve, I
0:52:25 associate a lot.
0:52:26 So I’ll see a piece of technology
0:52:28 and wonder if that could be used
0:52:29 for good.
0:52:30 I’ll give you two examples of that.
0:52:32 When Nest came out many years ago,
0:52:35 I saw a donor change the temperature
0:52:36 of their vacation home on their
0:52:37 iPhone.
0:52:41 I was like, whoa, if you can have a
0:52:43 smart home, you could have a smart
0:52:44 well.
0:52:47 And, you know, we had no R&D
0:52:47 budget.
0:52:49 So I went and convinced Google to
0:52:51 give us a bunch of money for R&D
0:52:52 to build a sensor.
0:52:56 And we made 3,000 sensors that we
0:52:58 installed in rural Ethiopia.
0:53:02 And we connected 3,000 wells to the
0:53:02 cloud.
0:53:04 And in that pilot, we got the largest
0:53:06 data set in the history of the world,
0:53:08 over a billion liters of flow.
0:53:11 And that project is still ongoing.
0:53:14 And very simple idea, like when a well
0:53:16 breaks that has a sensor on it, a
0:53:19 mechanic gets dispatched, turns up on a
0:53:22 motorbike with tools, fixes that
0:53:24 project, the community pays for that
0:53:26 repair, and then they move on to the
0:53:26 next one.
0:53:30 So, you know, using a smart
0:53:35 thermostat, the same idea to create a
0:53:37 well where water can continue to flow
0:53:39 over time and you know the up rates,
0:53:41 you know that it continues to work in
0:53:45 year 3 or year 7 or year 10, is
0:53:45 an association.
0:53:48 So that’s a really exciting sensor
0:53:49 program that’s still going on.
0:53:51 We’re working on four different sensors
0:53:55 now for different water program types in
0:53:56 different stages of R&D.
0:53:58 And we’re raising all that funding
0:53:59 separately as well.
0:54:01 So that’s not actually coming from the
0:54:01 public donations.
0:54:03 You know, that’s an R&D fund.
0:54:03 Right.
0:54:06 The second, you know, just example, I
0:54:08 remember when VR first came out, do you
0:54:11 remember it was the Samsung phone that you
0:54:13 would slide that had gear VR, right?
0:54:15 And then Google had that little
0:54:16 cardboard box.
0:54:17 It was Google Glass.
0:54:21 So I remember going somewhere, some
0:54:23 conference, and it was Marriott, and they
0:54:25 put a headset on me, and I was in the
0:54:28 penthouse in Dubai, looking at Dubai.
0:54:32 And I just remember thinking, wow, I could
0:54:36 take people to Ethiopia or Malawi or Nepal
0:54:37 to a village without water.
0:54:41 And, you know, we’re pretty scrappy too.
0:54:42 There were no VR cameras on the market.
0:54:45 So I got GoPro to donate eight GoPros.
0:54:48 And I found this guy, Chris Milk, in LA to
0:54:49 turn it into a 360 rig.
0:54:53 And we went to Ethiopia, and we shot this
0:54:57 beautiful eight-minute VR film of a 13-year-old
0:54:58 girl who gets clean water for the first
0:54:59 time in her life.
0:55:02 And people would put on the headset and see
0:55:07 the swamp that she was sharing with animals.
0:55:08 It was fecally contaminated.
0:55:12 They saw the rig, the million-dollar drilling
0:55:14 rig with Ethiopian drillers, roll into her
0:55:17 village and jump out and start looking for
0:55:17 groundwater.
0:55:20 There’s this moment where they strike water,
0:55:22 and her father picks this little girl up, and
0:55:25 he’s dancing, and he’s spinning her around.
0:55:33 And then at the end, you watch her walk to the
0:55:36 well, pump it, and taste clean water for the very
0:55:37 first time in her human life.
0:55:42 And, you know, as primitive as the technology was, we would
0:55:44 put headsets on people, and they’d be weeping.
0:55:46 You know, eight minutes later, they have, you know, tears
0:55:47 streaming down their face.
0:55:51 And we wound up using that film to raise millions and millions
0:55:52 of dollars.
0:55:53 We took it to our Met Gala.
0:55:58 And, you know, after dinner served to 350 people in black
0:56:01 tie, we served 350 VR headsets on trays.
0:56:04 And we pressed play at the same time.
0:56:06 We took everybody out and back in eight minutes.
0:56:08 And the minute the film finished, we just asked them for
0:56:09 money.
0:56:12 We helped 100,000 people get water in that moment.
0:56:17 So I’m always wondering, how can we use technology to further
0:56:19 the mission, which is really simple.
0:56:21 The mission is just to get everybody on Earth clean water.
0:56:22 Yeah.
0:56:24 Yeah, that’s the drop the mic moment.
0:56:25 There is a finish line.
0:56:28 When 703 million people have water, we’re done.
0:56:28 It’s done.
0:56:29 Yeah.
0:56:33 It’s a world where every human has the most basic need for
0:56:34 life met.
0:56:40 We talk a lot on this podcast about money, how to build a
0:56:42 profitable business, how to get rich.
0:56:46 That’s one of our big themes, which, you know, I don’t think
0:56:48 that’s a dishonorable cause.
0:56:54 But I do think that we underlook on this podcast the meaning and
0:57:00 the value of service and what it can do, not just for other
0:57:02 people’s lives, but for your own life.
0:57:06 And what it can do to your own happiness and the impact it can
0:57:06 have.
0:57:11 So for someone who’s listening to this podcast, um, and you know,
0:57:14 there are two parts.
0:57:18 There’s the life of money and wealth and the fame and the glory that
0:57:23 comes with that, or a life of service and helping others and
0:57:24 philanthropy.
0:57:29 Make the case for our audience for going the latter route.
0:57:34 What is the value, uh, in living a life of service and helping other
0:57:34 people?
0:57:40 I mean, I think I was almost a slave to the consumerism that I was
0:57:43 pursuing, uh, all the markers of success.
0:57:46 And, you know, however, and I, and I’ve heard this actually from a lot
0:57:50 of our donors, you know, a lot of people will have a number in mind and
0:57:52 whenever they reach that number, the number changes.
0:57:58 And, you know, I’m worried that if you live that life, you know,
0:58:01 it’s almost like the, uh, like the, the cartoon, right?
0:58:06 Like the carrot is just out in front of you and you know, it’s consumption and
0:58:08 more houses and more planes and more cars.
0:58:14 And, you know, I, I, it, for me, I’m only speaking personally, it didn’t bring happiness.
0:58:23 So, you know, the animating quote in my life, um, is almost 17 years ago, there was a guy
0:58:26 who worked for me and he was passing a New York city bodega, a deli.
0:58:33 And there was this, uh, saying on like one of the boards outside, do not be afraid of
0:58:34 work with no end.
0:58:39 And it came from an ancient, like rabbinic text and do not be afraid of endless work.
0:58:47 And in some ways, you know, I think the, the one path is do, it’s like endless spending,
0:58:54 endless attaining, endless consumption, endless accumulation, maybe, or endless service.
0:59:04 And, you know, I love that idea of, you know, if, if your work, if the work is showing up
0:59:07 and saying, you know, first, like, how can I be a great husband?
0:59:09 How can I be a great father?
0:59:10 How can I be a great friend?
0:59:14 How can I be a great leader, you know, of an organization?
0:59:17 Um, and how can I serve?
0:59:25 How can I make the biggest impact to people living, you know, close to me in my local community,
0:59:26 in the global community?
0:59:28 There’s no finish line to that, right?
0:59:30 It’s the same way that there’s never enough.
0:59:35 There’s no finish line, but you get to look back and like, oh, wow, we’ve helped 20 million
0:59:37 people get water.
0:59:37 Okay.
0:59:42 Hopefully I get to look back and say, well, we’ve helped a hundred million people on
0:59:42 planet earth.
0:59:45 We’ve, we’ve got this problem solved.
0:59:52 You know, I, I, I was at Madison square garden not too long ago with my wife and, you know,
0:59:57 Madison square garden holds a little less than 20,000 people and it was sold out for a concert.
1:00:00 And I was like, we’ve done this a thousand times.
1:00:08 Like you would have to build a thousand Madison square gardens to contain 20 million people.
1:00:13 I was sitting in a thousandth of the impact and I haven’t met these people.
1:00:19 I’m never going to meet 20 million, 20.2 million people with water, but that’s the, that’s the
1:00:20 pursuit.
1:00:27 How do we, how do I use what I’ve been blessed with my time, my talents and, and my money and
1:00:27 my personal money as well.
1:00:31 I also believe in giving, uh, I have to eat my own dog food.
1:00:36 You know, I need to be as generous as I’m asking other people to be.
1:00:39 How do I use that in the service of others?
1:00:50 And it’s, it, I think, you know, provides for a fulfilling life where you know that it matters.
1:00:54 Scott Harrison is the founder and CEO of Charity Water.
1:00:56 Scott, this has been inspiring.
1:00:58 I hope it was inspiring to others.
1:01:00 Uh, and I really appreciate your time.
1:01:01 Thanks for having me.
1:01:07 Our producer is Claire Miller.
1:01:09 Our associate producer is Alison Weiss.
1:01:12 And our engineer is Benjamin Spencer.
1:01:16 Thank you for listening to first time founders from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
1:01:19 Tune in tomorrow for Prof G Markets.
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1:01:30 Bye.
1:01:31 Bye.