The Wow Factor: Scott Harrison: CEO of Charity: Water | Providing The World with Clean Water

Scott Harrison: CEO of Charity: Water | Providing The World with Clean Water

Apr 27, 2022

After a decade of working as a nightclub promoter, Scott decided to have a complete change of lifestyle and spent two years on a hospital ship off the coast of Liberia, where he saw the effects of dirty water on people’s health. Upon returning to NYC in 2006, Scott turned his full attention to the global water crisis and the (then) 1.1 billion people living without access to clean water, He then established a small, core team, in a tiny Manhattan apartment, and created charity: water.

Today, Scott is on the podcast to share how charity: water reinvented fundraising with an innovative 100% model and radical transparency, displaying every water project funded — even when things don’t have the result they hoped for. He describes why he decided to start life over at 28 years old and embed as a photojournalist with Mercy Ships in Liberia, West Africa, and how that experience was the catalyst for founding charity: water. Scott also shares why he feels that too few of the resources we can use to turn tragedy into joy are being mobilized, and how we can change that.

“I want to be a part of bringing clean drinking water to every human being on planet Earth.” - Scott Harrison

“10% of the world right now is drinking dirty water. That keeps us engaged and trying to grow the movement and invite more people in, because we think that number should be zero.” - Scott Harrison

“There's a responsibility but also a joy in being able to use our time, talent, and money to be a blessing, to end some of the needless suffering we see around the world, to contribute to ending human suffering, and to contribute to human flourishing.” - Scott Harrison

This Week on The Wow Factor:

The traumatic event in Scott’s early years that changed his life
The moment Scott thought that he was close to death and needed to make a change in his lifestyle
How he learned that half of the disease in Liberia was caused by people drinking contaminated water and the lack of sanitation and hygiene and why that discovery led to him being inspired to start charity: water
How charity: water has raised $650 million from across 150 countries globally and helped 15 million people.
How Scott hopes to raise more funding to enable the 771 million people today drinking dirty water to have access to clean water
Why he released a YouTube video of charity: water NOT finding water for a desperate community
How to move people from awareness to action
How charity: water proves to donors that 100% of every gift given goes directly to fund clean water projects using Google Earth and Google Maps, using GPS coordinates and satellite image
How Scott would characterize his leadership style
Why Scott genuinely believes that if you don’t take a risk, then you'll never get to go anywhere

Scott Harrison’s Words of Wisdom:

As the ancient Jewish text says, ‘do not be afraid of work with no end,’ and that’s how I look at many aspects of my life and elements of Charity Water. There will be a day when we will get everybody access to clean water, and when we do, I believe that we can take everything we've learned, all the generosity, compassion, and resources our community has, and focus it on another problem. I've always loved the idea of embracing endless work if the endless work is pointed in the right direction.

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