Welcome back from the holiday friends!
Are your bellies full? Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving? I hope you did, and that you had some quality time to reconnect with yourself as well. In case you missed it, last week’s post is still quite applicable because we have another round of holidays coming up in just a few weeks.
Today, I have a message very near and dear to my heart. I want to talk to you about Giving Tuesday. If you know me, you know I am passionate about service. One of the most fulfilling areas of service I first experienced was giving. Two close friends of mine were going off to be ministers at a university in Spain, and I wanted to give to them to make that service possible. From there, I have found so many different ways to give. However, one has become nearest and dearest to my heart.
That one is Charity:Water.
I first gave to Charity:Water back in 2007. A good friend of mine decided to try to raise money for a well and had sent emails to many of us that knew him back in our high school days (this was pre-Facebook). What struck me most about this charity were two things:
- a very unique proposition that brings ripples of value through a community (clean water)
- a practice of ensuring 100% of public donations go directly to beneficiaries (i.e. no overhead – when you give $1, all of that dollar goes to building the well)
Over the years, I’ve donated to several campaigns, and I’ve always had a great impression of the organization.
Cue this year’s WDS: Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity:Water, was one of the speakers. I wrote about him in my WDS summary post here. His talk was an incredibly inspiring story of the journey he’s been on for the last 10 years. He shared amazing stories of youth that have been given a chance to fight disease and death through the simple act of receiving access to clean drinking water. He spoke of the wells and the organization’s commitments to use local expertise and labor to build these life-giving centers for communities around the world. In 10 years, Charity:Water – through our donations – has provided over 100M people with clean drinking water. It’s an awe-inspiring story.
Then he spoke of the 650M+ that still remain without water – the catalyst behind their quest to find a way to help more people faster. This led to a new innovation, which is a mashup of a monthly giving pledge and a beautiful membership site. It’s called The Spring.
I felt the call to support, however I could, and signed up. Yet, I wanted to do more. As I was working to get the Be Here and Serve blog up, I longed for a way to incorporate Charity:Water deeper into the fibers of this organization. The idea for how to do this didn’t come to me until I was in Dallas last month for the LaunchCon conference. Scott was on stage again, and this time we raised $275K for Charity:Water by attendees donations. That is 27 wells!
Then it hit me. Every program I provide could provide water for someone as well. The Corporate Detox Retreat has been my first opportunity to implement this, and it feels so amazing to give 3 people water for every 1 person that registers. (Send me note if you want early bird details!)
So, for this Giving Tuesday I would love to share with you a movement that has come to mean so much to me – The Spring.
Would you join me in whatever level you can? It feels so good to give to an amazing cause after sharing an incredible and abundant holiday. Let’s give people around the world a new lease on life through clean and safe drinking water. Sign up here, and please reach out if you have any questions about the program. Through the links on this page, we’ll be able to see the impact this community makes together. I will share the results with you soon!