I’ve been anxiously waiting for this day since February when I first met Scott Harrison at TED. I sat next to him on the bus that schlepped people from the aquarium party.
After he saw my enthusiasm for his work with the mercy ship Anastasia, he whipped out his iPhone and gave me one of the most endearing presentations I’ve ever seen. Huddled around his phone he told me the story of how after he’d returned from Africa, receiving gifts for his birthday felt empty. That first year back, he asked his friends and family to donate funds to build a well in Africa instead of giving him birthday gifts. What started as a small token of compassion has turned into an amazing non-profit organization called charity:water.
He reeled me in and compelled me to support his cause via very personal storytelling and images. I could zoom in and out of the pictures to see details of the young faces and filthy water.
His presentation was well designed, emotional, statistical and actionable. It was everything that a great presentation should be.
So why do this post today? Because my son Anthony turns 18 today and he’s in Rochester, NY at Eastman School of Music. He’s the only one in my family with a September birthday so we wanted to help Scott with his cause. You can help Anthony raise money for clean drinking water in Africa by donating to this web page.
Scott’s organization does a great job carrying the messages and images across all his branded items. The visual assets are consistent and leave an impression the way a great brand should. It’s rare to see a non-profit do such a great job at this. His web site and everything his organization produces is well designed, memorable and arresting. Here’s a public service announcement that thematically ties into their direct mail campaign. Great job to the charity:water team!
p.s. I’m sure it has helped Scott’s charity that he was voted Humanitarian Bachelor of the Year by People Magazine. He’s cute huh?
