Who Owns charity: water?

Scott Harrison spent a decade promoting nightclubs in New York City before taking a radical career turn in 2004. He volunteered as a photojournalist aboard a hospital ship off the coast of Liberia, where he documented surgeries for patients with massive tumors and saw firsthand how contaminated water drove disease. The experience led him to found charity: water in September 2006, initially raising money through his birthday and a launch party in Manhattan.

The organization's early innovation was proof. It used GPS coordinates, photos, and satellite imagery to show donors exactly which wells their money funded, an unusual level of transparency for the sector at the time. The 100 percent model, where separate private donors cover all overhead, became its signature fundraising pitch and let it market public donations as fully dedicated to fieldwork.

Growth came through digital campaigns and the September birthday fundraiser, which Harrison launched by asking for donations in lieu of gifts. The organization passed $100 million in lifetime public donations within its first decade and expanded across East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It built a distinctive brand identity around its yellow jerrycan logo, a reference to the containers people carry to collect water.

Harrison moved to Franklin, Tennessee with his family in 2021, and part of the organization's operations followed. He published the New York Times bestseller Thirst in 2018 and later opened the charity: water Experience Lab at The Factory at Franklin, an interactive exhibit designed to immerse visitors in the water crisis. In fiscal year 2025, the organization funded 22,414 water projects that will serve 1.4 million people, bringing its cumulative total to nearly 197,000 projects for more than 20.6 million people in 29 countries.