Providing clean water to developing nations

Scott was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 7 September 1975 and grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and all his net proceeds from the sale of Thirst fund clean water. PHOTO: ImageCollab

Scott Harrison, is the founder and CEO of Charity: Water, a non-profit charity that works to bring clean water to people in developing nations, and author of Thirst, a personal story of redemption, compassion, a mission to bring clean water to the world and the transformative power within us all. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 7 September 1975 and grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and all his net proceeds from the sale of Thirst fund clean water. Harrison began working as a nightclub and party promoter in Manhattan and spent 10 years organizing parties for major brands. After a shooting at a nightclub he promoted in Uruguay in August 2004, Harrison quit his job declaring spiritual, moral, and emotional bankruptcy and volunteered as a photojournalist for Mercy Ships, a Christian charity that operates a fleet of hospital ships offering free healthcare.

During his two years with Mercy Ships, Harrison was exposed to the conditions of the impoverished in Liberia. He returned to New York City in 2006 and having seen the effects of dirty water firsthand, Scott turned his full attention to the global water crisis and the then 1.1 billion people living without access to clean water. He established a small core team in a small Manhattan apartment and founded Charity: Water, which directly funds water projects such as building wells and sanitation facilities through public donations. The organization set out on a mission to bring clean water to every person living without it and a vision, to reinvent charity with an innovative model that has radical transparency and proved every single water project funded. With the help of more than 1 million supporters worldwide, Charity: Water has to date raised $475 million and funded over 56 000 water projects in 29 countries. Upon completion, those projects will provide over 11 million people with clean, safe drinking water. Scott has been recognized in Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40 list, the Forbes Magazine Impact 30 list, as #10 in Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He is married to Viktoria Harrison, who leads design and branding for Charity: Water and they have two children, a son, Jackson and a daughter, Emma. VIDEO: Supplied