I know it has been a while since I last wrote but I came across an incredibly interesting charity known as Charity Water. The simple premise behind the charity is to provide potable drinking water to people who simply don’t have good water to drink. Noble enough, and well thought out. Which got me thinking: why did I immediately jump on this charity, more so than the myriad charities I come across everyday living in a large urban cosmopolitan setting? What was it that drew me immediately to the plight of people that live halfway around the world and, for all intents and purposes, are people who I will most likely never come in contact with?
The key here is the fact that they bridge a gap that has been discussed by Economists in the past regarding the idea of giving. In many cases, a local charity can do very well in it’s local community since individuals feel a compelling need to help out those which they can see and hear as part of the landscape of their local community. It’s a phenomenon at the crossroads of economics and ethics: you see others who are not doing as well as you, and you can provide a little more for them and actually SEE the benefits and understand the change that you are enacting even if you are doing something as simple as providing money for an effort. See this article from The Economist regarding the joy of giving.
Enter Charity Water. What they did right, and what I firmly believe all charities should do, is bridge the gap of the global versus local community. That is, make people feel as if the monetary contributions they are providing to the charity are in effect and working, as if they were outside their front door. You will see how well Charity Water markets itself on it’s website by properly explaining how each and every single dollar will be used when you donate. Their ability to make a person, sitting in front of a computer, feel as if THEY are the ones drilling a water hole in some faraway land is exactly the reason why they are able to fund themselves and sustain themselves as a promising charity and a model for innovation within the charity community.
By removing the physical distance involved and bridging that distance through social media and the instant communication afforded by the web, they are able to make individuals who are passively helping faraway people feel as if they are actually on the ground doing good, which in turn helps complete the feedback loop for individuals who are looking to use their pocketbooks as a viable way to help others.