Giving Life on Your Birthday

by Nathaniel Whittemore

categories: Funding, internet, Meta

Published September 07, 2009 @ 11:10AM PT

Four years ago, a simple birthday party to raise money to help provide clean water in Uganda launched what would become one of the most high-profile nonprofits today. Since then, charity:water has been continuously innovating around how to use media to compel people to action. So today, on my birthday, I wanted to take a moment to ask why we act for change, and how we can accelerate that action.

charity:water is an incredibly media-savvy organization. Their design is absolutely top-notch, with materials and production that is extraordinarily professional without being unfeeling. Moreover, they know how to use video that is extremely captivating without sensationalizing.

But far more important than their production value is how successfully they connect "us" and "them." Their largest campaign to date has been their "Born in September" campaign, which gave people a platform to ask their friends and family to donate money to building wells rather than giving them gifts. In their second year of the campaign, they raised $150,000, and then almost a million in their third.

I think this is compelling for a couple reasons. From the absolutely most prosaic, one's birthday is a context that makes it appropriate to reach out to friends and ask for money. In this instance, the ease of giving through platforms like charity:water or even more, Causes' Birthday Wish application on Facebook, accelerates donations.

On a slightly more philosophical level, birthdays remind us from where we came, and of all the people who have contributed to our own success. They provide moments to think about oneself and one's relationship with the world more reflectively, and are a good time to engage a commitment to justice.

One of the things that charity:water does better than almost anyone is sell the idea that people who are working with them are part of a larger movement for good. People want to feel a part of something bigger than themselves, but this requires not only a big goal to buy into, but examples of people who seem like you who make it feel like you really can contribute. charity:water's founder Scott built that first fundraiser around his birthday, and even though they fundraise year round has had September - his birth month - be the staging ground for their main push. I don't think this is about ego, I think it's about helping people have an entry point.

I'm not raising money on this birthday, for the sole reason that I ask people to contribute to enough things around the year that adding another one might be a little extemporaneous. Instead, I'd ask everyone reading to use this day to recommit to what you care most about, and redouble your efforts to that end.

For those inspired, use the comments to share your passions.

(Photo: charity:water)