Shawn’s giving up his birthday — which happens to be today — and he’s more than halfway to his goal of raising $1000. He made this t-shirt to spread the word. We hear he’s turning heads and sparking conversation. Nicely done, Shawn. And happy birthday!
See Shawn’s campaign here>

campaign: Read-a-thon
raising the money: Claire and Amber
goal: $1,000
raised so far: $940

About two weeks ago, Founder and CEO Scott Harrison spoke at Inc. 500, a conference and award ceremony for the companies that made Inc. magazine’s list of fastest-growing businesses in 2011. Now that the video’s up online, we thought we’d share his talk:

When we heard that Juliana and her friends were having a water balloon fight to raise money for water projects, we headed uptown to see for ourselves. The day turned out cloudier (and colder) than expected, but that didn’t stop this bold group from having a fun time — and getting some attention for their mycharity: water campaign.

Kay wears charity to her office — she took a minute to snap a photo for us.
Want to show off your charity: water gear? Send a snapshot to blog@charitywater.org.

In case you missed Scott’s talk at the Mashable Social Good Summit on Tuesday, where he unveiled our new Dollars to Projects feature for mycharity: water:

Check out Mashable’s coverage of the talk here >

Our favorite representation of the new FS 250 drilling rig we hope to fund through September Campaign, coming from six-year-old Mackenzie of Cumbernauld, Scotland:

Mackenzie turned six a week ago. His campaign goal was to raise $300 to help fund our new drilling rig — and he’s blown through that to raise nearly $900!

This September, we’re funding our first ever drilling rig. We want to take a minute to explain how this is a departure from what we usually do — fund programs to construct or rehabilitate individual water projects.

In 2006, founder Scott Harrison hosted a birthday party and collected $20 per person at the door. He used 100% of the money to fund water projects for people in developing countries.
Five years later, it was time we threw it back to those early days of charity: water.

As the summer wraps up, we’re looking back on some of our favorite page-turners of the season while jumping into new books for the fall. Take a look at our staff’s recommended reads: