charity: water’s Experience Lab in Franklin, Tennessee uses two Vestaboards to count the people reaching clean water and to recognize the visitors helping fund it.
Scott Harrison founded charity: water in 2006 to bring clean and safe water to people who do not have it. 20 years later, the organization has funded more than 209,000 water projects across 29 countries, reaching over 21 million people, and 100% of every public donation goes directly to the work in the field.
The Experience Lab is a free hour-long guided tour of the global water crisis. Visitors look at contaminated water samples under microscopes, carry a jerry can along the route a girl in Uganda walks each day to collect water, and watch a film that ends the moment a drilling team reaches her village. The tour exits through the GIVE shop, where visitors can give back to the organization.
Two Vestaboards sit at that exit, one showing a live count of the people gaining access to clean water, the other showing messages and the donations made that day.
Many of the kids who come through the Lab leave inspired to act. One 8-year-old raised $10,000 on her own, enough to bring clean water to an entire community. “That generosity is recognized on the board for everyone else to see,” says founder and CEO Scott Harrison.
The idea for a Vestaboard that counts clean water access came from Scott himself. “Our ability to customize [Vestaboard], to make that our own, tracking people with clean water and tracking the impact of the generosity of children that come through this space and make donations, has been really important to us,” he says.
Our Inspire Community program gives one Vestaboard for every 100 sold to people and organizations making a difference in their communities. Nominations for our Fall round close October 31. Nominate someone who inspires you today.