July 24, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Philanthropy has grown ubiquitous among celebrities. But the actor Matt Damon’s work with the charity Water.org departs from the usual ways Hollywood stars get involved with charity, according to Fast Company magazine (July/August.)
Water.org is the product of a 2009 merger between H2O Africa, the group Mr. Damon founded several years ago, and WaterPartners, founded 20 years ago by Gary White, a former engineering specialist at Catholic Relief Services. The merged organization, which expects to raise $10-million by the end of this year, works to bring clean water and sanitation projects to impoverished people in developing countries.
Mr. Damon’s contributions to the organization go beyond serving as celebrity spokesman, according to Fast Company. Before the merger, Mr. Damon studied Mr. White’s creations, particularly WaterCredit, a microfinance tool the charity used to organize local people to run a water project and help them borrow money. The actor also researched the problems that impede access to clean water in poor countries, including quizzing local villagers in India, Zambia, and elsewhere about their daily lives.
“If you want to understand how this works,” he tells the magazine, “there is no substitute for going there and talking to people in their homes.”
According to Water.org, it has so far helped 315,000 people acquire access to reliable clean-water systems. Mr. Damon recently donated $1-million to a new Water.org fund to devise new ways to serve people in developing countries; Hult International Business School matched the donation with an additional $1-million.
In another article about celebrity philanthropy, the magazine takes a look at the pros and cons of bringing a well-known spokesman into the fold, and provides a guide to what nonprofits should do when establishing a relationship with a public figure. The tips include: enlist a professional liaison to manage the relationship between the nonprofit and the star; and take time to educate the spokesman about the charity’s work before he or she talks to donors or the news media.
For more, go to: http://www.fastcompany.com.
