Join your fellow fundraisers in Vancouver, BC, Canada April 1-3, 2012 for a three-day immersion to learn best practices and strategies that work. It’s a place to gain insight from industry and world leaders, a chance to learn breakthrough fundraising tactics, and an opportunity to share your own successes and challenges while meeting colleagues from across town and around the globe.
Enjoy and benefit from keynote addresses designed to open the ends of your thinking about what is possible for you and your organization. The addresses will offer discussions of a broad range of topics, including leadership, crisis management, change management, and the ability of the individual to change the world. They will complement the educational tracks, offering a broader view to contrast with the practice-specific sessions. Supported by the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy.
Sunday, April 1, 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Scott Harrison, Founder & President, charity: water
One of Fortunes 2011 top 40 Under 40, Scott Harrison was a nightclub promoter when he wondered what the exact opposite of his life would look like. Self-described as the most selfish, sycophantic and miserable human being, he languished in the New York City party lifestyle before a trip to Uruguay opened his eyes to the spiritual crisis he faced.
Desperate for a change and facing spiritual bankruptcy, Scott signed on to volunteer as photojournalist to Mercy Ships, a humanitarian organization that offered free medical care for the world's poorest nations. In his two years working with Mercy Ships, he realized that 80 percent of the diseases they encountered were attributable to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
Scott was deeply affected by his experiences on the ship, and founded charity: water in 2006 to begin making a difference to the billion people in the world who do not have access to clean drinking water. His highly successful PR and social media tactics have in the past gripped the media and helped to propel his charity into one of the most-recognized charities in the USA.
For Scott, charity is practical. It's sometimes easy, more often inconvenient, but always necessary. It's the ability to use one's position of influence, relative wealth and power to affect lives for the better.
To date, Charity Water has raised nearly $10 million US dollars for the charitable efforts.
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