He’s Spent 20 Years Trying to Change The World | Scott Harrison
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How did a birthday party in a New York nightclub spark the creation of charity: water?
Twenty years ago, Scott Harrison set out to bring clean water to every person and village in the world who needed it, and along the way save millions of lives. It was one of those rare problems that was actually a hundred percent solvable. The technology existed. Even if it took a lifetime, it became the defining mission of his life, leading him to launch Charity Water, the billion dollar movement that began with a birthday party in New York nightclub and grew into one of the most trusted models in philanthropy in the world. What's happened over those two decades and how it's impacted Scott, his family, and millions of others is where we're headed in today's deeply inspiring story driven conversation.
We talk about the pivotal moments and insights in his quest to build something that changes millions of lives. And Scott also shares how he thinks about the tension between mission and family, what it means to build a life around service instead of accumulation, and why work that has no end may be the right work to choose. This episode is Essential Listening if you care about doing work that genuinely matters, the power of a clear mission, A story well told me. and how all of it changes not just you but everyone that you touch, including your family, your friends, and those around you along the way. So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project, and we'll jump right in after this short break.
Mm-hmm. Scott Harrison, so great to have you back in the house. It's been eight years, my friend, way too long.
I can't wait to uh to be back with you. This is uh such an honor.
I know. Um, you and I longtime New Yorkers who have found ourselves outside of New York in sort of since late pandemic days. I want to take you back in time. Um When you turned thirty one, which as we're having this conversation twenty years ago, um, you throw yourself a birthday party, um back in one of the clubs in New York City, you raise about fifteen grand to provide water for some villages in Uganda. If that guy walks into charity water today, the foundation that that very party birthed some twenty years ago. The foundation that you have built over the last two decades. What would you say?
Well, I hope I would try to hire that guy. 'Cause twenty years on we need that energy. Um I'm reading a book at the moment called From Barbarians to Bureaucrats. Trying to make sure uh, you know, d as we turn twenty, you know, that same uh sense of possibility and inspiration and uh you know craziness in a way uh remains uh a value of the organization. Um if he walked in today I don't think he would recognize it. I don't think that guy uh ever knew what an organization looked like, uh behaved like, uh was structured like. I mean that guy was a a kid who threw a party at a nightclub 'cause he wanted to build a well, uh and you know, wasn't sure w what any of it or how to do any of those things. So I'd I'd hope he'd be pretty impressed.
And think it was pretty cool that that you know, that one well in Uganda has turned into, you know, over a billion dollars and two hundred and sixteen thousand projects in twenty nine countries and, you know, certainly more of a going concern now than than a nightclub party um where people threw twenty dollars in. But uh I I I think the whole organization now, you know, would uh would hopefully be infected by that enthusiasm.
Oh.
And idealism, maybe.
Yeah. Idealism is an interesting word, right? Um twenty years, over a billion dollars. Some twenty one million people with clean water, probably a lot more than that actually, um, as we have this conversation. Over a million people have contributed in various different ways. When I first sat down with you, um, years back One of the things that really caught me at Stay With Me is this notion y you basically said When I first realized that this was a problem, one of the things that you realize at the same time was this is one of those rare problems where it is deep, it is vast, it's global and it is a hundred percent solvable.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did a birthday party in a New York nightclub spark the creation of charity: water?
0:00–5:46
2
What makes clean water a 100% solvable global problem and why is it so important?
5:46–11:28
3
How does storytelling, not statistics, unlock generosity for a global movement?
11:28–16:44
4
What was the impact of Rachel Beckwith’s birthday campaign on charity: water’s growth?
16:44–21:35
5
How does Scott balance leading a worldwide nonprofit with family life?
21:35–28:17
6
What lessons does Scott share about progress, patience, and the long‑term mission?
28:17–33:42
7
How does charity: water’s transparent funding model build donor trust?
33:42–38:50
8
What practical steps can listeners take to cultivate generosity in their own lives?
38:50–44:03
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Good Life Project
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