New Ventures

Water.org believes everyone in the world should have sustainable and affordable access to safe water and sanitation. To get there, we must fundamentally change the system. And this change must be driven by the intrinsic power of the poor as customers and citizens.

To accelerate the pace of progress, Water.org has launched its New Ventures Initiative and Fund. This is a philanthropic pool of capital generated by venture-minded philanthropists and problem solvers eager to team with Water.org to search for and launch the next round of big ideas that will change the face of this crisis for those that live it every day.

While continuing to drive our programs forward across the globe, investments in the Fund will catalyze an "Idea Lab" at Water.org. The Idea Lab will support Water.org teams and partners to generate new ideas, develop hypothesis, and to pilot, monitor, and take solutions to scale. It will support a portfolio of innovations experimental in nature creating things like mobile apps, financing mechanisms, citizen engagement tools, and things we haven't thought of yet.

We invite you to join us. Together, we can bring forth the capital, tools, and partnerships needed to channel the intrinsic power of those in need and solve the water crisis.

Additional resources:

• White Paper: In Our Lifetime pdf
• Fast Company: "Can Matt Damon Bring Clean Water to Africa?"
• ABC Television: ABC News This Week Interview
• McKinsey Digital: What Matters: Can fresh thinking solve the world’s most intractable problems?
• Huffington Post: Safe Water and a Toilet—Is that too much to Ask for 2.5 Billion People?

Hult Global Case Competition

• 2011 Hult Global Case Competition
• Hult International Business School, Case Study: Getting Safe Water and Sanitation to the Bottom of the Pyramid through Bold and Game-Changing Innovations