Hi friends, I'm trying a fun experiment this year for my 45th birthday--inviting friends to donate an amount made up of the numbers 45 ($4, $5, $9, $20, or $45) towards clean water for other humans on the planet.

The founder of charity:water started this organization with the goal that in his lifetime he would provide clean water for every human on the planet. The really compelling thing is that it's totally doable.

There are about 600 million humans who don't have clean water right now. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. There are simple solutions like drilled wells, spring protections and BioSand filters that help provide clean water to communities around the world.

It costs about $30 to provide clean water for one person. Charity water has a totally separate account and separate fundraising efforts for their overhead costs so 100% of this money will be used to build clean water projects. When the project our money is used for is complete, charity: water will send us photos and GPS coordinates so we can see the exact community we helped.

I am donating $250, about half of my birthday and Christmas money given to me by various family members, and am hoping enough friends will donate in order to match that $250 for a total of $500 for charity water. This will help 12 fellow humans have clean water.