It Takes a Village

Help Matt give the gift of clean water. 100% of every donation raised will fund charity: water's work providing access to clean water projects around the world.

^$10,106.07

raised

^$10,000

goal

Why Matt Peterson is fundraising for clean water

Welcome to It Takes a Village, a fundraising project I started to raise $10,000 to bring clean water to an entire community!

↙ Before you read any further, check out that short video

Many of us have no idea what it's like to be thirsty. We turn on the faucet and clean, drinkable water comes out. We even fork over cash(gladly!) for the convenience and taste of bottled water.

But not everyone has that luxury. Imagine walking for hours just to fill a jerry can with water for your family to drink. And that water is dirty - filled with bacteria, worms, and parasites that will lead to disease and death. Every day, about 1,400 children die from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. Amazingly, dirty water is responsible for more death in the world than all forms of violence, including war. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

That’s why I’m working with charity:water to bring clean water to an entire community. For $10,000 charity:water will send out money to a specific project. That could mean drilling a well, building rain catchments, or another water solution that will save and improve the lives of the village's population!

Now, I know $10,000 is a lot of money... It will certainly “take a village”. But with your help we can have a REAL impact on a lot of people’s lives. Charity:water provides updates, reports, and GPS coordinates on the progress so we can follow it in realtime.

And you can rest assured that 100% of your donation go towards our project. Here is the typical breakdown of where it goes:

- 50% for materials: cement, pipes, pumps, construction supplies, training materials.

- 20% for local staff costs: drillers, welders, well technicians and hydrogeologists.

- 10% for mobilization: fuel, vehicles, lodging for drill crews in remote areas.

- 20% for in-country program support: accountants, drivers, computers, internet.

Additional resources:

2017 charity:water annual report:
https://assets.ctfassets.net/2w85ks0ylymt/7eQgn7fKrSoKm4SQGSQoAk/3c5bea8efa6fea96a8ccdd85a19325c4/Annual_report_2017.pdf

“Spring” video - an introduction to charity:waters founder and purpose:
https://www.facebook.com/charitywater/videos/10155728570597755/

Recent activity + updates

26 comments · 43 donations

Spring
Matt Peterson
posted an update to It Takes a Village
almost 4 years ago
We did it! 10k raised for clean water.

During a time when it can be difficult to find reasons to celebrate, I'm here to give you one on this Fourth of July morning. Our efforts to raise money in order to fund clean water projects in places of need have paid off! The campaign is now closed and we hit our goal, ending with $10,106 total that will go to work in the field. Your donations mean the world to me, and I can only imagine how grateful the people will be who we are helping. You truly are going to change lives.

So what's next? One of the reasons I love charity:water is that we get to see the progress and exactly where our money is being put to work. It takes about 21 months to get a detailed project completion report, but starting about 3-6 months from now we'll receive info on what country our money is being deployed in and then a progress report along the way.

If you'd like to see exactly how charity:water ties every dollar raised to a clean water project, you can check it out here: https://archive.charitywater.org/our-approach/dollars-to-projects/

And once again, THANK YOU!

- Matt
M
Matt Peterson donated $3,463.75 to It Takes a Village
almost 4 years ago
D
Dan Roberts
donated $60 to It Takes a Village
over 4 years ago
Good Stuff!
R
The Sica and Sullivan Families donated $100 to It Takes a Village
over 4 years ago
Spring
Matt Peterson
posted an update to It Takes a Village
over 4 years ago
Hey team! I wanted to share an exciting update for those of you that have already joined the water project.

Thanks to some offline donations and my company's (TD Ameritrade) matching program, we've now raised $9,800!! Please note: the company match has not been credited to the campaign yet, which is why the amount on my page shows less for now.

That means we're only $200 away from our $10,000 goal! That's quite an accomplishment and we should be there soon. Before you know it our funds will be deployed into the field and instead of fundraising updates I'll be able to share progress updates on the well (or other water source) that our funds are being used for.

Having said that, if we exceed the $10,000 goal that just means more money is going to the cause - it will not go to waste! So if you'd like to contribute for 2020, or know anyone else that wants to join the cause please share my page. https://my.charitywater.org/matt-peterson-2/it-takes-a-village

I also wanted to share a few updates about the project itself:
- I spoke to my point of contact at the charity recently and she said Uganda is probably the most likely destination for our funds
- Once the project is completed, you'll be able to track it with their GPS location features and even see the water flow usage data! Check out this link to learn more: https://www.charitywater.org/our-projects/completed-projects/
- Since I sent the last update charity:water announced that they have officially brought clean water to over 10 MILLION people globally! Just a reminder of the real, cumulative impact that people like us have on the global water crisis.
- If you still haven't seen "The Spring" video, I promise it's worth the watch... it's captivating, and you'll learn more about the organization and where your money is going than by simply reading my e-mails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE9UvT5ujyg

Thank you again for your contributions... It means a lot to me, the people at charity:water, and the people we're going to help.

Have a great start to the new year!
Matt