I conducted my first two charity:water birthday campaigns on my last two even year birthdays, so as I approach turning 3^3+3 I am once again dedicating my birthday to helping charity:water bring clean water to needy people in developing countries.

Over 650 million people in the world live without access to clean water. Although that’s decreased considerably from 800 million people when I last did a campaign in 2014, 650 million is an enormous number of people (it’s almost 10% of the world’s population). While you and I have likely always taken clean water for granted, supporting this cause is one small way to help improve the lives of those who have not been as fortunate.

charity: water operates on the "100% model" – the entirety of your donation goes to serve those in need (charity: water raises money separately to cover their operating costs, credit card processing fees, etc.). Furthermore, charity:water will show us exactly which projects we funded once they're fully complete (donors from my last campaign received an email from charity:water in October). You can view the projects that we’ve helped support in years past here:

2012: https://my.charitywater.org/rishi/rishibirthday
2014: https://my.charitywater.org/rishi/rishis-28th-birthday

As I approach the next decade of my life with more gray hairs than I’m able to count, I’m writing to request that you support this campaign and help bring clean water to those in need. People shouldn’t have to spend hours per day accessing clean water, and improving accessibility to water will unlock time that can be dedicated to other endeavors that can help people improve the quality of their lives. Although the “default” donation amount is either my prospective official age (30) or the age my grandma says I am based on my personality (she’s told me that I’m only a couple years younger than her, which would put me at 85), I give my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for any donations small and large.

Finally, as non-monetary compensation for reading this, I’ve updated my profile picture to a *slightly* younger version of myself. This bright-eyed young man shares the same joy (and love of autumn leaves) that I do today, and for that I am grateful.

P.S. With each donation, I may or may not do the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS1cLOIxsQ8