Major charity WaterAid says it has raised an “unprecedented” $30 million in August thanks to partnering up with social media influencers – saying that such projects can help plug fundraising gaps left by aid cuts from the likes of the US and UK.
Partnering with YouTube stars Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, and Mark Rober – who have more than 500m subscribers between them – the #TeamWater global campaign aims to raise $40 million in a month to bring clean water to two million people.
The campaign has seen content creators from more 84 countries with a combined reach of two billion subscribers raising awareness of WaterAid’s work, and asking viewers to donate.
#TeamWater has managed to raise more than $30 million (£22m) across the first three weeks of August: An amount that WaterAid has described as “unprecedented”. The NGO’s total income for the 2023 to 2024 financial year was £90.9m, its annual report shows.
According to Tim Wainwright, CEO of WaterAid UK, the campaign shows how the shifting media landscape is bringing new opportunities that NGOs must capitalise upon - particularly the fact that YouTube is now the most popular TV destination for children, according to Ofcom.
“It is essential to keep up to date on media and audiences as an organisation,” Wainwright told The Independent. “To reach the next generation of supporters, we must meet them where they are: online, engaged and deeply invested in purpose-driven, organic storytelling.”
The development sector has been reeling from funding cuts to government aid programmes by Donald Trump in the US and other countries this year, which have forced many NGOs to seriously cut back on funding for climate and health projects.
The situation has been exacerbated for many groups by the fact that cost of living pressures have led to fewer people donating money to charity, and an evolving media landscape that is making it harder to reach donors via traditional means.
Wainwright said that the money raised by #TeamWater could not have come at a more pressing time, given these pressures WaterAid faces on its legacy funding channels, as well as the ever-more significant impacts of climate change in the communities where WaterAid works.
“The water crisis impacts everyone, and with extreme weather patterns only making this situation worse, we need more funding from all different sources - from governments, to philanthropists, to charities,” Wainwright said.
“Water remains the most neglected area of UK aid spending, yet our research has found it’s a top area of concern for the British public,” he added.
“With this fundraising campaign, it’s all about inspiring and empowering a new generation to engage with an important global issue. We’re truly witnessing history in the making — a new era of creator philanthropy that’s redefining the future of fundraising.”
#TeamWater is the third large-scale environmental campaign led by Donaldson and Rober, following on from #TeamTrees and #TeamSeas, which raised over $50 million to plant 20 million trees and remove 30 million pounds of trash from oceans and rivers worldwide.
The campaign features videos from the deserts of Colombia to the mangrove forests of Bangladesh, where content creators are raising awareness of the pervasiveness of water insecurity.
“We’ve seen the power of the internet when it rallies behind a cause, from planting millions of trees to removing millions of pounds of trash from the ocean,” said Donaldson and Rober in a joint statement. “Now, we’re taking on clean water, because no one should have to live without it.”
WaterAid currently works in 22 different countries, setting up systems to deliver clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene for communities. Since 1981, the charity has brought clean water to 28.9m people, brought decent toilets to 29.2 million people, and good hygiene to 28.7 million people.
However, some 703m people continue to lack clean water close to home, while 2 billion people, or one in four globally, lack the ability to wash their hands with soap and water at home.
#TeamWater is aiming to raise a total of $40m by 31 August, which should be able to provide clean water to some 2 million people worldwide.
This article is part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
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