Discussion 5

After listening to both the Charity Water and Doctors without Borders hangouts, I feel like they both left a huge impact on the way I view the world and how much I really don’t know about what is going on. Out of the two, Charity Water definitely impacted me the most. Paull Young, the speaker for Charity Water in the hangout was very enthusiastic and uplifting. He clearly explained what Charity Water is trying to do and how they are carrying it out.
First off, Charity Water is a great organization that helps people from around the world who do not have easy access to clean water. This organization is run simply off of donations, meaning that they need to have a lot of followers and people who want to donate. They gain these donors by using a great strategy. Paull explained that he likes to build relationships with the people who donate to the charity and interact with them like they are human beings and not piggy banks. A lot of charity organizations only focus on donate, donate, donate but Paull wants to show donors how they are making an impact. He does this by showing pictures of the actual people the donors helped and where exactly their money went. I also liked how he said he does not like to draw people in by making them feel guilty but rather by making them feel inspired.
Paul explained how Charity Water does not use Facebook advertisements and have never paid for any type of advertisements. They basically get their popularity from social networks and their clever campaign. Their campaign to “give up a birthday” is a smart way to get people to donate who may not have known about the cause in the first place. After checking Charity Water’s Instagram, it is easy to see how they can easily inspire people. Their pictures are absolutely beautiful and show the people who have been impacted by the organization. On their Twitter, they post the same pictures they post on Instagram and also tweet about new ventures or projects. Both their Twitter and Instagram are pretty in sync and are not totally different from each other. The fact that they have accomplished so much without advertisements shows how much social media and a good campaign strategy can have such an impact. Paull’s strategy of inspiration, activation, and experience is why Charity Water is so successful today and is why they will only prosper in the future.