2011 recap

Thanks for an incredible year at charity: water.

Before we dive into 2012, we'd like to take a second and say thank you for an incredible 2011. You helped us accomplish some amazing things last year.

In 2011 we...

Educated anyone with a
three-minute attention span.
We teamed up with animator Jonathan Jarvis and actress Kristen Bell to create a short video showing how clean water changes everything for a community in need.

Caught the President's eye.
We were honored to hear President Obama talk about our work in his speech to the nation at last year's National Prayer Breakfast.

Proved every dollar.
Since day one, we've been dreaming up new ways to connect you with the people you're helping. Last summer, we launched a new feature on mycharity: water that ties every dollar you raise to a completed water project.

Fulfilled a promise.
In 2010, we made a promise to the people of Moale Village in Central African Republic: we would not give up until we brought them clean drinking water. In the summer of 2011, we kept that promise.

Bought our first drilling rig.
Thanks to our amazing September fundraisers, we reached our goal of $1.2 million for a new drilling rig! This rig will drill 80 more wells and give 40,000 people clean water each year.

Said thank you... 250 times.
We can never really thank our fundraisers enough... but we're always trying. On our fifth birthday, our staff made as many individual thank-you videos as humanly possible.

Traveled to new places.
We expanded our water programs to Guatemala and Bolivia by funding both small and large-scale water supply systems. We now work in 19 countries around the world.

Hosted our biggest charity:ball ever.
More than 2,220 guests filled the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City, and in one night, helped us raise $2.7 million that will change the lives of nearly 100,000 people.

Turned five.
On our birthday, Sept. 7, we went back to our roots. We hosted a birthday party and asked for $20 donations at the door to support the 2011 September Campaign.

Helped another 725,000 people get clean water.
Thanks to your help, we raised enough money in 2011 to give more than 725,000 people clean drinking water. That's an average of 1,986 people every day. Or more than one person every minute.

In five years, you've helped us fund 6,041 water projects in 19 countries around the world. This means more than 2.5 million people will have a chance to drink clean water.

Thank you for joining us on the journey.

- the charity: water team