We are experimenting with just this approach. The thought goes something like this: “What would happen if we used technology to connect interested people with interesting work”. We are seeking to cultivate an open-source attitude within Abundant Water (AW).

If you go and look at the “volunteer” button you might think: “Why are they asking me all these questions? What’s up with these guys?” Well it’s really very simple. We want to work with you in a way that engages your passion, your joie de vivre.

This means while of course we welcome your kind donations (and in fact we could not exist without them), what we really want is for you to contribute in any way you can – with one proviso. What’s the catch? The catch is really very simple and easily forgotten in today’s helter-skelter world. Your engagement with AW has to make you happy.

Here’s a great example of what we are talking about: A four year-old boy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada didn’t have a lot of money and he wasn’t up on the latest theories of international development. What he did have was a great idea and an even greater need to help. Bilaal Rajan set about raising funds for victims of the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India by selling boxes of Clementine oranges door-to-door. After a hurricane devastated Haiti in 2004, Bilaal secured donations of cookies and recruited 12 friends to help sell them at school. Shortly after UNICEF Canada made him their official child sponsor, Bilaal helped raise almost $4 million for the Southeast Asian Tsunami relief by encouraging other kids his age to contribute by creatively fundraising within their means. Bilaal, now 11, recognized that by engaging peoples’ hearts and minds (and not just their wallets), everyone could be happy. See what he is up to these days: http://www.bilaalrajan.com/blog/

Now the question is what is it that you can do that makes you happy and could help provide others with clean drinking water?