Market-driven solutions for water and sanitation - Letters of Interest

Does your organization use market-based approaches to help solve the global safe drinking water and sanitation challenge? Are you based in the U.S. (501c3) but operating internationally? If so, please review the Laird Norton Family Foundation's recently-issued open call for Letters of Interest.

From their website:

Objective
The objective of this open call is to identify strong organizations working in innovative ways to address water and sanitation challenges in the developing world. We will consider funding programs that 1) use market-based approaches to address water and sanitation challenges, particularly those developing replicable or transferable solutions; or, 2) engage in efforts that advance your organization's field of work or build your organization's internal capacity to offer water and sanitation solutions in new or innovative ways.

Let me know how it goes...

Paul Newman - the man, the myth, the Water Advocate

Many have said most of what needs saying about Paul Newman's vast legacy: as a man, a husband, a father, an actor, a philanthropist and as a really fast race car driver.

One under-recognized but impactful part of his legacy may well be his Safe Water Network, founded a couple of years ago to "develop, optimize, and validate viable water purification solutions that provide safe water to neglected populations." Groovy.

The Safe Water Network includes Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and PepsiCo, and counts as members of its very prestigious Board of Directors Jack Hennessy (CSFB), Josh Weston (ADP), Bob Forrester (Payne Forrester), Hank Greenberg (C.V. Starr & Co.), Harold Newman (Neuberger Newman), Linda Nordstrom (Northstream Development), James Quigley (Deloitte), Steve Reinemund (PepsiC0), and John Whitehead (former State Department and Goldman Sachs).

They already have projects underway in Bangladesh, Ghana and India, and are essentially an early stage incubator for water-purification technologies and approaches appropriate for the developing world. With Paul Newman and his legacy as catalysts I hope the Safe Water Network can continue to scale up its activities.