The Shin Fujiyama Podcast | Social Entrepreneurship | Nonprofit Organizations | International Development Aid | NGOs
#38: ONE 28-year-old's quest to provide clean water to the ENTIRE NATION of Swaziland—with Seth Maxwell, Forbes 30U30
Social Entrepreneur Seth Maxwell has the goal of providing clean water to every single community in Swaziland. And at age 28, he is on his way of doing it. A few years ago, Seth founded Thirst Project with his friends from college. Together, they set out to end the number one global killer of children: the world’s water crisis.
Since raising $1,700 at their very first fundraising event, Thirst Project has worked with students from over 400 schools to raise 8 million dollars. They've provided 300,000 people with safe drinking water around the world. Seth Maxwell is the recipient of VH1’s Do Something Award and was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Social Entrepreneurship.
Text THIRST to 97779 to get connected to a staff person from Thirst Project.
Show Links for Seth Maxwell
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick Lencioni
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins
How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins
Show Notes for Seth Maxwell
While living in Los Angeles, Seth Maxwell learned about the global water crisis at age 19.
According to Seth Maxwell, 1.1 billion people lacked access to safe drinking water at the time
Women and children will spend hours each day to find water, which adds up to thousands of hours per year
Animals defecate into the same water source, causing water-borne illnesses
Drinking contaminated water kills more children under the age of five than AIDS and malaria combined
“Clean water impacts everything.”
Without safe water, other development aid initiatives loses effectiveness
Seth started a club with seven friends on campus to raise awareness about the global water crisis around LA.
Seth and his friends spent $70 to buy bottles of water. They gave out the bottled water on Hollywood Boulevard so they could talk about the crisis.
People began to ask them to speak about the crisis at their schools
Within one month, they fundraised $12,000, which sparked Seth to create the Thirst Project
They started off by sending their funding to partner organizations
Soon, they started to implement the water projects themselves after forming a technical team made up of water experts
Swaziland is small, with 1.4 million people and is known as the country with the highest AIDS density in the world
For people with AIDS, drinking contaminated water is a serious issue due to their weakened immune system
In order to provide running water to the entire country of Swaziland (100% national coverage), Thirst Project needs to raise $40 million
As a youth, Seth Maxwell was passionate about theater and telling stories on stage
Seth admits that he was arguably the most selfish, introspectively-focused human being on the planet at age 19
Learning about the water crisis shattered his world view
“There was a lot of doubt. Could I do this? How do I lead a team? How do I fundraise?”
Seth focused on finding experts who would join his team and Board
Seth faced great self doubts as he started as a young person with a background in theater
Seth no longer speaks at school assemblies anymore, as he feels his shelf life has passed
The Thirst Project presentations tell the story of the global water crisis
During the first 2-3 years, Seth focused on making the presentations himself
Soon, Seth realized that speaking so much was not a sustainable model for the organization
Thirst Project now find students who get trained and give the presentations on behalf of the organization where they speak at at least one school a day
Seth feels that now at age 28, he doesn’t resonate with high school students compared to when he was 19
About 2.5 years into the organization, Seth went on a 3-month speaking tour where he spoke at 80 schools all over the country. He never stayed in a city more than 3-4 days. It was emotionally draining because he didn’t have a sense of community being such a traveling nomad
In the last year, Seth started to work out 3 times per week to better take care of himself
Seth is protective of his weekend so he can make time for himself as a person
At age 25, Seth was overly consumed with his work and had very little going on in his personal life
Our generation is making an impact in the world but it often means sacrificing personal time or fun activities
Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurs are not necessarily big risk takers. They take calculated risks.
“Now is the time. Take risks. Build something. Break it down. Rebuild it. Figure out what works.”
“You have to try.”
Every high school or university that works with Thirst Project does it differently.
Their 45 minute presentations have lots of media, photos, videos
The students start fundraisers for Thirst Project, like basketball tournaments, video game tournaments, dances, walks, etc.
100% of these donations go to the water projects, as the Board pays for administrative expenses
Donors get personalized thank you videos from the project sites
The team making the content for the Thirst Project presentations is very young in age, allowing them to know what will grab the attention of their peers
The Thirst Project breaks down their content into three parts: 1.) The Problem, 2.) The Solution, 3.) The Call-To-Action
“Storytelling is powerful.”
People expect high quality content
It’s all about building relationships
Too often nonprofits look at donors as ATMS and volunteers as work horses
It’s about genuinely caring about the people behind the organization
Thirst Project communities have water committees and a strong sense of ownership
Seth breaks down the White Savior Complex issue
Seth reads business books
Thirst Project is creating a team called G20 that will support the cause in a huge manner
Thirst Project is partnering up with Key Club
“There was something exciting about that hustle.”