Notes from TwestivalTO

Still recovering from TwestivalTO last night.  For those of you who didn’t partake, the Twitter event brought together people in 200 cities around the world for a cause, with people attending parties from LA to Bangalore, as well as right here at Toronto’s CIRCA nightclub.

All proceeds went to Charity:Water.  It’s a glossy charity, started in 2006 by Scott Harrison, a New York club promoter who was inspired to start an NGO after traveling to West Africa with Mercy Ships (check out Alanna’s take on hospital ships over at Change.org).  Charity:Water has had amazing successes in its short life and has funded over 1,200 projects in 2 years.  In the same time, they have gotten more than 60 press mentions – an NGO publicist’s dream.  And Charity:Water claims to use 100 percent of its fundraising dollars on projects (most organizations also need to use some of it to run their organization).

So here’s the trade off: rather than being run by development experts and local staff, the organization is dominated by business executives and communications people.  A friend pointed out the charity’s Vice President boasts Coca-Cola among his client list (a client that has gotten in trouble for water issues in the past).

I like glossy, high profile and mainstream (like Jeffery Sachs, Angelina and Bono) because it is so good at mobilizing money and hearts.  Though the numbers aren’t in, Twestival alone aimed to raise $1million for water issues.

On the other hand, the celebrity/tycoon approach tends not to question the structures that cause disparity in the first place (like trade relations, conditional loans, etc).  Case in point: Charity:Water receives support from Banana Republic, a brand which seems to celebrate colonial relationships.

In the age of public-private partnerships for charity, social entrepreneurship, and celebrity causes, this debate is one that will keep coming up.  I’m cautiously optimistic about having a new army of world changers from outside the traditional development set.  Best of both worlds, perhaps?

At TwestivalTO, party seemed to overtake charity.  After buying your ticket online, you could forget that you had ever donated to Charity:Water and focus on being in a social setting where it was totally appropriate to Tweet mid-conversation.