How An NFT Project Inspired By GaryVee Aims To Help Charity Water Solve The Global Water Crisis By 2035

13 min readAug 17, 2021

Before I share how GaryVee inspired me to document my crazy idea throughout 2019, how it publicly failed in 2020, and how I’ve decided to try and pivot as I look towards 2022, I wanted to start off by sharing with you, the reader, ‘My Why’. Here it goes 💛

‘My Why’

I have two BHAG’s (big hairy audacious goals) that I’ve decided I’m going to devote the rest of my life towards. They are to…

Help Scott Harrison and his nonprofit, Charity 💛 Water, solve our global 🌍 water 🚰 crisis in our lifetime
Reinvent and decentralize our societies broken, lifeless, uninspiring and low performing corporate philanthropy matching programs by empowering employees to create their ‘401K For Their Souls’ ❤️ throughout their lives and careers

I know that these are insanely ambitious goals, but what good is life if you eventually look back when your time’s run out ⌛️ and you wonder ‘What if?’. I’ve decided I’m going to continue to listen to the fire 🔥 and passion that burns in my belly instead of listening to other people’s opinions that don’t know the full context, or don’t have the same motivations as I do and I’ve conditioned myself to embrace that voice in my own head that occasionally tells myself I’m crazy because I believe it. At times I’m a misfit. I know I’m a rebel. I’ve been called a troublemaker. I’m one of those round pegs that’s trying to be fit into a square hole. I see things and the world differently. I fucking hate bureaucracy, red tape, gatekeepers and rules and I can’t stand the status quo. But I am hungry and I’m very foolish and I don’t ever not see myself as someone who’s hungry and foolish. I know one day when my life is over that I’ll have given every ounce of energy I have towards accomplishing these big hairy audacious goals and I’ll have done everything in my control to help make our world 🌍 a better place for everyone, but specifically for people that don’t have clean drinking water 🚰

Gary has forever inspired me to think of what people will say about me one day at my funeral and that’s part of my motivation for starting this NFT project and for wanting to help Charity Water 💛 solve our global 🌍 water 🚰crisis in our lifetime

My Crazy Idea in 2019

In 2019 I wore a different shirt with a different influencer on each shirt — on their birthdays — throughout the year. I documented this yearlong journey across all the major social media platforms and recapped my journey with this Medium article too. At the time, my big hairy audacious goal was to start a movement by inspiring each influencer on each shirt throughout 2019 to share their Birthday Mission in 2020 for a cause or charity that they’d like to donate their birthday 🎁 towards because it was deeply important to them.

But I Publicly Failed in 2020

As I write this Medium article, I want to acknowledge that this original idea and my original vision from 2019 & 2020 publicly failed and in tremendous fashion. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it was really tough and that it took me a while to actually accept this. I also want to emphasize that I am NOT blaming COVID for my entrepreneurial failures at the time either. This idea failed weeks before everyone in our world was gut-punched with the reality of the global pandemic we’ve all gone through together. As soon as our world got flipped upside down, my short term priorities changed and I soon found myself on DoorDash’s sales team before I got promoted to work on special projects at the rocket ship 🚀 of a company. Before I continue, I want to emphasize that getting hired at DoorDash saved my life because in March 2020 I was in a very dark and lonely place — I had just experienced a breakup from someone I dearly loved, I had almost $40,000 in credit card debt, and I had just come to the realization that my former business partner had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from me and my family. If DoorDash hadn’t given me an opportunity, I’d have no idea where I’d be today. I know I wouldn’t be writing this article, that’s for sure.

And still today, on August 17th, 2021 the movement I envisioned back in 2019 still hasn’t happened….. yet. I say yet because I’m resilient and I’m persistent. I want to be someone that lives with meaning and purpose. I want to be someone that impacts people’s lives and makes a difference. I want to be someone that brings more positivity into our world. And like I said above, I want to help Scott and Charity Water 💛 solve our global 🌍 water 🚰 crisis in our lifetime. So like any optimistic entrepreneur I decided to keep going and I pivoted.

The NFT Pivot For The Next 15 Years

Since 2014 I’ve been inspired by one of my idols Gary Vaynerchuk who also happens to be a Well Member at Charity Water. Most recently Gary’s incredibly successful NFT project VeeFriends had me thinking so I went back to the drawing board. I decided that it was time to think differently once again and to quote Wayne Gretzky, ‘I decided to skate to where the puck 🏒 is headed instead of where it has been’. NFT’s aren’t only the hot topic that everyone in society is talking about right now, but I believe they’re going to be an integral part of society over the next 50+ years because they’re digital assets, are smart contracts and because as Gary says, ‘Supply and demand dynamics always win in the end.’

Because Charity Water is about to celebrate their 15th birthday 🎁 on September 7th, 2021 — which is also Scott Harrison’s 46th birthday — I decided I wanted to try and provide an incredible amount of value to Charity Water 💛 for the next 15 years by organizing and helping run the first ever 15 year campaign in the organizations history; usually campaigns last between 2 weeks to 3 months. What has made Charity Water such an impressive nonprofit has been their consistent commitment to tell incredible stories, to disrupt how charities operate by thinking differently and to make innovation a core part of their organization’s culture. So, I’d like to help Charity Water continue to do all of those things by helping launch the first decade long NFT project that’s going to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for people that don’t have access to clean water. Eventually, I believe other charities will try and follow Charity Water’s lead by getting into the NFT space too. I really believe it’s a matter of when, not if, so why not now as we look towards Charity Water’s next 15 years?

Charity Water’s First 15 Years

Before I share more about what this 15 year NFT project will look like I wanted to share more of Charity Water’s story first. For those reading that haven’t had a chance to watch the video linked below, please do so and make sure to have a box of Kleenex ready. I’ve watched and rewatched their story 100 times now and I tear up every time.

As you heard in the video, Scott founded Charity Water back in 2006 by using his birthday 🎁 as a way to lure people to an open bar where the $20 cover charge from everyone went to help build water 🚰 wells in Uganda. By 2019, over 100,000 charity water advocates like Harry and London below decided to donate their birthdays to Charity Water for clean water too.

But maybe more importantly in society, thousands of other charities like Pencils ✏️ of Promise followed Charity Water’s lead and made it possible for their donors to choose their charities to donate their birthdays too as well.

As I reflect on the world 🌍 Scott has helped create since 2006, it’s beyond inspiring to realize he started a movement that millions of people around the world have joined which include hundreds of the influencers that were represented on my shirts 👕 back in 2019 including Ashton Kutcher, Novak Djokovic, Madonna, Will Smith, Emmitt Smith, Mindy Kaling, Malala Yousafzai and Jennifer Hudson — just to name a few.

I believe that in 2022, these influencers would love to be invited to come together for a common goal — helping fund hundreds, hopefully thousands, of clean water 🚰 projects around the world 🌍 — while having exclusive access to custom NFT’s that will be created and minted specifically for each of them if they decide to participate with the opportunity to win ‘The First 365 Days’ NFT that will be awarded to one of the lucky influencers. Keep reading!

The Charity Water NFT Campaign Is Invite Only

Before I break down what this 15 year NFT project will entail and look like, I want to emphasize that 100% of the money raised throughout this entire project will go directly to Charity Water 💛 to help people get access to clean water 🚰 and for those reading that didn’t know, 100% of Charity Water’s donations from donors go directly to these clean water projects.

This Charity Water campaign is really simple. I’ve decided we’re going to mint 365 exclusive NFT’s with Charity Water and the only people that will initially have a chance at collecting these NFT’s are the 365 different influencers that were on my shirts 👕 on their birthdays throughout 2019. Just like the social media app Clubhouse only allowed people onto their platform through invitation — at least initially — this specific Charity Water NFT campaign will only invite the 365 pre-selected influencers (or their families for those that have unfortunately passed away since 2019) to be a part of kicking off and starting this 15 year long movement to help solve our global water crisis until everyone in the world 🌍 has clean and safe drinking 🚰 water.

Collectively, These Initial 365 Influencers Have

What’s In It For The Influencers? 🤔

Each influencer will be invited to join this movement by:

Publicly supporting Charity Water as a part of this invite only influencer community that’ll help aim to help solve our global 🌍 water 🚰 crisis over the next 15 years
Having a water 🚰 project (or projects) named after them
Being on our 120 second podcast 🎙 which was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk himself in 2022 to answer this question, “When I’m not supporting Charity Water, my favorite charity to support is X because…” to share part of their story and showcase another charity that’s close to each of their hearts ❤️ AND they’ll have the opportunity to ask us one question too
Providing an ‘Omaze-like’ once in a lifetime experience to a lucky fan 🙌
Inviting another influencer to join this movement in 2023. The only way another influencer will be invited in the future is if they’re invited by someone on our 120 second podcast, which was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk 🥊

For every influencer that joins this community and movement, they’ll be given their own custom and unique NFT in 2022 that’ll be made exclusively for each of them. This will then repeat every year as this exclusive community of giving influencers continues to grow until we can collectively solve our global 🌍 water 🚰 crisis together.

Again, 100% of the money raised through ‘The First 365 Days’ will go to Charity Water 💛 and 100% of the money raised over ‘The Next 5000 Days’ will also go directly to Charity Water until we solve our global water crisis in our lifetime

What’s ‘The First 365 Days’?

Inspired by Beeple’s ‘The First 5,000 Days’, for every $10,000 donated — which is on average enough to sponsor an entire water project — each influencer will be given a ticket 🎟 with their name on it that’ll go into a drawing for the exclusive NFT called ‘The First 365 Days’ that only 1 of the 365 influencers will randomly win at the end of 2022.

Did you know on average water projects start at roughly $10,000?

That’s why for every $10,000 donated from each influencer, they’ll get a ticket 🎟 with their name on it that’ll go in the drawing for a chance to win the exclusive NFT ‘The First 365 Days’ that only 1 of the 365 potential influencers will win at the end of 2022

What Badges Can Each Influencer Collect?

This campaign is going to create a community of influencers (and fans!) that will collectively help solve our global 🌍 water 🚰 crisis over the next 15 years. Our initial 365 influencers will be invited to join and start this movement and they’ll each have the ability to become an official Ambassador, Partner or a member of the Rachel Beckwith Hall of Fame based upon how much money they donate towards ‘The First 365 Days’.

Ambassador Badge

To become an official Ambassador, $10,000 must be donated. In return, each Ambassador will:

Sponsor an entire water project named after them
Get an exclusive NFT from 2019
Be invited on the 120 second podcast 🎙 possibly called ‘The Tell Gary Vee Show’ 🥊
Get 1 ticket 🎟 towards the drawing for ‘The First 365 Days’ NFT from 2019

Partner Badge

To become an official Partner, $20,000 must be donated. In return, each Partner will:

Sponsor multiple water projects named after them
Be allowed to invite another influencer to be a part of ‘The Next 5000 Days’
Get 2 tickets 🎟 towards the drawing for ‘The First 365 Days’ NFT from 2019
Get 1 ticket 🎟 towards the drawing for another exclusive NFT that’s going to be minted from 2009

Rachel Beckwith Hall of Fame Badge

To become an official member of the Hall of Fame, $50,000 must be donated. In return, each Hall of Fame member will:

Sponsor multiple water projects named after them
Have a Gold Check Mark on Storygiving’s Platform in the future
Be invited to provide an Omaze-like once in a lifetime experience to a lucky fan
Get 5 tickets 🎟 towards the drawing for ‘The First 365 Days’ NFT from 2019
Get 2 tickets 🎟 towards the drawing for another exclusive NFT that’s going to be minted from 2009

For each additional $10,000 donated above $50,000, that influencer will get an additional ticket 🎟 towards ‘The First 365 Days’ that will be drawn at the end of 2022

What’s ‘The Next 5000 Days’?

‘The Next 5000 Days’ won’t be finished until the year 2035. By then, there will be a group of almost 5,400 influencers that will have been invited by a previous influencer in this incredibly exclusive community that will each have had a unique and custom NFT made for each of them over the course of this campaign as we collectively solve the global 🌍 water 🚰 crisis together. There will be a final and single NFT that will be available for sale at auction to the public in 2035 once this campaign is over with 100% of the proceeds going to Charity Water 💛 to help fund clean water projects around the world.

What’s Next?

I’m looking to share this article and vision I’ve put together directly with Scott Harrison so we can collaborate, make tweaks if necessary and then invite other influencers that Scott knows to commit to this movement in 2022. Simon Sinek, Brene Brown, Arianna Huffington, Tony Hawk, Sophia Busch and Gary Vaynerchuk are a handful of the other influencers who were also on shirts 👕 and who are also invited that Scott knows very well.
Then I’m looking to get connected with Gary Vaynerchuk so VaynerMedia can be our podcasts 🎙 first corporate sponsor. Gary is one of Scott’s friends, Gary’s a Well Member at Charity Water, Gary’s an expert when it comes to NFT’s, Gary understands that attention is currency, Gary encouraged his community to start a 120 second podcast, Gary talks about how he’s a big fan of restrictions, Gary loves people who build communities, Gary understands supply and demand and Gary preaches jabbing 🥊 , giving and providing value before asking for anything. I believe when Gary understands my story, the journey and what’s gone on behind the scenes as I’ve designed this 15 year NFT project in the making, he’ll immediately want to be a part of it!