Mira Showers has become a brand partner of ‘charity: water’, a non-profit organisation bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. 663 million people in the world live without clean and safe drinking water, and charity: water specialises in funding sustainable projects – such as freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and biosand filters – to provide direct, local solutions, especially to those in isolated rural areas.
Charity: water has adopted the ‘100% model’, where 100% of public donations go directly to the field to fund clean water projects. This is achieved through a dedicated group of private donors, known as The Well, who fund all overhead costs, staff salaries and so on. Any funds received from the public are then kept completely separate from management accounts, and are dedicated in their entirety to the charity’s field work.
Through a partnership with Google, charity: water developed and installed sensors which detect when one of its wells breaks: an average well is pumped 5 million times per year, so failures are inevitable. When the sensor detects something is wrong, it alerts a local team of mechanics to undertake the repairs necessary to get the well back online as soon as possible.
Kohler Mira’s MD Liz Hazeldene comments: “Charity: water is a natural partner for Mira. Our business is based on the functional and enjoyable use of water – showering – and so it’s right we remember that for many, even safe water to drink is a scarce luxury. Such a fantastic aspiration to make clean water available to everyone inevitably resonates powerfully within Mira, and we look forward to working with, and supporting, charity: water.”
Mira Showers is also continuing for the second year to support Cancer Research UK. In 2016-2017, Mira was able to donate £92,000 to CRUK. This year, fundraising will be undertaken for both charities in parallel – with both separate and shared activities being staged.
To find out more about charity: water, visit: www.charitywateruk.org
