Scott Harrison

Founder & CEO, charity: water · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveauthor@scottharrison ↗LinkedIn ↗charitywater.org ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗

After spending a decade as a New York City nightclub promoter and volunteering with Mercy Ships, Scott Harrison founded charity: water in 2006. He also authored the bestselling memoir Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World.

13statements → 10claims → 6claims resolved → 50%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 1.38/5average debate potential → 34said about them ↓

3 supported 1 partly supported 2 contradicted 2 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 10 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

10 assertions · 2 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 10 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, 2 are not yet assessed, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Scott argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Harrison raised $100k for charity via a Chelsea photo exhibition

“I got a gallery donated in Chelsea. I got a bunch of, you know printers to donate, you know, high res giant photographs. And I put together a 108 of my before and afters in a gallery. And I invited everybody from the clubs to come in and we raised about a 100,…”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 23:39 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted

Scott Harrison: Charity Water's birthday campaign raised over $100M

“The birthday idea raised over a hundred million dollars by getting over a million people involved just in that simple idea.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 43:52 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1

none yet certainty 2

none yet certainty 3

50% certainty 4

100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Scott Harrison on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said13 What others said34 Episodes1

Everything Scott Harrison said on My First Million that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight

Harrison: Short volunteer trips rarely create lasting life changes for participants

“Five days is not enough to change. You change everything about your life for most people. A year of immersive proximity to an issue was.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 22:54 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Insight

Harrison: Nightclub promotional and storytelling skills translate directly to humanitarian work

“So I learned that maybe the same gift of promoting, getting people to stand outside a velvet rope to cue, to hope to get into a nightclub, telling the story that if you came in my club and you spent thousands of dollars and you left with a cute boy or a cute g…”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 18:16 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Partly supported

Harrison: 70% of Americans believe charities waste donor money

“USA Today poll, found 42% of Americans just flat out said, distrustful of charities. 70% of Americans in a more recent poll said they believe charities waste their money.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 27:24 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Not publicly verifiable

Bebo founders Michael and Xochitl Birch donated $20M to Charity: Water

“Michael and Xochitl have been very generous. They've given over twenty million dollars. They've come and come to 14 or 15 countries with me now, bringing their kids all over the world to see the impact that they've made.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 37:57 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Disclosure

Charity: Water locked 100 Bitcoin in cold storage until at least 2025

“A couple of years ago we got into the Bitcoin space and we started a trust called the Bitcoin Water Trust, where we raised a hundred Bitcoin to start, and we said, we're gonna lock them all up in cold storage until at least twenty-twenty-five. So we're not go…”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 42:52 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Supported

Harrison raised $100k for charity via a Chelsea photo exhibition

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 23:39 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Supported

Harrison: Charity: Water has raised $750M and served 16.8M people

“We're in year 17, just started year 17. We've raised seven hundred and fifty million dollars and we've helped 16.8 million people get clean water.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 24:19 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Supported

Charity: Water has 131 families and entrepreneurs paying all overhead expenses

“Today we have a 131 entrepreneurs and families that pay all the overhead.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 37:37 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Not publicly verifiable

Charity: Water's unit cost is $39.67 per person across 22 countries

“And I think last year was, it's 40 dollars to give one person clean water. On average, we work across 22 countries. I think last year's actual was 39 67.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 41:36 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Contradicted

Scott Harrison: Charity Water's birthday campaign raised over $100M

“The birthday idea raised over a hundred million dollars by getting over a million people involved just in that simple idea.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 43:52 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Contradicted

Charity: Water's monthly subscription community tripled the nonprofit's size

“We have an amazing subscription community called the spring which is that has really helped the organization triple over the last five years.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 44:19 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Harrison: NYC Nightclubs Sold $25 Vodka Red Bulls Costing 25 Cents

“And I became really good at throwing parties at the high end, selling thousand dollar bottles of Cristal, selling 25 dollar vodka Red Bulls that cost us 25 cents, and creating spaces for movie stars and actors and musicians and, you know, fashion moguls and de…”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 6:32 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Harrison: First 10 humanitarian organizations rejected his volunteer applications

“Well, maybe no surprise, I was denied by the first 10 organizations. You know, it turns out that the Red Cross is not looking for a nightclub promoter. Doctors Without Borders are, they're looking for credible doctors, not, you know, DJs or promoters.”

Scott Harrison Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 11:49 Scott Harrison: From Nightclub Promoter to Charity Water Founder (#443)

The other half of the tape: Scott Harrison's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 31 times in 5 episodes on My First Million. 3 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Shaan Puri 31

Statements about Scott Harrison, by other people (3)

Assertion Supported

Puri: Charity: Water Used Real-Time IoT Flow Meters To Drive Fundraising

“He literally installed like little Google donated these like IOT devices, these flow meters so that you can see that the well you helped build, you can go in the app, and you can literally see how much water is flowing through that well right now, and so he di…”

Shaan Puri Jun 7, 2024 ▶ 58:14 The GameStop Guy Has Returned… (And Has A New $210M Bet)

Opinion

Shaan Puri: Donor transparency drove Charity: Water's outsized nonprofit success

“And I just think that that was such a unlock for him and why charity, one of the reasons charity water was able to do so well as a nonprofit compared to the kind of standard operating procedures of nonprofits.”

Shaan Puri Sep 9, 2026 ▶ 3:25 Tony Hawk inspiring us for 72 minutes straight

Assertion Supported

Michael Birch gave Charity: Water $1 million after their first meeting

“And then Michael wrote him an email right after the meeting, like the next day. And he just said, Hey Scott, loved our chat. Send me your wire instructions. I'll send you a million dollars. Use it however you wish. Keep rocking. And the million dollars kept th…”

Shaan Puri Nov 15, 2021 ▶ 22:55 How To Get the Most Out of Every Event and the World Premier of Southern Sam’s Sticky Icky