It’s long been known that, for some, the motivation to give to a cause is that others will know about it. That’s why everything from buildings to hallways to benches are named after donors and its why we tweet and Facebook our favorite causes. The innovative water provider charity:water is bringing this tradition into the 21st century with WaterForward.

The idea is simple. Someone pays $10 to get you into the WaterForward book which can be viewed online and will be printed after every million members. You get a message that you’ve been placed in the book and you are asked to pay it forward by buying a spot for your friends for $10. They will then be invited to do the same. The only way to get into the book is for someone to buy your spot (though initially there are some other ways to get invited).

I think it is a tremendous way to raise awareness and money at the same time while literally making your fans your development team. This is something that charity:water has always excelled at.

After a quick perusal of the book its hard to tell how well it is catching on but often times these social movements need to reach a tipping point and when they do they’re unstoppable.

To learn more about WaterForward read this article from FastCompany and watch the video below.

How WaterForward works. from charity: water on Vimeo.