I thought this email I got from Charity:water was quite interesting: 

The message is presented as a personal email from Scott Harrison on, like so many bloggers and book authors today, a casual, first-name basis.

The copy seems like it was personally written - it begins by talking about Scott's recent reading of the 'psychology of enormous problems' or the 'numbers problem,' making fundraising theory somewhat transparent. It's believable that Scott did actually read about the issue because that's how he's positioned within the charity. Charity:water is his own personal story and mission. The current campaign is a revisiting of the founding story of the charity.

Harrison explains The Numbers Problem, then discounts it because it interferes with having a 'big vision.' And he's got a point. The Numbers Problem is more significant in the context of mass media broadcast marketing. With internet-based, personal, community-oriented and community-mobilizing 'marketing' - where everything you *do* is marketing - then The Numbers Problem is less of a problem and more of a battle cry. The numbers don't represent just the enormity of the task, they also represent a progress bar and a scale to motivate people, step by step. (See the number graphics at the top of the message)

Five days later I got a second email message with another video: this time reporting on the completion of a well in Haiti.

Overall, Charity:water seem to have embraced the idea that the dominant form of expression and 'marketing' with internet media is personal documentary.

Brad Bell