I hope it's okay to start commenting over here.

Rory was so kind to respond to a rather rambling comment of mine over at the Attacking Water-Borne Diarrheal Illnesses thread.

Something I'd thrown into the pot was the idea of a triple bottom line. From Wikipedia: "In practical terms, triple bottom line accounting means expanding the traditional company reporting framework to take into account environmental and social performance in addition to financial performance."

From the perspective of businesses most are antithetical to the notion. But I think the idea has widespread appeal to consumers.

The idea of Dansai Love, as I understand it is for the Coca Cola Company to launch a new product, Dansai Love, which will cost ten cents more, with the money going to help fund solutions to water-borne illnesses. The revenue side of this proposal is quite sound. Implicit in the proposal is that Coke use it's distribution network to make re-hydration salts available wherever Coke is sold. I think this is a trickier proposition.

I mentioned before that businesses in general are careful to prune away anything not part of their core product. Dansai Love is a brand of water and part of their core product line in several markets; making re-hydration salts a core Coke product is another matter. Imagining a core product with little profit potential seems far-fetched. My point here is from a consumer's perspective Dansai Love makes sense, but through the business lens it looks quite different.

Coke might be willing to commit to Dansai Love for a time and the money set aside for making grants to organizations working on solutions to water-borne illnesses. But one of the values in the Dansai Love proposal is using Coke's distribution network to distribute re-hydration salts more widely.

I'm not sure I really understand Coca Cola as a business. Coke makes good profits from their popular brands. But a business challenge for them has been in innovating new brands--for example non-carbonated beverages. One of the reasons for their relative slowness is their products are actually made by Coca Cola bottlers.

Dansai is a product that is in some markets and not others. The product got off to a rocky start because it's just purified tap water and in the UK bromine was found in the bottled water, apparently a result of the purification process. Anyway, Dansai has a mixed record of providing Coke with positive PR about the wholesomeness of their products.

I'm not absolutely sure, but I see no mention of the Dansai line for example in Coca Cola Sabco the largest bottler of Coke in Africa.

If the important thing is to leverage Coke's supply chain to make re-hydration salts more available, arrangement with regional bottlers may make the most sense. It may be that funding the project through Dansai Love in the USA and Europe is a good idea. But seeing the idea from Coke's perspective will be essential to getting this off the ground.

"People. Planet, Profit" is the triple bottom line. I'm convinced that going forward this approach for measuring business success will become more common. I think it's enormously important that it does. Right now, however, business as a core value sees profit as the bottom line. Profit is maximized at the expense of people and the planet. So it seems wise not to underestimate how horrible doing good seems from a business perspective: doing good is bad because it take away the focus from the profit bottom line.

The decision of Google.org http://www.google.org/ not to be a non-profit could be a watershed event for making a triple bottom line respectable in business circles.

There's a very solid core to the Danasi Love idea. Tying the distribution of life saving re-hydration salts to a common consumer seems like a "no-brainer." I want the idea to succeed. But I'm pointing out that how very sensible the idea is distracts from reasons it's not already being done.

In order to get this off the ground we're going to have to be very clever. Maybe it won't be Coke who runs with this, maybe Google could launch a brand. Or maybe regional bottlers could implement the idea. Mecca Cola http://www.mecca-cola.com/ already gives 20% profits to charity, maybe they'd be interested.

Thank you for your very thoughtful post about the Dasani Love idea, John. I think whatever proposals we end up doing, we can potentially extend it to other corporations but we can certainly start with Coca-cola because of their globally penetrating distribution network. And that remote and far-reaching distribution network is a terrific idea.

For instance, FIMRC aims to create clinics in the neediest and most remote areas. New Life is also the same in terms of trying to reach the pooorest of the poor. Hmmmmm...wonder how we can dovetail our 5 NPOs with this idea.

Let's keep on brainstorming...it will all gel...:D

About my point about Coca Cola Sabco the largest bottler of Coke in Africa: yes it's an important part of Coke's distribution network, but a separate company from Coke. The arrangements about what product Sabco sells are negotiated with Coca Cola in Atlanta, but the decisions made by Sabco are largely their own. I think we'll find this true about Coke products where we want re-hydration salts to be distributed. Coca Cola, Atlanta has influence, but the decision making is distributed.

I mentioned in the prior thread re: Nestle's also has a large distribution area, not only with drinks but also food, and doing a lot in underdeveloped countries. I think maybe we need to write letters to several, then see who would respond positively to our efforts-they may even have some great ideas to suggest.

Linda also drafted a letter/proposal to the Gates Foundation as well- if anything, maybe all these guys can be our matchers!

Thanks for getting this thread going, Rory. and John, glad to see you posting more!

Hello everyone!

I think this place to brainstorm is just what we need right now. And as ideas cluster and start to take form we can re-locate them into threads of their own under the WDI group umbrella.

:)

And carry on brainstorming new angles on WDI right here in this thread? What do you all think?

:)

So, while we're still brainstorming the Dasani Love idea here, could someone clarify for me exactly what the problem is that we are hoping to address through an approach to Coca Cola. I think I follow this far: the big problem is not the cost of oral re-hydration solution, but the cost of distribution.

What I'm less clear about are the following:

• are distribution points and schedules for food products similar to those for medical goods?
• is it better to distribute the ingredients for ORT or to distribute the solution already made up?
• would receipt of goods supplied via a Coca Cola distrubution channel be tied to any unsustainable obligation? Like the use only of corporation-bottled water rather than any other clean water source that might be available
• where exactly is the ORT most needed? Are these locations on existing Coca Cola distribution routes? If not, what alternatives are there?
• what part can the WDI team play?

http://www.charityis.com/

This is a very interesting approach. A virtual bottle of water for $20 or a whole case actually shipped for about $500 all the money used to build wells in areas that need them.

I just found this site today, so I haven't really checked it out enough. I was interested in the donations listed on the site, for example Banana Republic donated 2500 t-shirts to the cause (I presume they took care of the printing too).

Dansai Love is pretty radical. It's different from conventional corporate donations. That makes it very worthwhile to brainstorm about, but also because it's so different to be aware that the genius of the idea may not be readily apparent to hard-headed business types. On the other hand more conventional donations are more easily understood.

Hippo Rollers are so cool. One of the great things about the project is they've got a turn-key injection molding set up for sale as a franchise.

I'm afraid I always go off topic. But I'm been intrigued by a small hand clothes washing machine available here. The principle is that hot water in a sealed space with agitation will create pressure. It seems like Hippo Roller factories could make washing machines like that too.

Water issues have so many parts. Transportation and provision of clean water is an essential part of the equation.

Thanks for the link, John- it seems like a very cool site, I checked it out. They have received help from different sponsors, and those T shirts brought in a lot.

I have similar questions, David. I'm sure I'll have more as we go on...

I thought you might like to have my present perspective on this problem of clean water.

Thailand has had a major problem with availability of clean water in the past. The water from the taps is safe to bath in and to the best of my knowledge there is no biological problem with most of it, particularly in Bangkok, though the only time I have gotten sick in Thailand it was after having made a mistake early on in my stay here and diluting something with tap water.

The problems with WDI have been solved in a few ways.

• Bottled water is readily available and inexpensive. I get 20 liter bottles of water delivered to my apartment on the fourth floor (with no lift) for 15 baht (less than 30 cents) and I can get a 500 ml bottle of water at a restaurant for about 7 baht (less than 15 cents).
• Education on proper sanitation and cleanliness is universal.
• Thailand has a relatively new health care provision system that seems to be pretty effective, providing health care for any problem for 40 baht a visit ($1).

I'm not sure how useful that is to everyone.

Linda, When I went to Thailand for the tsunami relief, I went out of my way to meet with the Public Health crew, a representative of the ministry to overseer the water situation in the Khao-lak, Phang-nga area and a team in charge of clean water in the settlement camps. They were on the ball and way ahead of the other countries affected by the tsunami. That was so heartwarming to know.

David, I'm with you. This is a good place to be for now. Okay team....since we are brainstorming. Anything goes, right?

I was just thinking about having t-shirts made for us all. Maybe an aqua color or light bluish color symbolizing water. This is in a sense following the lines of what Cafe Express is doing for Humanity before Politics. I was hoping we can appeal to the volunteers - there are 65.4 million volunteers in the USA alone, imagine globally and do the Math. So something like : To volunteer...love in action. Help save lives. Join us. Stop WDI.

Wouldn't it be great if we have our own website as well. That would be so awesome. I don't know if any of you have seen my website but Marissa created that for me. One of her jobs is creating websites.

In this way, we are making even more good things happen by encouraging volunteerism and then introducing the concept of WDI. I have been mulling this over. And have been biased to the verbage above because I have written about them in my book especially the "love in action" concept of volunteerism. I am open to whatever ideas you all have.

If anyone can uplift a cause, we know it is Oprah. Especially causes that noone seems to be particularly interested in even though they are urgent issues. I think we can have fun and submit a proposal to her as well as a means of raising her awareness of the number of deaths annually from WDI. Our little global team that could, makes for a great human interest story. And why not, right? Let's have fun with all these. After all, we represent the massa.

Okay...just planting seeds.;-) We will connect the dots later, as we've done together so far. I am sure that we can find the connections as we go on. And something will materialize again.

Love to our team. I can't wait to visit with Phyllis next week. I will give her the warmest, biggest hugs for all of you. <3

John, I checked the site. I love the t-shirts. And they were zen about it. Charity:water. Wow. Love it.

i second Elizabeth i dea, WDI project to have its own website, it will help us to publicize our Simple Solutions to Waterborne Diarrheal Illnesses and its one of the mellennium development goals its under

goal no 7

Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water

Hi there Willy! Soon I will meet you, Christina and Geoff in Uganda.

Before we go on, I would like to congratulate Linda on starting her PhD in Buddhist Economics. Way to go, Linda!!! I am very proud of you! I like your idea of Humanity Before Profits.

Back to WDI brainstorming....hmmmmm...let me think some more. I am headed towards NYC/CT in 2 hours so I should have lots of contemplative times. Will touch base. Love to all.

OK-

what would be the URL for the website? something like www.WDI.net? Let me know-

Also- need contents outline.

definitely some good pictures

This would be a great place to put donors names like "charityis.com" did.

What's great about this is that we already have permission to use names -

-and we can even put our own online fundraising store-

I'm thinking about a simple, informative, easy to navigate site and not too much distracting hoopla

Do we need a separate workspace for this?

the URL for the website could be

www.wdi.org

its because WDI is not for profit, i can provide pictures from the fields of unsafe water and those of safe clean water

Sis -- I love the way you think! Willy --I like the WDI.org. Simple.

I just thought of something. You know how Gabriel went to Chad taking photographs and interviewing the refugees? Why can't we do something similar for WDI? A good example is that Geoff Delizzio from FIMRC will be going to Uganda in mid-January. He will be in a very remote part of Uganda - 9 hours from Kampala. Having that and perhaps video-inerviewing people in the village where RHCF is at - would that not help out uplift the cause more? We can interview individuals and children if possible to create a visuals and auditory to promote awareness.

Since Linda and I will be in Uganda, perhaps we can do the interviews? This could also be a part of assessment of needs of the villages that we can follow-up on. Maybe in the short and long haul, we can create a team to travel in the places where the WDI issues are most severe so the world can truly understand the gravity of the problem.

Willy, is this something that can be arranged?

Marissa, we can also consult with Lars and Mark G. regarding the website and how to loadup the video parts.

Just thinking. What do you all think?

Oh yes. I am on the East Coast now. Frankly, the thought that 3 million people are dying annually steadfastly haunts me. We need to get this out there even more.

Brainstorming is hard work--lol.

With the original proposal five areas to find solutions were identified:

• rehydration programs
• education for health providers
• sanitary conditions - physical solutions
• education on necessity of sanitary conditions
• clean water sources

The Dansai Love idea is in the re-hydration area, but it also opens an essentially new area of supply chain management.

David asks some really great questions about the supply chains for medical supplies and asks how those supply chains might overlap with the existing consumer products.

I don't know how to answer the questions, but they're important questions. Many medical supplies must be temperature controlled. Refrigeration in so many areas of the world is quite scarce and that's a good example of the challenges in delivering health care around the world.

I think the figure I've seen in these threads is that about 3 million children die annually from WDI and presumably those children's lives could have been saved with simple re-hydration salts in water. What are the reasons they did not get lifesaving treatment? I'm not sure the answer is that packets of re-hydration salts aren't available.

Elizabeth Garcia-Gray makes an important point about Coca-Cola and their particular importance to this cause:

"but we can certainly start with Coca-cola because of their globally penetrating distribution network."

It's important to know that the Coca-cola Company does no bottling, in other words their distribution network is distributed among other companies worldwide.

Looking at the map that David helpfully provides of rotovirus deaths, India is blackened by them. There are several bottlers of Coca Cola in India and India is a hot spot where Coca Cola wants to cool down with PR. Attaching the distribution of re-hydration salts to the distribution of Coca Cola products is a tricky proposition. For example while Coca Cola desperately wants positive PR in India aligning with a project to distribute re-hydration salts may not fit with their plans. Since at least in the South the plant in Kerala is accused of causing local water shortages and excess deaths re-hydration salts might be seen as contributing to the perception of Coca Cola as contributing to the problem of water-borne disease rather than alleviating the problem.

My opinion is that Dansai Love has better potential as a vehicle for raising money to address water related health issues quite separate from the advantage of leveraging their distribution network.

However I really do think that drawing attention to the importance of distribution and supply chains is very important part of world health issues so I'm happy we're paying attention to that.

John, we cross-posted. ;-) Hey guys, is it Dasani or Dansai?

John...I like the way you are analyzing, researching and thinking about this. Thanks a bunch and way to go, John! :-) I am mulling over what you just wrote. Africa and India would be good places to interview people. I especially want to interview children. Actually, I have photographs of water problems from Costa Rica as well. Actually, even my daughter Jacqueline has excellent photos of WDI situations when she did her summer missions there.

I have to make time to visit New Life to review how to assemble the purifier.

David, we will be needing your help in eventually honing in all these brainstorms and ideas to a reasonable and logical direction.

Love to all. <3

Team, I sold another print from the one page web I created for the fundraising ( or from emails) because the person is from Louisville- should I wait or keep donating the proceeds to the LemonAid Fund? Yeah!!! the first 25.00 this year!

Good point, John. Maybe we need to just hit Coke ( or other large companies) up to support this project and they probably can brainstorm and give them the option of how they can help. They know their company better than we do- what is feasible for them and what is not.

Re: website The main thing is to get the space, and the Table of Contents- and whatever we have now, then add the videos, etc later. The sooner we do it, the sooner the search engines pick it up.

SHUCKS!!! WDI.org is taken! How about PreventWDI.org or something? ideas?

Thanks, Liz, for letting me know where everybody is! I just thought everybody was taking a vacation from posting, which did seem very odd for WDI! I'll get caught up soon. Blame it on the stroke that I got lost! :D

Geez, I talk too much!

Continuing along with the ideas about distribution and supply chains one of the ideas percolating among people in the supply chain businesses is John Hagel's From Push To Pull:

"Over the past century, institutions have been perfecting highly efficient approaches to mobilizing resources. These approaches may vary in their details, but they share a common foundation. They are all designed to “push” resources in advance to areas of highest anticipated need."

"In the past decade, we have seen early signs of a new model for mobilizing resources. Rather than “push”, this new approach focuses on “pull” – creating platforms that help people to reach out, find and access appropriate resources when the need arises."

I think that Hagel's distinction is quite relevant to what we're trying to do here. Omidyar.net is a good example of the sort of platform that mobilizes resources by "pull."

The challenges of attacking WDI are so many because what works and is necessary one place doesn't seem to make sense somewhere else. In every location there are challenges and problems specific to that place. So whatever we do in WDI we'll do it better when we don't imagine the people we hope to serve as passive consumers but as learners an innovators.

There was another corporate matching grant in December that I followed. Yahoo instituted a charity badge and offered the group who earned the most using it $50,000. The winner was The Sharing Foundation Beth Kanter's Beth's Blog is essential reading. She really gets this "pull" kind of thinking. The Sharing Foundation was successful in the Yahoo Challenge because she had launched a personal campaign for it in November to raise $950 for college tuition for one of the orphans The Sharing Foundation helps. That was successful so using what she learned she launched the December campaign.

I bloviated too long. But where we can be successful in WDI is in sharing stories as Beth Kanter did in her campaign. Rather than to push resources to where they're needed we should create platforms which help to pull the peculiar and specific resources needed where they are needed. We need to hear and listen as we share our stories.

I am working on some ideas for the website but I need to find or make time to get a graphic I need to explain what I mean adequately.

I did want to throw out here that the PayPal dropcash can still be used.

Oh sis... what about STOPWDI.org; or STOPWDI.com; Other ideas team?

John...I love the way this is going. I like the way you are formulating these ideas. Keep on going. We need to put a face or faces to WDI. Exactly what I was saying. Perhaps we can follow a couple of children and families in RHCF and FIMRC clinic. Visit them in Uganda this February. I wish someone is good with videos. But I can see Linda, Willy, Geoff and me talking to the children and families in Uganda, can you?

Once we "touch" the families, then it creates a palpability for the public and more awareness raised. We want to put the WDI dilemma right in everyone's living room. Interactive communications between the people with families suffering from WDI and schools, churches, community groups etc. Having the political leaders from Uganda interact with our political leaders here establishing that we are for humanity before politics.

I just thought about "Clean Water: Love". Gosh , there are so many wonderful ideas to help tackle this problem.

We want to encourage volunteerism of people regarding WDI.

Linda and Marissa...I hope both of you can collaborate on the website since you are the high-techies among us. Perhaps you can both share the websites you have created and then harmonize ideas somehow. When Marissa first created my website while I was in a conference in Cuba, I just couldn't believe it. I cried and we both jumped up and down. Sis has also created several other websites that I just love. They are so different from other websites.

I can make halfway decent websites, but I don't think that makes me high techie, sis!:))

Anyway, Linda, what graphic are you thinking of? Anything I may be able to help with Photoshop?

Anyhow, first we need to agree on the name- is stopWDI.org it?

John, keep telling stories because we can learn and get ideas that way.