On my morning dog walk to Starbucks, I noticed two signs in stands - one at the register where I ordered and another where the coffee condiments are - promoting World Water Day on March 22.  Starbucks now owns and sells ETHOS Water so highlighting a water-related event make sense to me as it is in alignment with one of the corporate philanthropy focus areas.

I went on the site from the signs when I got home, http://www.worldwaterday.net.  Didn’t see any mention of Starbucks just the event itself which I actually liked.  I learned that “World Water Day is an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of the more than 1 billion people world wide that lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Celebrated since 1993, World Water Day was designated in 1992 when the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution. With each passing year, the observance has grown larger and stronger.

In many ways though, World Water Day is still a relatively unknown event. Even with the support of the UN and efforts by leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and committed individuals, World Water Day is today at a similar stage as Earth Day was in the early 1970’s – important but relatively unknown.”

The website goes on to move us readers to action.  “You can help. Sign up to participate in a live event, and / or the Virtual Walk for Water – a strong, symbolic act to demonstrate your support for Action on the world water crisis. We hope you’ll help spread the word and take a moment to lend your voice to this important issue. Join us. Get involved today.”

The Walk for Water “is inspired by the example of women in water stressed countries who often walk 6 miles each day just to get water for their family.”  Since there is no live event scheduled for Denver, I joined the virtual walk on March 22nd and learned that my name will be carried in a jug at one of the walks symbolizing my commitment to World Water Day — I even got a pdf ticket to print out!  Once I signed up I was able to set up a personalized Advocate Page online to use to leverage getting my friends and colleagues involved.

I next went to Starbucks home page  and saw a block ad for World Water Day with the logo and a link to the May 13th Press Release about Starbucks support for water projects. ”Starbucks Foundation Awards US$2 Million from the Ethos Water Fund to Help Improve the Lives of People in Water-Stressed African Communities  Ethos Water Launches World Water Day Activities to Build Awareness for the World Water Crisis.  Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) today announced the Starbucks Foundation is making two new grant commitments to help support water, sanitation and hygiene education programs in water-stressed African communities. Over a three-year period, CARE and Project Concern International will each receive US$1 million from the foundation’s Ethos Water Fund. Collectively, the organizations’ efforts are expected to benefit an estimated 54,000 people who currently lack access to clean water and sanitation services.”

Having done international development work myself, I understand how critical the issue water is, especially in developing countries.  I like that Starbucks has picked this as a focus area for their philanthropy and are using multiple strategies to make a difference.  Since coffee is brewed with water and they already support international development projects, it is a very good choice for them.

Why don’t you and/or your employees go to World Water Day and at least sign up participate in the virtual walk to support clean water in developing countries.  The site also allows you to donate dollars, as well.  The timeline for this year is short, but you could have employees set up advocate pages and see who can use their networks to drum up the most participation - perhaps giving a small prize to the winner.