Australian entrepreneurs are turning the typically dismissive phrase, "Who gives a crap?" into a launchpad for their business.
Simon Griffiths is one of the co-founders of Who Gives A Crap toilet paper, a startup raising funds on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. To encourage donations, Griffiths is livestreaming himself sitting on a toilet with his laptop until the company reaches its $50,000 fundraising goal. (Watch the livestream below.)
In the pun-filled introductory video, Griffiths notes, "I'm sitting down for what I believe in." Upon closer inspection of the startup's business model, it's easy to understand his conviction.
Griffiths and his co-founders are looking to use their company as a vehicle to provide access to adequate sanitation and water for developing countries. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention notes that 6.3 percent of all deaths worldwide could be prevented if access to proper sanitation were available to the 2.6 billion people who now lack it.
The company is looking to make a serious impact by giving 50 percent of its profits to WaterAid, a nonprofit that aims to improve access to clean water in the developing world.
With over $26,000 raised in the first day, Who Gives A Crap is off to a smashing start. As GOOD Business noted, this isn't the first time that someone has used the porcelain throne for philanthropic efforts. There's World Toilet Day and the Big Squat in 2010, along with People's Own Organic Power project (or the Poop Project) and its "Eat Sh*t" fundraising event to fund a movie on "how our waste can save the world."
Livestreamed fundraising events also have been done before, at times to a more physically-taxing degree. I AM, a company looking to help brands build social impact ran a campaign called "Don't Let Will Die," during which co-founder Will Baxter walked on a treadmill until the company reached its fundraising goal on Kickstarter. If Who Gives A Crap keeps fundraising at this rate, the worst Griffiths may end up with is a sore backside.
Check out Griffiths on the livestream below: