Aside from being a great place to read, toilets are pretty magical: they keep waste out of waterways, prevent all sorts of nasty situations and provide a safe, dignified place for a person to do their business. But toilets are a part of a bigger system of health initiatives called WASH, which stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Together, these three elements save lives, boost economies and strengthen communities. It's all pretty amazing.
We started Who Gives A Crap when we learnt that 2.4 billion people don't have access to a toilet (now 2 billion! yay for progress!). That's roughly 40% of the global population and means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrheal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children per day, or one child every two minutes.
We thought that was pretty crap. So in July 2012, Simon, Jehan and Danny launched Who Gives A Crap with a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo. Simon sat on a toilet in our draughty warehouse and refused to move until we had raised enough pre-orders to start production. 50 hours and one cold bottom later, we'd raised over $50,000.
We delivered our first product in March 2013 and have been thrilled to keep growing ever since. Not just because our toilet paper is gracing bathrooms across the country but also because we donate 50% of our profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world.
