MSR Launches the Impact Project

New nonprofit fund accelerates access to global health solutions worldwide.

Drawing on MSR’s nearly 50 years of technical engineering and manufacturing expertise, MSR founded MSR Global Health in 2015 to reduce the number of people affected by issues related to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. The World Health Organization and UNICEF estimate that some 3 in 10 people worldwide lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10 people worldwide lack access to safely managed sanitation. These same sources estimate that safer water could prevent 1.4 million deaths from diarrhea, 500,000 deaths from malaria, and 860,000 child deaths from malnutrition each year.

Since its launch in 2015, MSR Global Health has provided safe water solutions to more than half a million people in over 30 developing countries around the world with help from valued partners. Today, MSR Global Health is pleased to announce the MSR Impact Project, a nonprofit fund that will accelerate the continuation of the work MSR has done with its partners over the past three years.

“Readily available, life-saving technologies like the MSR Community Chlorine Maker are desperately needed in communities far and wide,” says Doug Sanders, vice president of MSR. “The launch of the MSR Impact Project is exciting because it increases the pace at which MSR is able to continue the work it has done in safe water over the past three years.”

The MSR Impact Project allows you, the public, to engage with these efforts, and help forward our mission to bring safe water access to more people around the world. Funds raised through the Impact Project will be granted to innovative, on-the-ground projects worldwide. At MSR, we believe in what we’re doing to help communities in need. If you do too, join us. You can get involved in three ways:

Support Safe Water Projects Around the Globe: From hand-washing stations at schools to safe water in the wake of natural disasters, you can make a contribution to the MSR Impact Project. The fund will disburse grants to partners for supplies, training, monitoring, evaluation, and distribution of sustainable projects. All donations are held and managed by Global Impact, a third-party registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Adventures for Impact: Join an MSR-curated trip to an incredible destination, and combine a spectacular adventure with the opportunity to provide long-term solutions to safe water access in local communities. Participants fundraise for water and hygiene projects in the locations they elect to visit, and then take part in the implementation of those projects on the ground to leave the destinations better than they found them.

Fundraise for Safe Water: Host your own fundraiser for global safe water and hygiene projects, turning your passions into actions that empower communities with a healthier future.

“Safe water changes everything for communities in need, from improving health to supporting economic growth in rural communities,” says Doug Sanders.

MSR Technologies Change Lives

MSR has a legacy of solving real-world challenges with new technology, from safer climbing ropes in the 1960s to current technologies in development for global health and disaster relief. We believe in the power of technology to transform lives, and our core competency has always been innovation and smart manufacturing.

Our Global Health division is continuously researching and developing technologies that increase access to vital needs, such as clean water, for people living on less than $5 a day. In doing so, we believe we can create meaningful solutions that lead to true and lasting change.

Partnerships Ensure Sustainable, Lasting Impact

It takes more than just smart technologies to affect change. That’s why MSR partners with other world-class organizations from development to implementation to ensure sustainable, lasting impact. Our comprehensive approach gives communities the independence to control their futures and their health.

Before a new technology is delivered to a remote village on the other side of the world, MSR works closely with development partners like PATH over the course of many years to create innovations that are as unique as the communities they will serve. In-country testing, field trials, and user feedback all help MSR create low-cost global health solutions that are appropriate for the communities they will serve. MSR also collaborates with leading research universities including Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University to share resources and knowledge during development.

After a new global health technology has gone through rigorous development and testing processes, MSR partners closely with organizations including Operation Blessing International and World Vision to deploy these technologies for communities in need. Because each community has unique needs, these partners help to ensure long-term project success. By partnering with local organizations on vital water and hygiene projects, including the education, technologies, training, and monitoring needed, MSR’s Impact Project ensures the sustainable impact that transforms lives.