A Very Special Lacy Christmas

I met two very impressive gents at the Entrepreneur Summit in Cancun last week, and as a result I'm declaring a zero gift, all-giving Christmas at least for me, hopefully roping Mr. Lacy and other members of my family into this plan too. I've had an amazing year-- I never thought I'd be able to buy a house in San Francisco or publish a book or any of the other things that I've enjoyed in 2008. I don't need anything else, and so many people in the rest of the world do. This year I'm going to help give them shoes and water.

Gent #1 was Blake Mycoskie of TOMS shoes, an organization that set out to put shoes on poor people around the world back in 2006. It's on pace to donate 200,000 shoes this year alone. The premise is simple and perfect for the holidays: You buy a pair, and TOMS gives a pair. This Christmas it's setting out to give away 30,000 pairs and most of my loved ones will be getting TOMS shoes to that end. Here's a video that explains more:

Gent #2 was Scott Harrison of Charity: Water. Scott has an amazing story, and I'm not going to do it justice in one blog post. In short, he was living the high life (literally) in New York as a club promoter dating super models and ordering $400 bottles of Grey Goose at parties. He was miserable, so he set out to do the exact opposite and got a volunteer job on a Mercy Ship, which travels around performing free surgeries for poor people. Scott documented a lot of things we've never seen in this country, like people being choked by tumors the size of grapefruits. The most pressing need he found was for clean drinking water.

For just $5,000 his organization can give a village a well and 100% of the proceeds goes to the cause. In the interest of fair video play, here's a PSA Charity: Water produced. As you can see here and from the site, the organization has brilliantly used design to get attention, tell its story and raise money. But don't be fooled: this is a lean organization of just seven people.

Scott said he thinks Charity: Water can bring clean drinking water to some billion people who don't have it now. He estimated the cost at just over $10 billion. That's a lot of money. But pointed out that Americans spend some $450 billion annually on Christmas. So, I'm giving my family members and loved ones a choice: water or shoes. And they also have a choice for which to donate to instead of buying me a gift.

As a side note, I talk to entrepreneurs in the Valley all the time who've suddenly made millions and want to give, but don't know how. As people who've built nimble, scrappy businesses, entrepreneurs want to make sure the organizations they give to are just as, well, entrepreneurial. They're out there, and these are two great examples. These guys have not only used YouTube, Facebook and other Web apps to get awareness and make the world a better place, they've borrowed from the very ethos and soul of how a scrappy startup is built.

So, come on, who else is willing to forgo material items this year for the greater good?