Matt Damon Has a New Project That’s Bigger Than Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’

Earlier this month, Damon and Water.org, the nonprofit organization he co-founded with Gary White in 2009, launched Get Blue, a global initiative to address the water crisis currently affecting more than 2 billion people worldwide. It’s just one of the latest projects in the organization’s long-running efforts to supply safe water and sanitation to more than 90 million people, with Water.org now aiming to reach more than 200 million people by 2030.

Created in partnership with companies like Gap, Starbucks, Amazon, and Ecolab, the campaign encourages the masses to support Water.org’s work through everyday actions such as shopping, donating, and community engagement. For Damon, the campaign represents years of work building toward a larger goal and raising awareness about the global water shortage, which remains one of the organization’s biggest challenges.

“It’s a massive problem in the sense that 2 billion-plus people don’t have access to safe water. That’s just one in four human beings,” Damon told Men’s Journal. “When I got into this 20 years ago, it was because I couldn’t believe how big this issue was and how no one was talking about it.”

Get Blue Turns Everyday Habits Into Action

Designed to make participation feel simple, Get Blue translates the full scale of the global crisis through effective everyday action. As a way to connect Water.org’s mission to familiar daily actions that include shopping, limited-edition products, donating directly, sharing social posts, and brand-led activations, Water.org states that even a $5 donation can help one person gain lasting access to safe water or sanitation. Meanwhile, $25 can help support a family. It’s this model that also separates Water.org’s work from a more traditional charity structure.

Through its local financial partners, the organization supports families so that they can access affordable loans for essentials, including pipes, pumps, plumbing, and other water and sanitation solutions for their homes. Once those loans are repaid, that money can be used again to help another family. Damon explains how this approach not only changes the scale of what Water.org could accomplish, but is all about “empowerment” for families in need.

“It’s not the traditional charity model that has a patina of paternalism to it and feels like, ‘I know what you need, here it is, and you’re welcome,’” Damon says. “It’s about saying to them, ‘Let’s nudge the market toward you and get out of your way and let you solve the problem.’”

This particular shift has also made the organization’s reach much larger than Damon once imagined, as Water.org first started more than 17 years ago, making its biggest difference by drilling wells in 15 countries across four continents. Admitting progress was initially slow, had the organization continued on that path alone, it would have taken “600 years,” as Damon puts it, to achieve the impact it has today.

In an effort to speed up that progress, Get Blue helps turn everyday purchases, donations, and participation into tangible support with a simple goal of helping more families gain access to safe water faster. While Damon’s The Odyssey may be one of his biggest roles in years, Get Blue is a mission designed to extend far beyond the movie’s opening weekend.

For more information about Get Blue and how to support Water.org’s mission, visit GetBlue.water.org.