One Drop is an international non-profit organization based in Montreal, created in 2007 by

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

founder

Guy Laliberté Guy Laliberté, (born 2 September 1959) is a Canadian billionaire businessman, and poker player. Along with Gilles Ste-Croix, he is the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil. In January 2018, Laliberté was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the 11th wealthiest ...

, which is focused on water initiatives.

Arts and culture

One Drop uses circus arts, folklore, popular theatre, music, dance and visual arts to raise awareness of water-related issues.

Projects

One Drop has projects in Latin America, India, Canada and Africa.

Awards and recognition

One Drop has received the following recognition: * 2019 Top 10 International Impact Charities as recognized by Charity Intelligence. * "Water for Life" UN-Water Best Water Best Practices Award in the category “Best participatory, communication, awareness-raising and education practices” *

International Water Association The International Water Association (IWA) is a nonprofit organization and knowledge hub for the water sector, connecting water professionals and companies to find solutions to the world's water challenges. The IWA is headquartered in London, UK, ...

Project Innovation Award in the Development category.

Donations

Guy Laliberté has pledged to donate C$100 million to the organization over 25 years.''Annual Report 2009'', ONE DROP
/ref> In its 2012 Annual Report, One Drop reported raising nearly $52 million over the previous five years. Funds were allocated to programs designed to provide permanent safe water to over 340,000 people.''Annual Report 2012'', ONE DROP
/ref>

Social Art for Behaviour Change

The Social Art for Behaviour Change™ (SABC) approach emphasizes participation and implementing action plans that are adapted to target groups, influencers, desired behaviours and local contexts. The social art programs rely on collaboration and innovation as essential elements, which result in sustainable WASH behaviours and Social Art products created with, for, and ultimately by the communities. The SABC approach stands at the heart of the A·B·C for Sustainability™ model, which includes three components : Access, Behaviour Change, and Capital to drive long-term change in communities.

Poker

In 2011, Laliberté teamed with Caesars Entertainment, owner of the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

(WSOP), to launch a major

poker tournament A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a " heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of ta ...

to benefit the organization. The One Drop tournament would be held as a competition within the larger WSOP series of tournaments held each summer in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. The first tournament, known as '' The Big One for One Drop'', was held as part of the 2012 WSOP, and had a record per person

buy-in Buying in may refer to: *Buying in (poker), a tournament entrance fee *Buying in (securities), a process in which a buyer whose seller fails to deliver the securities contracted for, can "buy in" the securities from a third party *Management buy-i ...

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1 million. The WSOP waived its normal 10% rake of the entry fees, and $111,111 of each buy-in went to the Foundation. The 48 seats available in the event were filled, creating a poker record first prize of $18.3 million and a donation to One Drop of $5.33 million. Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber, ineligible to play, donated $111,111 while One Drop founder Laliberté donated his entire fifth-place winnings of $1.83 million, for a total donation of $7.28 million from this single tournament game. As part of the initial 2012 event, Caesars announced that One Drop has become an official charity of the WSOP, and it encouraged all players who cashed during any tournament at the 2012 WSOP to donate 1% of their winnings to One Drop. Labelled the "All in for One Drop", the 2013 campaign saw 458 players contribute $0.25 million of their winnings from tournaments held during the 2013 WSOP.

References

External links

One Drop's official website

Cirque du Soleil One Drop's page
{{Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil Organizations based in Montreal Organizations established in 2007