Scott Harrison knows his charity has funded nearly 7,000 clean water projects in some of the poorest areas of the world in the past six years. How many of those wells are still flowing with drinking water months or years later, though? That's a tough question to answer.
Momentum has been building for the past decade for funders pursuing venture philanthropy, said Matt Bannick, managing partner of the Omidyar Network founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
"Rather than looking for organizations that could do this specific work that we're hoping to get accomplished, let's look for fabulous entrepreneurs ... that have a new and innovative idea that we can get behind," he said.
