TED Talks Daily Sunday Pick: Matt Damon on solving one of the planet’s biggest problems, in partnership with Gary White | from ReThinking with Adam Grant
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Mar 1, 2026 
Matt Damon, actor and water-access philanthropist, and Gary White, social entrepreneur and CEO of Water.org, discuss their partnership and inventive use of finance to expand clean water. They talk about repurposing microfinance into water credit, choosing aligned partners, telling field stories to make water relatable, and scaling through innovation tournaments and local leadership.
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WaterCredit Makes Water Bankable
- WaterCredit repurposes microfinance so poor households can pay for water access rather than rely on charity.
- Gary observed people already paid for water daily, so loans that buy time and taps repay at ~98% and scale funding via recycling repayments.
Recycling Loans Cuts Cost Per Person
- Using repayable loans drastically reduces philanthropic cost per person because capital recycles after repayment.
- Water.org lowered per-person philanthropic cost from ~$25 to about $5 by channeling loans through local partners.
Water Is An Engineering Issue Masking A Finance Problem
- The water problem looked like engineering but is fundamentally about finance and redirecting existing flows toward the poor.
- Gary found latent demand and showed willingness to pay disproves the 'too poor to pay' assumption.