Photo credit: Water.org
For Immediate Release: January 12, 2024 | Contact: Alicia Montague – alicia@fulbright.org
Gary White and Matt Damon to be jointly awarded the
2024 Fulbright Prize
Co-Founders of Water.org and WaterEquity to be honored for improving access to safe water and sanitation worldwide.
Award ceremony to take place in Washington, DC on May 16, 2024
Washington, DC – The Fulbright Association will award the 2024 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding jointly to Gary White and Matt Damon for co-founding and leading Water.org and WaterEquity, which are dedicated to breaking down the barriers between people living in poverty and access to safe water and sanitation. Together, the non-profit organizations have positively transformed more than 60 million lives around the world by using market-driven financial solutions to end the global water crisis. For millions of women, children, and communities, access to safe water can turn problems into potential — unlocking education, economic opportunities, and improved health.
“Fulbrighters around the world understand that safe water and effective sanitation are fundamental to everything from good health, economic growth, educational opportunities, and social development—to life itself,” says Association Board Chair and Prize Selection Committee Chair Dr. Robert Gervasi. “We want to draw attention to the lack of access to these basics and to the extraordinary work of Gary, Matt, and Water.org & WaterEquity.”
“The Fulbright Association is again awarding the Prize to a partnership, this one between Gary White and Matt Damon, as global problems need teams that work together,” adds Dr. John Bader, executive director of the Association. “Gary and Matt complement each other perfectly.” The Prize includes medals for the Laureates and a $50,000 donation to Water.org.
The Fulbright Prize award ceremony, reception, and dinner will take place in Washington, DC on May 16, 2024. For more information about the event, tickets, sponsorship, and the Fulbright Prize, visit www.fulbright.org/prize.
About Gary White
Gary White is the CEO and Co-founder of Water.org and WaterEquity, two organizations dedicated to breaking down the barriers between people living in poverty and access to safe water and sanitation. Gary developed Water.org’s WaterCredit solution, creating new financing options for people in need to meet their water supply and sanitation needs. He also developed WaterEquity, an impact investment manager dedicated to ending the global water crisis with an exclusive focus on mobilizing private investments in water and sanitation throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
About Matt Damon
Academy Award winner Matt Damon is an actor, screenwriter, producer and humanitarian, who has garnered international acclaim for his work both on- and off-screen. Inspired during international travel with his family throughout Mexico and Guatemala as a youth, Matt has long been devoted to environmental and social issues. Learning about the immense challenges of accessing safe water and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Matt decided to create the H20 Africa Foundation. In 2009, he teamed up with Gary White to join their organizations and launch Water.org, and in 2017, to create WaterEquity. Attendance at the award event is not guaranteed.
About the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding
The Fulbright Prize honors one of the world’s most prestigious international exchange programs, as well as the vision of its sponsor, the late Senator J. William Fulbright. Awarded by the Fulbright Association since 1993, the Prize recognizes outstanding contributions to promoting peace and a better life through greater understanding and cooperation among peoples, cultures, and nations. The Prize has a distinguished history of Laureates, among them Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Vaclav Havel, Corazon Aquino, Mary Robinson, Doctors without Borders, Bill and Melinda Gates, Angela Merkel, and Bono. More on the Prize, with a complete list of Laureates, at fulbright.org/prize
About the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program was created in 1946 through Congressional legislation proposed by Senator J. William Fulbright. The Program embodies the visionary concept of promoting mutual understanding between countries through academic and bicultural exchange. The Program provides exchanges between the United States and more than 160 countries worldwide, funded by the U.S. Government with bipartisan support and contributions from 49 foreign countries whose permanent commissions execute the Fulbright Program on a binational level. Annually, about 8,000 grantees, American and foreign, participate in the Fulbright exchange as students, scholars, researchers, English and other language teachers, and professional specialists. Since its inception, the Program has sponsored over 400,000 grantees. Read more at eca.state.gov/fulbright
About the Fulbright Association
The Fulbright Association is the alumni organization of the Fulbright Program in the United States, representing over 140,000 American grantees. Founded in 1977, it is an independent non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, with 56 chapters in 41 states. Fulbright Association programs promote wider representation in global affairs, celebrate world leaders who build mutual understanding, expand opportunities for international exchange, share the ideas of Fulbrighters worldwide to inspire change and cooperation, and support the next generation of Fulbright leaders. Read more at fulbright.org