Matt Damon’s Water.org campaign recruits retailers and Amazon, including donations tied to consumer shopping

Water scarcity and access to safe drinking water have become a growing business and social issue, and a new public campaign is trying to make the problem part of consumer habits. Actor Matt Damon’s announced “Get Blue,” a consumer-facing initiative that asks major companies to donate portions of their profits toward the nonprofit’s water work.

The effort, which goes live Monday, is built around the idea that corporate footprints can be leveraged more directly than traditional one-off charity. is presenting Get Blue as a way to embed water philanthropy into routine purchases and other everyday moments, including activities tied to brand products and digital services. The campaign names Gap, Starbucks and Amazon as founding partners, joining alongside other participating companies later in the launch.

’s funding mechanism relies on its WaterCredit model. Under WaterCredit, money is directed to local financial partners that issue small, affordable loans, intended to help households pay for water-related infrastructure such as pipes, pumps and plumbing. says its approach is designed to let repaid loans recycle into new lending rather than ending after a single round of giving.

According to coverage of the campaign, the campaign highlights the scale of each partner’s water footprint and the role the companies can play in reducing the harm. Gap is described as having used 28 billion liters of water in 2024. Starbucks is described as carrying a virtual water footprint of about 140 liters per cup, reflecting water used across growing, producing, packaging and shipping the coffee. Amazon is described as reporting 7.7 billion gallons of primary water consumption for its operations.

The campaign also ties donations to product offerings, at least for some partners. Gap is set to launch a limited-edition capsule collection as part of the campaign, with a per-item donation described in the announcement coverage. Starbucks and Amazon are also expected to run related consumer-facing prompts within their own ecosystems, with the overall structure aimed at converting spending and engagement into funding for household water access through local lending partners.

Amazon’s involvement is notable because its business model is largely digital and logistics-driven rather than traditional retail water-intensive manufacturing. Amazon runs major cloud operations through AWS, and the campaign positioning appears to argue that the company’s technology and platform reach can support water financing at scale. The public information around Get Blue emphasizes ’s consumer mechanics rather than any specific Amazon product feature in the initial announcement coverage.

Still, the companies involved have not, in the publicly described launch framing, detailed the size of the donations, the exact percentage of profit to be contributed, or how Amazon’s internal revenue or operating segment results will translate into cash for WaterCredit. The campaign coverage points to donations and financing pathways, but specifics on totals, timelines beyond the Monday launch, and reporting standards for impact are not laid out in the accessible reporting.

For companies, the risk is reputational if consumers perceive marketing that is not matched by measurable outcomes. For the sector, it is a test of whether large consumer brands and major technology platforms can build philanthropy into product cycles in a way that creates trackable water access. Watch for to publish donation totals, lending volume and repayment performance as the campaign rolls out, and for participating companies to clarify how they will measure progress toward safe water access goals.