The Briefing Room

Shutterstock, a subscription-based microstock photo agency, just announced a partnership with charity: water to build 12 wells in Africa in 2010.

Specifically, Shutterstock is donating $60,000 to charity: water to build wells in 12 arid villages in northern Ethiopia, where thousands of people live in areas without access to clean water. As the company points out in its press release, “…although water is a basic resource that developed nations often take for granted, unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation cause 80 percent of all sickness and disease, and contribute to the deaths of more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.”

Jon Oringer, the founder of the company, said that, “Our partnership with charity: water is designed to make a real difference in the lives of people who lack one of life’s basic necessities: clean, safe water.”

Shutterstock is also calling on the creative community to get involved, ostensibly in the light of the holiday season. To donate, you can visit: www.charitywater.org/shutterstock. When the wells are complete, Shutterstock will update this page with photos, GPS coordinates and news from communities where wells have been built, and lives have been changed.