Rachel Beckwith

Rachel Beckwith was a nine-year-old American girl who, for her birthday, wanted to raise $300. She asked family and friends not to buy her any presents but to give money towards the charity: water campaign. In the month after her birthday, she had raised $220.

On July 20, 2011, Rachel was travelling in a car with her mother and sister when it was hit in a 13 vehicle pile-up. Her mother and sister escaped with minor injuries but Rachel was taken to hospital. On July 23, it was decided to turn off her life support.

A pastor from her church then reopened the donor page that she had created with her mother on a social network. Donations began to pour in from all over the world. On 12 August 2011, Rachel's campaign collections broke the $1 million mark. When the campaign ended on October 1, 2011, it had raised $1,271,713. This money was donated by 31,980 people across the world.