Water For People was founded in 1991 by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) as a response to the increasing water scarcity in developing countries. It is a nonprofit international development organization that helps people in rural parts of developing countries achieve greater access to drinkable and potable water and sanitation facilities. It works to accomplish the United Nations' 6th Sustainable Development Goal: availability of clean water and sanitation and comprehensive monitoring of freshwater facilities for the progression of human health. They seek to address the issue of nonexistent and suboptimal water and sanitation facilities across less-developed countries.[1] With developing locally sustainable drinking water resources and sanitation facilities, Water For People also works to bring health and hygiene education programs to local districts. The non-governmental organization also works to empower and involve local governments, corporations, schools, homes, and individuals in the construction, financing, and maintenance of the water infrastructure.[1] Water For People has established a year-round presence in 30 districts of nine developing countries, including Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru, India, Rwanda, Uganda and Malawi.[2] In totality, Water For People reaches 4 million people.[3]
Water For People depends on volunteers to fulfill much of its mission. Volunteers raise funds and spread the word about the desperate need for safe drinking water and improved sanitation in the developing world. Their main goal is to improve the access to safe and clean water for developing countries around the world. They provide programs that ensure running sanitized water to prevent water-related illnesses in poorer countries.
The World Water Corps is Water For People's volunteer program that sends engineers to the countries where the sanitation projects are being established. This allows the volunteers to use their skills and experience in support of the development of sustainable safe drinking water resources, improved sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs.
World Water Corps volunteers provide professional support to Water For People's work overseas within the parameters of its specifically-tailored community-based models. As such, they are not involved with the actual design of the water and sanitation systems. This function is left to local government and nongovernmental organization partners, as well as community members themselves, who must take ownership of this system and understand how to operate and maintain them for the long term. Water For People works with local partners and stakeholders to assist rural governments, schools, businesses, and households in emptying septic tanks, installing pumps, wells, and toilets with the proper technology and management strategies to guarantee the durability and sustained functionality of innovations. The organization also collaborates with rural members and local institutions to make sure that sanitary napkin containers and other sanitary services are available for women. Rainwater catchment systems are placed on school properties, gardens are established at hand pumps, trees are planted to increase recharge, deep boreholes are motorized, and water treatment systems are installed.
World Water Corps volunteers engage in such activities as data-testing and mapping to provide baseline data for development, monitoring the functionality of past projects, and evaluating overall program effectiveness. Volunteers have conducted scoping studies and needs assessments to determine where Water For People should expand. They might also be called upon to "train the trainers" abroad or provide technical assistance to partners.[4] World Water Corps uses an advanced computer program, Akvo Flow, to monitor and acquire data to measure and calculate data regarding the water quality, pressure, and concentration in the constructed infrastructures. Akvo Flow conducts intensive handheld data and survey collection using visual map-based reporting tools, web-based dashboards, field-level monitoring, integrated GPS, and custom adaptive surveys. Water For People partners with Akvo to routinely collect, analyze, and report information on water and mineral quality as well as water pressure and flow from aqueducts and nearby bodies of water. Water For People closely monitors and assesses its program outcomes for at least one decade, post-installation, to keep account of its sustainable outcomes and to monitor how local service authorities are managing the infrastructure.[5]
Funding and Spending
Water For People's global strategic partners are the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Osprey Foundation, LDS Charities, The Rick and Nancy Moskovitz Foundation, and charity: water. These foundations are its biggest patrons who contribute each over one million dollars continuously.[1] According to the NGO's website, it requires local governments to fund some of the infrastructural development in the community that the government oversees. This allows for the local governments to take ownership of the development taking place in their home districts and allows for the NGO to build long-term and trusted relationships with the local authorities.[2] The organization engages in co-investing/financing, in which the Water For People mandates local governments and businesses to invest in the sustainable outcomes that are beneficial to them. The NGO works with local recipients in deciding the most effective plan for a given community and executing the project together.
According to Charity Navigator, the organization is listed as an independent auxiliary, and is not financially affiliated or involved with IRS group ruling with a national, regional, or geographic grouping of organizations.[1] Based on the 2016 financial report from the NGO website, 46% of their proceeds came from foundations, 17% came from private individuals, 4% from In-Kind donation, 7% from committees, 6% from workplace giving, 14% from corporations, 1% from special events, and 5% from other non-governmental-related donors. The organization's website states that it does not receive any money from any type of government entity.[2] Charity Navigator verifies this claim as well. According to the 2016 IRS tax form on the NGO's website, they received $20,077,450 in total revenue.[2] Charity Navigator confirms this exact amount, but it goes further to detail that of that amount, $19,239,732 came from contributions, gifts, and grants, $407,327 came from federated campaigns, $206,054 came from fundraising events, $224,337 came from other revenue.[1] For 2015, Guidestar recorded that the NGO received $19,045,856. However, in Water For People's 2015 IRS tax form, it states that the NGO received $18,950,814.[3] This is conflicting in that Water For People's IRS documents are official, however, Guidestar recorder numerical values that do not coincide with the IRS tax forms.
However, since much of the gathered financial information presented here comes from the NGO's official website, it raises skepticism as to whether or not external sources buy into the organization's self-advocacy for the transparency of its funding and expenditure patterns. According to Charity Navigator using Water For People's most recent IRS 990 form from 2016, 79.1% of all its revenue in the fiscal year went towards program expenses and services that it delivers.10.9% of the money went towards administrative expenses, 9.9% went toward fundraising expenditures. According to the 2016 financial report from the actual website of Water For People, 79% was spent on programs, 11% spent on administration, and 10% spent on funding.[1][2] Charity Navigator also conducts fundraising efficiency percentages, which accounts for the amount of money spent to raise $1 in charitable contributions. Based on this calculation, the NGO's fundraising efficiency was $0.09. Charity Navigator also conducts a working capital ratio score, which measures the number of years a charity can sustain its level of spending using its net available assets or working capital, from its most recent IRS tax form. Water For People got a score of 0.58 years. Water For People got a score of 15.6% for its liabilities to assets score, which measures the financial capacity and sustainability of the NGO looking at the proportion of their total liabilities to their total assets. Charity Navigator reports the NGO's total expenditures in 2016 as $19,889,740. Of this total, $1,992,727 went towards administrative expenses, $1,944,248 towards fundraising costs, and $15,952,765 was invested into their programs. Its deficit was $187,710 and net assets was $10,351,207.[1] On the NGO's website, on its IRS 990 tax form, the only numbers that differ from Charity Navigator are the administrative expenses, which are $6,616,063, and the program costs, which are $11,727,731.[2] From 2015, Guidestar reported that Water For People spent a total of $17,115,127, in which out of this amount, $13,330,044 went towards programs, $1,974,794 went to administrative costs, and $1,810,289 went to fundraising.[3] Water For People reported in its 2015 IRS tax form that it spent a total of $18,844,346, in which $5,819,735 in administration, and $1,944,288 in fundraising. There's a discrepancy here. On Water For People's website, they have all their audited financial statements from 2005 to 2015. They also have all their IRS Form 990s from 2012 to 2016. They also have their IRS Form 1023 accessible from 1991, where they applied for recognition of tax exemption. They also have their 501(c)(3) document, containing a letter that confirms their tax exemption status from the Internal Revenue Service. On its website, the charity also has its own printed pamphlet, called "Behind the Numbers" from the years 2013 to 2015. The pamphlet explains what the money in the respective fiscal year was able to accomplish in project works around the world.[2] Charity Navigator gave Water For People a financial score of 93.31/100 and a transparency and accountability score of 100/100.[1]
Partnerships
Water For People partners with local governments, the private sector, and other trusted nongovernmental organizations to support their work. They are also partners with Roberts Filter Group, an American water filter production company, and one of the largest suppliers of water-filtration products and services in the United States.[6][7] The NGO is not politically nor religiously affiliated, as confirmed by the organization's website and Charity Navigator.[1]
Ratings
Medium, an online publishing platform, it conducted an investigation on the cost-effectiveness of donating to popular water NGOs in the world today. As it was reporting on the difficulty of investigating NGOs, Medium did a close-up analysis, and among all the water NGO, Water For People provided the most extensive data to the online rating site of its financials and measurable components of impact in the water and sanitation sector.[8] GiveWell, an online organization rating site, conducted a thorough review of water and sanitation organizations in 2011. Water For People declined to give out the very detailed information that Give Well was seeking.[3] Charity Navigator has given Water For People 4 stars out of 4 for the past 15 years. In 2001, the NGO got 3 stars instead.[1]
Overall Score
Form 990 FYE
Date Published
95.26
2016-09
12/01/2017
92.93
2015-09
12/21/2016
92.39
2015-09
11/01/2016
92.22
2014-09
06/01/2016
92.14
2014-09
11/01/2015
95.26
2013-09
07/01/2014
91.58
2011-12
12/20/2012
93.39
2010-12
03/01/2012
97.16
2009-12
09/20/2011
95.98
2009-12
11/01/2010
93.79
2008-12
12/01/2009
98.48
2007-12
09/01/2008
98.33
2006-12
11/01/2007
95.60
2005-12
11/01/2006
95.82
2004-12
12/01/2005
90.68
2003-12
09/01/2004
90.46
2002-12
09/01/2003
87.88
2001-12
04/15/2003
Related Research Articles
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organization, also known as a non-business entity, or nonprofit institution, and often referred to simply as a non-profit, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, as opposed to an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without having tax-exempt status.
WaterAid is an international non-governmental organization, focused on water, sanitation and hygiene. It was set up in 1981 as a response to the UN International Drinking Water decade (1981–1990). As of 2018, it was operating in 34 countries.
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gather money for non-profit organizations, it is sometimes used to refer to the identification and solicitation of investors or other sources of capital for for-profit enterprises.
Latter-day Saint Charities is a branch of the welfare department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The organization's stated mission is to relieve suffering, to foster self-reliance for people of all nationalities and religions, and to provide opportunities for service.
Orbis International is an international non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to saving sight worldwide. Its programs focus on the prevention of blindness and the treatment of blinding eye diseases in developing countries through hands-on training, public health education, advocacy and local partnerships. Since 1982, Orbis capacity-building programs have enhanced the skills of 325,000 eye care personnel and provided medical and optical treatment to more than 23.3 million people in 92 countries.
Feed the Children, established in 1979 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization focused on alleviating childhood hunger. Its mission is "providing hope and resources for those without life's essentials." The organization provides food, essentials, education supplies and disaster relief to those in need across the United States and in 8 countries around the world. Domestically, Feed the Children operates five distribution centers located in Oklahoma, Indiana, California, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
International Orthodox Christian Charities, Inc., based in Baltimore, Maryland, is the official international humanitarian agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. IOCC works in cooperation with the Orthodox Church and other partners to serve people in need. In carrying out its mission, IOCC applies the highest professional standards and renders itself fully accountable to the public and its donors.
ProLiteracy, also known as ProLiteracy Worldwide, is an international nonprofit organization that supports literacy programs that help adults learn to read and write. Based in Syracuse, New York, ProLiteracy has slightly less than 1,000 member programs in the U.S. and works with 21 partners in 35 developing countries.
East Meets West, known in the United States as Thrive Networks, is an international non-governmental organization that creates evidence-based programs and technologies in health, water, sanitation, and education for people in Asia and Africa. It was founded in 1988 by author and humanitarian Le Ly Hayslip and is based in Oakland, California, USA.
iDE, formerly International Development Enterprises, is an international nonprofit organization that promotes a business approach to increasing income and creating livelihood opportunities for poor rural households. iDE was founded in 1982 by Paul Polak, a Denver, Colorado psychiatrist who promoted the concept of helping poor people become entrepreneurs instead of simply giving them handouts. Originally, iDE was devoted to the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of affordable, scalable micro-irrigation and low-cost water recovery systems throughout the developing world. iDE facilitates local manufacture and distribution of these products through local supply chains that sell to farmers at an affordable price which they can repay in one growing season. This strategy allows farmers to grow higher value and surplus crops, and in turn links them to high-value crop markets where they can realize profits from their higher yields. Recently, their success is in the promotion of sanitation products to decrease the practice of open defecation leading to diarrheal disease.
Lifewater International is a non-profit Christian water development organization serving the world's rural poor through integrated water, sanitation, and hygiene programs. In 47 years, Lifewater has served over 3 million people in 45 countries.
Form 990 is a United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form that provides the public with information about a nonprofit organization. It is also used by government agencies to prevent organizations from abusing their tax-exempt status. Some nonprofits, such as hospitals and other healthcare organizations, have more comprehensive reporting requirements.
Food for the Hungry is a Christian international relief, development, and advocacy organization. Food for the Hungry was founded in 1971 by Larry Ward. Food for the Hungry's stated mission for long-term development is to graduate communities of extreme poverty within 10–15 years. The organization also works in disaster relief and humanitarian response, including working with the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Candid is an information service specializing in reporting on U.S. nonprofit companies. In 2016, its database provided information on 2.5 million organizations. It is the product of the February 2019 merger of GuideStar with Foundation Center.
Charity: water is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 that provides drinking water to people in developing nations. As of 2019, the organization has raised $370 million. According to the organization, it has funded 111,000 water projects in 29 countries though it does not know how many of the projects are still functional.
Hope for Haiti is a non-profit organization based in Naples, Florida, USA, founded in 1989 by JoAnne Kuehner. The mission of the organization is to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly children, through education, healthcare, water, infrastructure and economy. In addition, Hope for Haiti has an emergency relief component and has responded to several natural disasters like the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and Hurricane Matthew since its founding.
Unbound, formerly Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, is a nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. Unbound was founded by lay Catholics acting on the Gospel call to serve the poor. Its sponsorship program provides direct cash transfers to sponsored members who determine how to use their cash benefits to meet their goals. Beyond basic necessities such as food, housing, clothing and access to medical care, sponsored members frequently utilize their benefits to pay for education costs or to start or expand small business ventures. Unbound sponsors support more than 260,000 children, youth and elders in 17 countries.
Boot Campaign is a national 501(c)(3) charitable organization with offices in Dallas, Texas. Boot Campaign is accredited by the Better Business Bureau, continues a years-long Platinum rating from Candid, and has been named one of the nation's Great Nonprofits.
Akvo Foundation is a non-profit internet and software development foundation, headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The foundation specializes primarily in building and operating data collection and visualization systems, to be used in international development and aid activity. The company also operates a sustainable development, wiki-inspired, Akvopedia. The company was initially started as a project under the Netherlands Water Partnership in 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
