Sponsoring a freshwater project changes the lives of hundreds of people in developing countries. But we believe it can change yours, too. 100% of your donation will be used to build a water project for a community in need. When it's complete in 18 months, you'll get a report showing you GPS coordinates and photos of the exact community you helped.
When your project is built and we receive completion data from our partners (about 18 months), we assemble and send you a report with the following information:
100% of your money goes to water project costs on the ground. Private donors cover the salaries of our staff in New York so your money can go directly to the following costs: • The hardware of the physical water project: cement, pipes, pump head. • Local staff costs: salaries for drillers, well technicians and hydrogeologists. • Community training: staff who train the community to maintain their project over time. • Capacity building: trucks, drilling rigs, motor bikes and GPS devices. Learn more about each of these here »
• If you sponsor a water project at a school or health clinic, we may use a portion of your money to build latrines in addition to the water point. Latrines are crucial to reducing water-related diseases, especially at schools or health clinics where populations are more dense.
Building water and sanitation projects is a time-consuming business. We allow 18 months because we don't consider a project "complete" until we know that all of its components are in place and working for the best of the community. That includes community participation and training, as well as collecting photos, GPS coordinates and other details from each project. We require detailed data about each project from our partner organizations and verify it at charity: water headquarters to make sure there are no mistakes. Only then do we assemble your completion report. Here's a timeline of what happens in 18 months. You can also learn more here »
Although we’d like to, we can't accommodate requests to build projects in specific countries or regions. Our water programs team determines the locations of all water projects based on greatest need. Then they strategically form long-term partnerships with on-the-ground organizations to effectively help the most amount of people in specific regions. Instead of choosing the technology, country or local partner yourself, we ask that you trust our judgment in determining where your funds go. We honor the chance to be good stewards of your donation – and we take it very seriously. You can be sure that 100% of the money you give or raise will fund water project costs for people in need, and you will get a report letting you know the exact community you helped when the work is complete in 18 months.