What is Lifetime Impact?

Lifetime Impact is a metric that recognizes all of your contributions.

Every dollar you raise or donate increases your Lifetime Impact. Also, when you refer someone to join The Spring, your Lifetime Impact grows every month they’re a member. If you invite five friends to join The Spring and they each give $20 a month, in five years your Lifetime Impact will grow by $6,000. That would bring clean water to 150 people. With a little effort, you can make an incredible impact.

Read more about how we developed Lifetime Impact.

How is Lifetime Impact calculated?

Lifetime Impact is broken down into three categories: donated, raised, and referred. Your Lifetime Impact is the sum of these three categories.

Donated is the total amount you have given to charity: water through online donations. We are progressively working through offline donations (like checks) that supporters have made in the past. It will take some time to complete this, but we are committed to including all of your contributions in your Lifetime Impact.

Raised is the total amount you have fundraised for charity: water, either through a fundraising campaign or on your public profile.

Referred is the total amount that anyone you have directly referred to our monthly giving program, The Spring, has donated to The Spring. When someone chooses to become a monthly donor on your profile page or one of your fundraising campaigns, you are credited with that referral and their monthly donations increase your Lifetime Impact. It does not include any of your referrals’ other donations or any donations made by someone who one of your referrals has referred.

What is included?

All of your online donations to charity: water are included in your Lifetime Impact. This includes:

  • General donations made on the website, www.charitywater.org
  • Monthly donations to The Spring
  • Donations made on another user’s profile page
  • Donations to special campaigns like the September Campaign or World Water Day
  • Water Project Sponsorship donations made online

What is excluded?

The following types of gifts are not currently included in your Lifetime Impact, but we are working to include them in the future:

  • Offline gifts, such as donations made by check or DAF.
  • Donations to Facebook fundraisers. At this time, we are unable to include any funds raised via a Facebook fundraiser.
  • Donations for charity: water’s operational expenses. This includes all GiftAid donations and Well dues.
  • Donations to Pipeline.
  • Matches for one-time donations. At this time, we are unable to include any matching funds your donations may have unlocked.
  • Merchandise purchases, including gift cards, from our online store.
  • Event tickets and donations. If you have attended a charity: ball event, both the ticket price and any donation made at the event are not currently included in your Lifetime Impact.

We are working hard to include these generous contributions in your Lifetime Impact as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please reach out. We’d be happy to help!

Is my Lifetime Impact public?

Your Lifetime Impact is always set to “Private” by default. When set to Private, it is only visible on your account dashboard. If you would like your Lifetime Impact to appear on your public profile and elsewhere on the charity: water platform, set your Lifetime Impact to “Public” from the drop down menu on your account dashboard.

How do you calculate “people served”?

Since charity: water was founded, the cost of bringing clean water to one person has increased. Currently, it costs an average of $40 to bring clean water to one person. Any donations made after February 2020 will use the current average cost of $40 to calculate the total number of people served. Donations made prior to February 2020 calculate the number of people served using the average cost at the time of the donation.

Please note that currently, the number of people served is an estimate based on your Lifetime Impact. It does not yet account for the verified number of people served you may have received after sponsoring a water project or donating to a fundraising campaign. We are working hard to include these verified numbers as quickly as possible in order to most accurately reflect each donor’s impact. We thank you for your patience.

What are referrals?

A referral is someone who joined The Spring, our monthly giving program, on one of your charity: water pages, such as your profile or one of your fundraising campaigns. Every month that person is in The Spring, the “referred” portion of your Lifetime Impact increases. Referrals are the best way to grow your Lifetime Impact and help bring clean water to more people every month.

I referred someone to The Spring, do both of our Lifetime Impacts increase?

Yes! If you referred someone to The Spring, your Lifetime Impact increases every month they are in The Spring. For you, their contributions are counted in the “referred” portion of your Lifetime Impact. For them, their monthly Spring donation is counted in the “donated” portion of their Lifetime Impact.

I’ve donated to my own fundraising campaign in the past, how is that counted?

Donating to your own charity: water fundraising campaign is a great way to jumpstart the campaign and encourage others to give! Donations you’ve made to your own campaign are counted in the “donated” portion of your Lifetime Impact. They are not included in your “raised” total. This is to prevent double-counting and to distinguish between contributions you have personally made and the total you have fundraised from friends and family.

I’ve attended charity: ball, are those gifts counted?

Unfortunately, we are currently unable to include any gifts made at charity: ball in your Lifetime Impact. This includes ticket purchases. Lifetime Impact is a new feature, and we are still working to integrate our systems. If you have attended charity: ball in the past and have questions about your Lifetime Impact, please reach out to us.