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· Public charity

Global Water Challenge

To accelerate universal access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene around the world.

$4.5M
Granted FY2023
5
Grants FY2023
4
States reached
$95k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172023.

Environment$553kInternational$55kPhilanthropy$21kHealth$5k
02FY2023 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 5 grants below total $301,725 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $4,532,313 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $4,230,588 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2023

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $277k
$62,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$20M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TEXAN BY NATURE$95,000
OHIO RIVER FOUNDATION$62,500
RIVER PARTNERS$62,500
KANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS$56,725
LAKE MERRITT INSTITUTE$25,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 54% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%LAKE MERRITT INSTITUTE: $25k → 10%DIGDEEP: $20k → 14%RIVER PARTNERS: $63k → 18%BLACK WOMEN'S BLUEPRINT: $5k → 16%TEXAN BY NATURE: $95k → 10%WATER FINANCE EXCHANGE INC: $25k → 14%KANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS: $57k → 10%THE CHRIS LONG FOUNDATION: $11k → 11%THREE RIVERS LAND TRUST: $10k → 15%WATER FOR PEOPLE: $12k → 12%OHIO RIVER FOUNDATION: $63k → 16%INTERNATIONAL WATER INSTITUTE: $50k → 12%GLOBAL GRASSROOTS: $11k → 5%LAKE MERRITT INSTITUTE: $25k → 10%MILLENNIUM WATER ALLIANCE: $43k → 14%KANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS: $50k → 10%THE CHRIS LONG FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%OHIO RIVER FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%THE CHRIS LONG FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

NH
ND
NY
OH
CA
CO
MO
KS
NC
DC
TX

Grants abroad, by region — $4.5M on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 7 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Sub-Saharan Africa$2.4M · 54% · 35 grants

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

South America$883k · 20% · 17 grants

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$653k · 15% · 9 grants

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Middle East and North Africa$235k · 5% · 5 grants

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

Russia and Neighboring States$183k · 4% · 5 grants

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

South Asia$81k · 2% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

North America (Canada and Mexico)$31k · 1% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: INCLUSIVE SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

47%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$300k · 4 repeat orgs$333k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships — 3 still active in FY2023, 1 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
8

Total granted

$300k
$176k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-2%
+42%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $158k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’19’20’21’22’23
EnvironmentCivil RightsArts & CulturePhilanthropyInternationalOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • OR
    Ohio River Foundation
    3× · 2022–2024 · $113k · revenue -2%
  • KA
    KANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $107k · revenue -5%
  • LM
    Lake Merritt Institute
    2× · 2022–2023 · $50k · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • IW
    INTERNATIONAL WATER INSTITUTEgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +35%
  • MW
    MILLENNIUM WATER ALLIANCEgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $43k · revenue +53%
  • WF
    WATER FINANCE EXCHANGE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue ×24

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
International Rivers Network

International Rivers protects rivers and defends the rights of communities that depend on them.

Environment
2
Broad Water Innovations

Conservation easement holder and long-term steward of wetland, stream, and species mitigation banks.

Environment
3
Water to Thrive

Water to Thrive transforms lives in rural Africa by working with partners and beneficiaries to bring the blessing of clean, safe water, connecting communities in need with supporters who have the heart and spirit to make a difference

International
4
Open Water Foundation

The Open Water Foundation develops and supports open source software and open data solutions to make better decisions about water resources.

Environment
5
Well Aware Inc

Well Aware's mission is to provide innovative and sustainable solutions to water scarcity and contamination in East Africa.

International
6
America's Watershed Initiative

America's watershed initiative serves as a trusted voice that brings partners together and champions sound science to secure a future in which the rivers and people of the mississippi river watershed thrive.

Human Services
7
Water Environment Federation

WEF's mission is inspiring the water community in pursuit of human and environmental well-being. WEF is a global environmental leader committed to water quality education and technical best practices. WEF connects water professionals;…

Environment
8
Western Rivers Conservancy

Western rivers conservancy's mission is to protect outstanding river ecosystems in the western united states. continued on schedule o.we acquire land to conserve critical habitat, provide public access for compatible use and enjoyment, and…

Environment
9
The Center for Water Security and Cooperation

To advance water security by understanding, evaluating and innovating in water law and governance.

Environment
10
Waterorg

Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.

International
11
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
12
Water for South Sudan Inc

Water for South Sudan delivers direct, transformative and sustainable quality-of-life service to the people of South Sudan by efficiently providing access to clean, safe water and improving hygiene practices in areas of great need.

International

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is River Partners and the most unlike its peers is National Audubon Society Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

04the grantee network

16 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
11/16
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Ohio River Foundation — $112,500 · EnvironmentOhio River FoundationKANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS INC — $106,725 · EnvironmentKANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS INCTaking Care of Texas — $95,000 · EnvironmentTaking Care of TexasRIVER PARTNERS — $62,500 · EnvironmentRIVER PARTNERSINTERNATIONAL WATER INSTITUTE — $50,000 · EnvironmentINTERNATIONAL WATER INSTITUTELake Merritt Institute — $50,000 · EnvironmentLake Merritt InstituteWATER FINANCE EXCHANGE INC — $25,000 · EnvironmentTHE DIGDEEP RIGHT TO WATER PROJECT — $20,000 · Environment+1 more — $10,000 · EnvironmentMILLENNIUM WATER ALLIANCE — $42,763 · Arts & CultureCHRIS LONG FOUNDATION — $31,000 · PhilanthropyGLOBAL GRASSROOTS — $11,000 · Civil RightsTHE RECONCILIATION CENTER INC — $5,000 · Civil RightsWATER FOR PEOPLE — $12,000 · International
Environment$531,725Arts & Culture$42,763Philanthropy$31,000Civil Rights$16,000International$12,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetOhio River Foundation — $112,500 over 3y, 12% of budgetKANSAS ALLIANCE FOR WETLANDS AND STREAMS INC — $106,725 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetTaking Care of Texas — $95,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetRIVER PARTNERS — $62,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetINTERNATIONAL WATER INSTITUTE — $50,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetLake Merritt Institute — $50,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetMILLENNIUM WATER ALLIANCE — $42,763 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCHRIS LONG FOUNDATION — $31,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetWATER FINANCE EXCHANGE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetTHE DIGDEEP RIGHT TO WATER PROJECT — $20,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetWATER FOR PEOPLE — $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL GRASSROOTS — $11,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHREE RIVERS LAND TRUST INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE RECONCILIATION CENTER INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

National Fish and Wildlife FoundationDC14.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Global Water Challenge funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Global Water Challenge?

    Find your warmest path to Global Water Challenge through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 14 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $5.0M of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

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