Minnesota · Nonprofit
COVA AGUA
COVA AGUA (Minnesota) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,079,976 to it, the largest being RIPPLEWORKS INC ($3,100,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $5.6M
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $4.1M
- Net assets
- $4.2M
What Cova Agua does
Mission
Cova is a nonprofit social enterprise building a healthier central america through data-driven, community-centered safe water solutions.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Cova builds a healthier central america through community-centered safe water solutions in rural nicaragua, honduras, and el salvador. Through its locally led circuit rider model, cova partners with community water boards to strengthen the operation and long-term sustainability of rural water systems. Locally based water technicians install and maintain chlorination systems, monitor water quality, provide ongoing technical assistance, and train volunteer water boards in system management, financial planning, maintenance, and transparent governance. Cova also works with ministries of health, municipal governments, and other local partners to strengthen rural water services and build the capacity needed to sustain them over time.in 2025, cova extended safe water solutions to an additional 207,621 people, bringing its total reach to 1,797,830 people across 2,827 rural communities. A record 37 circuit riders completed 12,713 community visits during the year. Through this ongoing support, cova helped communities improve chlorination, maintain reliable water systems, strengthen local leadership, and reduce the risk of waterborne illness, allowing more children to attend school, adults…
$1,859,774 spent$854,367 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,859,774.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.1M to $4.6M (+311%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 5% · 2021 19% · 2022 9% · 2023 20% · 2025 5%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of COVA AGUA’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (97% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Caitlin Shields
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $26k → $125k.
10 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of COVA AGUA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
COVA AGUA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 76% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 65% · 2019 48% · 2020 44% · 2021 30% · 2022 41% · 2023 48% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
46% of COVA AGUA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
COVA AGUA draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $649k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
COVA AGUA runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 798 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 798 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding COVA AGUA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $806k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$761k
- Department of State$45k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like COVA AGUA
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for COVA AGUA: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds COVA AGUA?
- COVA AGUA (Minnesota) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,079,976 to it, the largest being RIPPLEWORKS INC ($3,100,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COVA AGUA have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $4,079,976 in grants to COVA AGUA, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COVA AGUA?
- RIPPLEWORKS INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COVA AGUA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Cova Agua →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 19 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing