Michigan · Nonprofit
THE WATER GENOME
THE WATER GENOME (Michigan) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,943,766 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,020,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $230k
- Funders on record
- 13
- Grants received
- $1.9M
- Net assets
- $135k
What The Water Genome does
Mission
501cthree brings attention to the solutions that will help build a cleaner, more sustainable, and more equitable future. The water box is 501cthrees program to provide unlimited clean, safe water to people in communities where drinking water is unsafe or inaccessible.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
501cthree raises awareness of water quality issues, water access, and the work of our community partners to provide their residents with safe, clean water through creative, impactful storytelling and online content. Our outreach led to the donation of over 2,000 reusable water carriers to communities in need from donors around the world.
$260,168 spent$229,286 earned by the program100% of program spending501cthrees water box program provides unlimited clean, safe water to people in communities with unsafe drinking water. Because it is important that residents trust the people they receive water from, 501cthree supports community organizations in flint, newark and los angeles skid row to administer the water box program - which includes water distribution, testing, and communication. In 2020, 501cthree expanded the water box program to three new locations in two additional cities and distributed 35,000 gallons of safe drinking water.
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $260,168.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2020 to 2021, from $944k to $338k (−64%).
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.
100% of THE WATER GENOME’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 4 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2023: the base narrowed from 3 funders to 2 funders, grant income rose $100k → $139k.
7 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% 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 THE WATER GENOME’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
THE WATER GENOME leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
85% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund THE WATER GENOME.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 50% · 2021 71% · 2022 83% · 2023 89% — growing more concentrated.
“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
10% of THE WATER GENOME's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 8% 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
81% of THE WATER GENOME's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $371k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Michigan, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
THE WATER GENOME's revenue fell 84% between 2020 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like THE WATER GENOME
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 Michigan
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE WATER GENOME: 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 THE WATER GENOME?
- THE WATER GENOME (Michigan) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,943,766 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($1,020,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE WATER GENOME have?
- IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $1,943,766 in grants to THE WATER GENOME, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE WATER GENOME?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $1,020,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE WATER GENOME find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Michigan. 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 Water Genome →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 13 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing