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California · Nonprofit

Water Charity

Water Charity (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,825,886 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($991,880). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2024
$970k
Funders on record
13
Grants received
$1.8M
Net assets
$577k
6/13 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 43%
01What it does

What Water Charity does

Mission

To supply clean water to people who are currently doing without around the world. To help alleviate the World Water Crisis that finds over 3 4 of a BILLION people doing without access to potable water by repairing wells and distributing filters.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. WASH Sector - Our basic projects and our extended programs all fall under the same WASH sector development work with the main work being WATER. There are a large number of people who are able to remain in school infants and children who dont die of waterborne illnesses their leading cause of death worldwide and people who had been refugees or might have become refugees before we repaired their village well or drilled them a new borehole. This WC program has spawned a large number of other nonprofits and NGOs as well as train a cadre of well technicians and repair businesses that go on to do this work independently of our projects and programs.

    $281,994 spentof which $40,000 as grants$57,000 earned by the program
    73% of program spending
  2. This longstanding program aims to distribute water filters to people who currently survive off of water that is contaminated contains waterborne pathogens or is otherwise not potable or fit for human consumption. There is a small training that goes with this kind of distribution. The latest filter technology is very robust and filters can last for decades with a modicum of maintenance.

    $104,536 spentof which $35,000 as grants
    27% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $386,530.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($906k) Expenses 100 ($598k) Net assets 100 ($435k)2018 Revenue 87 ($785k) Expenses 171 ($1.0M) Net assets 51 ($221k)2019 Revenue 108 ($981k) Expenses 158 ($945k) Net assets 59 ($257k)2020 Revenue 78 ($711k) Expenses 109 ($651k) Net assets 73 ($317k)2021 Revenue 153 ($1.4M) Expenses 164 ($980k) Net assets 166 ($720k)2022 Revenue 147 ($1.3M) Expenses 302 ($1.8M) Net assets 55 ($239k)2023 Revenue 69 ($623k) Expenses 96 ($575k) Net assets 94 ($407k)2024 Revenue 107 ($970k) Expenses 136 ($811k) Net assets 133 ($577k)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (107)Expenses (136)Net assets (133)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $736k to $244k (−67%).

$435k
$224k
$296k
$321k
$736k
$244k
$417k
$583k
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

82% of Water Charity’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (100% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 4,945 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$307k
’17
−$238k
’18
$36k
’19
$60k
’20
$403k
’21
−$481k
’22
$48k
’23
$158k
’24
8.6
months of
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.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed33333444
Joined·+0+0+0+0+3+1+1
No longer listed·0000211
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $274k → $267k.

7 of 13 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 74% 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 Water Charity’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

Water Charity leans on a few funders — its largest provides 54% of grant income and the top three 95%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

75% 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 Water Charity.

54%
largest funder
95%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 85% · 2018 74% · 2019 36% · 2020 67% · 2021 86% · 2022 62% · 2023 76% — 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

30% of Water Charity's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 46% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

74% of Water Charity'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 $482k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside California, across 4 states.

WA
IL
NJ
DC

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
California out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.3M 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Water Charity runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 4,524 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin16% · above the median
Months of reserve8.6mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)1% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,524 international nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Water Charity

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 California

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

52% of spending goes to programs.

Program 52%Management 27%Fundraising 21%

Governance

3
board members
67%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

CA

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Water Charity: 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.

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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 Water Charity?
Water Charity (California) receives grants from 13 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,825,886 to it, the largest being DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ($991,880). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 74% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does Water Charity have?
IRS filings report 13 organizations giving $1,825,886 in grants to Water Charity, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Water Charity?
DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC is the largest funder on record, with $991,880 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Water Charity find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 Charity →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), 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