Missouri · Nonprofit
WATERORG
WATERORG (Missouri) receives grants from 249 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,763,066 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,212,342). 137 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $30M
- Funders on record
- 249
- Grants received
- $56M
- Net assets
- $47M
What Waterorg does
Mission
Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Water programs:water.org works to catalyze new sources of capital to power water and sanitation solutions, drive down the philanthropic costs to provide water, and continually increase the number of people with access to safe water and sanitation. Water.org works in 15 countries in asia, africa and latin america. Together with our 200 partners around the world, we've catalyzed more than $7.7 billion in capital to support small loans that bring access to safe water and sanitation to millions of people in need. 88 million people now have access to safe water or sanitation.
$29,353,039 spentof which $5,139,247 as grants$52,961 earned by the program99% of program spendingOutreach:water.org raises awareness of the global water crisis and its effort to break down the financial barriers between people living in poverty and access to safe water and sanitation. Water.org communicates through a variety of channels, including the water.org website, social media, email, direct mail, digital media and media relations. Water.org also works with governments, sector institutions and other partners at a systems-level to promote changes that increase the flow of capital for household water and sanitation solutions.
$244,955 spent1% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $29,597,994.
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 2020 to 2021, from $22M to $39M (+73%).
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: 2017 1% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 3% · 2021 5% · 2022 5% · 2023 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
93% of WATERORG’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (96% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Gary White
Board member, CEO & co-founder
Board chair
Terry Trayvick
Board member, board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 48 funders to 87 funders, grant income rose $890k → $4.6M.
45 of 249 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 70% 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 WATERORG’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 249 funders by total. 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
WATERORG has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 27% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
72% 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 WATERORG.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 50% · 2019 32% · 2020 23% · 2021 49% · 2022 55% · 2023 22% — 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
40% of WATERORG's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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
70% of WATERORG'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 $17M that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Missouri, across 34 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $39M arriving through sponsors registered in 25 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
WATERORG holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 363 international nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 363 international nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like WATERORG
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 Missouri
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
60%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 39 states
Part of a family of 4 related entities
- Waterorg Kenya · disregarded
- Waterconnect · disregarded
- Waterorg Mexico · corp_trust
- Waterorg Brazil · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for WATERORG: 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 WATERORG?
- WATERORG (Missouri) receives grants from 249 organizations whose IRS filings report $55,763,066 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($15,212,342). 137 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 70% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does WATERORG have?
- IRS filings report 249 organizations giving $55,763,066 in grants to WATERORG, 137 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of WATERORG?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $15,212,342 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like WATERORG find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Missouri. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
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 249 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