Using your donations efficiently

Your donation to Water 1st is one of the best investments you can make in the developing world. Efficient use of the donations we receive is an important part of our solution.

Efficient use of resources here in the US

In 2009, 83% of all our expenses went toward programs. At Water 1st, we continue to provide water, sanitation, and hygiene education at a cost of $75/person, inclusive of all administrative and fundraising costs. MORE

Leveraging local resources

Our local partner organizations are recognized and respected in the regions where they work, and because of their great relationships, they are able to utilize local resources. In many of our projects, the project beneficiaries themselves are responsible for project construction and provide local construction materials such as sand, gravel and wood.

Construction of the water systems is not easy. It means carrying sand and stone for making concrete from far away river beds, digging miles of pipeline trench, or building access roads for drilling rigs. This work is done entirely by hand with simple tools and is in addition to their normal daily tasks of farming and carrying water home.

Our partners also work closely with local government, enabling them to make use of available government resources, such as professional staff, equipment, and funding. This local leveraging benefits everyone: field level local government staff feel valued, beneficiary communities are able to demonstrate their commitment to the projects, and Water 1st funding is stretched further. MORE

Capital cost-recovery

Capital cost recovery is a unique aspect of our India and Bangladesh projects. Even though our beneficiaries are poor, they are helping to pay 40% to 100% of the capital costs of their projects through monthly installments. This financial investment on the part of our project participants tells us that they place a high value on improving their water supply and gives us a greater assurance that a project will be well-maintained. It also leaves them their dignity and makes them feel proud that they have not been given a hand-out. The loan program also helps Water 1st and our local partners reach more people in need of safe water and toilets; repaid loan funds are used to begin additional projects. People participating in the loan program are proud that their loan repayments will be used to help a neighbor finance a new toilet, or help a neighboring village construct a new water point.

Our results

While the general percentages are one way of evaluating a nonprofit, we also encourage supporters to look closely at program outcomes. What you accomplish with the funds you expend on program is at least as important as the relative percent of money spent on program versus administration and fund raising.

Every project is working on its first day of use, when the ribbon is cut and the photo of happy villagers is taken. The real test of a water and sanitation program is what happens next. If the handpump starts to break down, or the piped water system starts to leak, and there is no one trained to maintain it, or funds aren’t collected on a regular basis from beneficiaries in order to buy spare parts, capital investments that have been made up front on behalf of donors are wasted, and beneficiaries suffer the consequences of making the long daily treks back to their previous, contaminated traditional water sources.

Therefore, our challenge is not just spending our donations efficiently, but also effectively. We closely monitor the work of our partner organizations, to make sure our investments continue to be lasting and sustainable. As an organization, we recognize that money alone cannot solve the world’s problems. We have to hold ourselves accountable to the promises we make to both our donors and the people we are trying to help. We also approach this work with some amount of humility. We certainly do not believe the poverty is an engineering problem with technical solutions that only we can concoct. We have years of field experience, and we approach our partners and projects with open minds and the ability to discern what works and what doesn’t. MORE

See a video from a 2008 project monitoring visit to India