Water Foundation
Advancing lasting water solutions for communities, economies, and the environment
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Water is essential to our bodies, our land, plants, and animals, and our economies. To thrive, we need reliable, clean water for people and for nature. Public policy has a role and responsibility to achieve this vision, but too often politicians avoid seemingly intractable conflict and division. Climate change and extreme weather further compound our most pressing water challenges. Yet, we’re not putting up anywhere close to the scale of funding we need to solve them. To advance the water solutions for communities, economies, and the environment, we need highly-engaged, strategic water funders.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Healthy Watersheds
People and nature rely on healthy watersheds to live and thrive. Our Healthy Watersheds program protects and restores vital lands and waters to ensure ecological and public health and build climate resilience.
Healthy Communities
Everyone should have safe, clean, and affordable water. A changing climate brings new water and health risks. Our Healthy Communities program supports campaigns and projects to secure safe drinking water and advance community resilience and climate adaption.
Where we work
External reviews

Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Water Foundation's grantmaking, strategy, and field building efforts aim to secure safe, clean water for people, restore and sustain freshwater ecosystems, and build climate resilience, both urban and rural.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Water Foundation’s system interventions take values and insights that emerged from conversations with field and funder partners and translate them into principles that drive the work.
The interventions include:
1. Changing the ways we move and share water—Historically, we’ve moved water through legacy infrastructure that often hurts fish and wildlife and generates conflict. We can reimagine how this works by recasting natural watershed functions as valued parts of water infrastructure. By shifting how we move and share water, we can contribute to the recovery of degraded ecosystems and enhance resilience to climate change.
2. Broadening who makes water decisions and how—Expanding the voice and political influence of those most impacted by water challenges can help generate more democratic, responsive, and effective water institutions. Achieving water systems that support healthy human and natural communities requires diversifying water leadership and supporting water institutions to collaborate and innovate.
3. Strengthening the stories we tell about water—Voters support clean water for people and nature, but we often fail to generate the political will to tackle our most critical water problems. By driving narratives through communications and community outreach that connect to people’s values and priorities, we can spur political action and galvanize powerful movements for water solutions.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We strive to be an engaged, highly strategic, intermediary funder, operating in service to grantees and to donors. We focus on moving resources quickly as opportunities arise and investing to sustain and grow the capacity of the water field over time. Our grantmaking empowers the field to demonstrate and scale on-the-ground solutions and supports collaboration across difference.
We come to the table with deep water expertise, political experience, relationships, and lobbying capacity. Where field partners seek our assistance, and we are uniquely positioned to help, we will complement our primary funder role by bolstering the capacity of our partners, convening diverse leaders, and partnering on compelling policy campaigns.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In just the past few years, our strategy and grantmaking have helped advance California’s water policy on a range of critical issues, from sustainable groundwater management to the nation’s largest public financing program for green stormwater infrastructure. In Spring 2019, we shared a new strategy that will help set the direction for the Water Foundation’s continued achievement, available at www.waterfdn.org/strategy.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Water Foundation
Board of directorsas of 03/07/2023
Jim Lochhead
Denver Water
Laurie Dachs
Laural Foundation
Celeste Cantú
San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board
Jim Lochhead
Denver Water
David Beckman
Pisces Foundation
John Echohawk
Native American Rights Fund
Hahrie Han
John Hopkins University
Moira Mcdonald
Walton Family Foundation
Peter Silva
Silva-Silva International
Amy Cordalis
Ridges to Riffles
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.