Clean Water for North Carolina Inc.
Community-Based Environmental Justice
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Overview
Clean Water for NC's programs include:
1) Polluter Accountability, which has brought dozens of communities together to demand major changes in state enforcement policies and practices and taken direct action to call for polluters to clean up their processes.
2) Community Empowerment, which provides organizing, strategic and technical assistance for specific community needs. We serve rural, low income, and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities.
3) Water Justice, to ensure safe, affordable water for all, which educates citizens on threats to water, and advocates for more protective policies to prioritize affordable safe water to meet human needs and to protect and clean up ground and surface waters.
Safe Affordable Water for All
CWFNC believes that safe affordable water is a right for all North Carolinians, and we work to organize with communities, research the impacts of water supply privatization and pricing practices, and advocate for health-protective, just and sustainable statewide water quality and allocation policies.
Goals:
Ensure that North Carolinians know the source of their drinking water, the threats to its safety, and their responsibility for its protection. Research and educate the public on drinking water source protection, the right to safe, affordable water, and threats to both ground and surface water.
Develop just and sustainable policies to protect rights to affordable drinking water, adequate supply, and equitable distribution (water allocation and pricing).
Preventing Harms to Communities, Holding Polluters Accountable
We believe it is possible and necessary to work for solutions to pollution problems that create jobs, help finance significant pollution reductions and conserve both water and energy while holding specific polluters accountable for their emissions and discharges through regulatory and direct activism.
Goals:
Develop a growing network of volunteers statewide – the Pollution Action Pipeline – who review and comment on permits and standards to continually improve standards, strengthen protections and enforceability of permits.
Partner with specific downstream or downwind groups and coalitions to work for stronger permits and enforcement, including filing legal challenges where there is an opportunity to set a strong precedent.
Reduce NC’s vulnerability to massive impact of electricity production on NC waters, while reducing cost of energy bills, especially for low income residents, and creating good, locally based jobs through energy efficiency and sound water allocation policies.
Empowered, Just Communities
CWFNC is committed to working for environmental justice through community organizing, collaboration with other NC Environmental Justice Network partners, technical assistance and training.
Goals:
Provide effective, accountable organizing and technical assistance, especially to people-of-color, low-income and rural communities, to increase knowledge, skills, and action to protect human health and community environments.
Work for fair, participatory environmental decision-making mechanisms in all NC communities, with wide participation. Work with our members, community partners, and state and local officials to provide critical education, emergency planning and accountability for businesses and industries that use hazardous materials.
Where we work
External reviews

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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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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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.
Clean Water for North Carolina Inc.
Board of directorsas of 06/24/2022
Marshall Tyler
Marshall Tyler
Nathanette Mayo
Anita Simha
Emma Sellers
Lee Barnes
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? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
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
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 08/17/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.