Water.org

Date: 2005

Asset Class: Grant

Description:  Water.org and its sister non-profit, WaterEquity, are working together to catalyze change to the financial sector to make affordable loans available for safe water and sanitation. About 30% of the 2.2B people who lack access to safe water and/or sanitation could afford to pay for a loan to get the service if a loan were available, and often save money in the process. Water.org provides the expertise and credit enhancements to get financial institutions started, and also advocates for favorable government policies. WaterEquity provides privately raised capital to financial institutions to help them scale.

Why We Invest: It took Water.org 20 years of drilling wells to reach their first million people. By catalyzing change to the financial sector, they have now reached over 50M and are reaching over 2M per quarter. As of November 2022, Water.org/WaterEquity had mobilized $4B to the sector. Access to safe water and sanitation is a human right that is fundamental to life, health, gender equity, education and poverty alleviation as well as providing resilience against the pandemic and helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.