For nearly two decades, WaterPartners has been working quietly to bring safe water and sanitation projects to developing communities around the world. But now the mission of the Kansas City-based nonprofit has a little glitz: actor Matt Damon. Damon, co-founder of the H2O Africa Foundation, a nonprofit that sought to help African communities gain access to safe water, has joined with WaterPartners to create a new organization, Water.org.
WaterPartners, founded in Kansas City in 1990 by Gary White, helps communities in South Asia, Central America and Africa gain access to safe water and sanitation through grants and micro-credit financing.
[...] White, 46, said with the new incarnation as Water.org and Damon’s advocacy, he expected to double or triple the number of people served over the next two to three years.
WaterPartners had a 2008 budget of $5.4 million, largely from grants. In 2008, WaterPartners helped about 142,000 people, more than triple the number of people served in 2007.
WaterPartners and H2O Africa were dissolved in creating the new organization, Water.org, which will keep its headquarters in Kansas City.
Damon helped create awareness for water supply problems in Africa with H2O Africa, which was founded in conjunction with the “Running the Sahara” expedition and film project.
H2O Africa made grants to international nonprofits, such as WaterPartners, which then worked with local groups. H2O Africa had about $500,000 in remaining grants, with about $350,000 of that going to WaterPartners. The remainder went to continuing water projects in Africa.
In 2008, the PepsiCo Foundation gave WaterPartners $4.1 million to help people in India gain access to clean water. A portion of that money would be used for its WaterCredit microfinance program, which offers small loans to individuals who don’t have access to traditional credit markets. Those people then use that money to obtain their own water connections.
Source: Maria Suudekum, AP / Columbia Missourian, 15 Jul 2009.
See below Matt Damon’s plug for the campaign in support of the US Water for the World Act on ONE.org
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Damon joins WaterPartners to form Water.org « WASH Names in the News | H2O Report // August 3, 2009 at 9:01 pm |
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