Water Charity

hfm1101

Hi,

I really want to donate to a charity (preferably UK) that focuses primarily on clean water and sanitation solutions for third world countries.
I thought this would be a fairly easy task. I assumed a google search would provide one or two 'top' charities. But there are loads!

I spent some time reading online with people asking my same question, but the answers seemed somewhat contrived and I have a suspicion that many times on websites, the questions themselves are orchestrated for self-promotion.
Basically, I haven't a clue where to start, because the choice is baffling and vast and I have never heard of half of these charities.

Can anyone please suggest a reputable charity, where my donation would have the biggest impact without paying towards massive overheads? Who is the leading charity in this?

Thanks.

McKneff

The trouble is, the leading Charities will have the biggest overheads.

Have you googled 'Water Aid'

Nottoobadyet

I'd say that either WaterAid or Oxfam (less focused on water and sanitation but do a lot of it) meet your criteria.

Can I ask why you are interested in clean water specifically?

Various critical studies have suggested that it is among the most expensive and least sustainable ways to prevent child death / improve health outcomes in the developing world. Of course its your money and its lovely that you want to give, but maybe worth having a google and reading up a bit before deciding on this sector.

floss2

I too would suggest Wateraid Wateraid

hfm1101

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

I'd say that either WaterAid or Oxfam (less focused on water and sanitation but do a lot of it) meet your criteria.

Can I ask why you are interested in clean water specifically?

Various critical studies have suggested that it is among the most expensive and least sustainable ways to prevent child death / improve health outcomes in the developing world. Of course its your money and its lovely that you want to give, but maybe worth having a google and reading up a bit before deciding on this sector.

Thank you. It's interesting what you say. Do you have any links to sources that go into more detail about giving to water charities as being less effective?
I read on the wateraid site to the contrary:

“Around 700,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation!- that's almost 2,000 children a day.
(WaterAid 2012/WHO 2008/The Lancet 2012)”

I'm interested in giving to this type of charity because I believe safe water is vital. But you disagree?

Mojisola

Practical Action has some good water projects - http://practicalaction.org/water-and-sanitation-14

Not specifically water-based, but involving local people so the benefits are more sustainable - https://www.selfhelpafrica.org/selfhelp/Main/Home.asp?sCountryCode=GB&gclid=CMGT5POG97ECFagmtAodU2kAYA

hfm1101

Mojisola wrote: »

Not specifically water-based, but involving local people so the benefits are more sustainable

Thank you, I will look into this.

imho

Really good what you want to do but when you read that India is giving away £800 million to the poorest people so they can have mobiles i wouldnt bother giving money for clean water.
India has cash to send rockets up and this stupid mobile scheme why on earth dont they clean up the drinking water.
We have poverty in this country,ok i know we have clean drinking water but people are starving here and its about time charity started at home.
Hardly any cash of your donation to any charity will go to the cause you want it too it will go in Pay and bribes.

blackandwhitebunny

If you go onto the Charity commission website you can search through loads of different ones by setting various criteria, if you're prepared to spend some time doing the research you can find small charities that have very low overheads and where the money reaches the projects and the people rather than being used for advertising and political lobbying.

sonastin

If it helps, most of the UK water companies support Wateraid.

zippychick

as this is charity related, ive moved it to the charities board for you

Zip

Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].