How we raise and spend money

How we raise money

1. How much income does your charity raise in a year?
2. Where does the money come from?
3. Does WaterAid receive money from the Government? 
4. Why do you prefer people to make regular gifts?
5. How do the different types of fundraising compare?
6. Why do you ask for specific amounts of money in your appeals?

How we spend money

7. How much of my donation goes on administration?
8. How much of my donation goes to the cause?
9. How do you ensure my money is spent properly overseas?
10. Where is my money being spent?
11. How can £2 a month or a one-off gift of £15 make a difference?
12. How many paid staff do you have? Do people volunteer for you?
13. Why do you have reserves?

1. How much income does your charity raise in a year? 

In 2010/11, we raised more than £48m and reached 1.45 million people with safe water and 1.62 million people with sanitation.

To find out more, please see our latest annual report.

2. Where does the money come from? 

To minimise the risk of relying on limited sources of funding, we seek our funds from a variety of sources including individuals, goverments, companies, community groups and trusts and foundations, which is the case for most charities.

You can see all of this information in full in our annual accounts which are published as part of the charity's financial reporting obligations, but a summary is below:

In 2009/10 total annual income rose by 4% to £45.6 million.

3. Does WaterAid receive money from the Government?

WaterAid receives money from a wide range of funders, including governments, to help address the vital need for safe water and sanitation around the world. As experts in our field we contribute our experience to the development of better projects implemented by others, and to a range of policy issues. These are then taken up by others, including governments, who use this learning to greater effect around the world.

In 2009/10 the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) gave a total of £2.57 million while the Dutch Ministry for Foreign Affairs gave £537,000. and European Commission £1.5 million.

Download our Global Ethical Policy and Standards ( PDF File 65Kb) document.

4. Why do you prefer people to make regular gifts?

We ask people to make regular gifts to WaterAid so that we have a steady and predictable income. Giving regularly by Direct Debit is the most cost effective way to make a donation as it saves money on administration, meaning more can go to our water and sanitation work.

Regular gifts give long-term security and enable us to plan our long-term sustainable projects. In each country where we work the need is great and we have ambitious plans in place to help more people gain access to water and sanitation. Regular gifts give us the security and confidence to plan and carry on with our work.

Many people also find that they prefer to spread the cost of giving over small, regular instalments. This way they are able to give more over time and we can therefore help more people in the world to access to clean safe water and sanitation.

5. How do the different types of fundraising compare?

Essentially, charities judge fundraising by return on investment over time. But like all charities WaterAid considers the different groups of people that it wants to reach and what will appeal to them to ensure that its fundraising is as cost effective as possible.

Because of this WaterAid has, and will maintain, a diverse base of funding sources. In the UK we compare our performance to other charities of a similar size and aim to be in the top 25% of comparable performance for each fundraising activity.

6. Why do you ask for specific amounts of money in your appeals?

We have found that supporters like to know what their money can achieve and so we give examples on our appeals of what impact certain amounts can have, but the choice of what you give is entirely yours.

In the countries where we work a small amount of money can often go a long way, so even a small gift can make a big difference to people in the world's poorest countries. We aim to show this in our appeals by giving tangible examples of what £2, £5 or £10 could help achieve.

Many supporters also prefer to be given guidance as to the level of their donation and find it actually makes their decision easier.

We always include an option so that supporters can give a different amount if they wish. The prompt is not supposed to pressurise people into giving that level of gift. On the contrary, we are delighted when people decide to support our work and value donations of any amount.

How we spend money

7. How much of my donation goes on administration?

As a charity, we have a duty to keep our running costs as low as possible. In 2009/10 out of every £1 spent we spent 75p on our charitable objectives and 25p on fundraising and governance.

In order to secure income to achieve our work it is necessary to spend money raising funds. These fundraising costs vary depending on who we are asking (government, private individuals, companies or foundations). We seek to raise funds from a variety of sources in order to maximise the amounts of money raised and reduce reliance on a small number of funders. To see the full details about how WaterAid raises its funds please ask us for a copy of our annual review and accounts or view them online.

To ensure as much money as possible goes to the cause, we have to be efficient and manage our organisation effectively. The support costs spent on IT, HR, finance, planning and project management ensures our infrastructure supports our aims and delivery.

Good governance arrangements are essential to ensure we are efficiently run in an accountable manner and that we develop strategic plans that outline our aims and objectives. There are some costs involved with good governance such as the recruitment and training of trustees, audit fees and the salary of an internal auditor. 

8. How much of my donation goes to the cause?

For every £1 we spent 75p was spent on our charitable objectives.
>>See Annual Report for full breakdown

We have an obligation under the 1992 Charities Act to ensure that your donation goes to the work that it was asked for, unless stated otherwise.

9. How do you ensure my money is spent properly overseas?

We have a rigorous system of monitoring to support our country offices and partners implementing our project work. Financial reports are sent to London monthly and these are checked by the Finance department. We also have dedicated Partner Monitoring Finance Officers in most countries who check the finances of the partner organisations, and all our offices have well qualified and trained finance staff.

In addition to this we have an internal audit function which carries out comprehensive audits for the country programmes and reports their findings to the Audit Committee. Each country programme also has an annual external audit by an independent firm of accountants and our Head Office is audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

10. Where is my money being spent?

Unless your donation is specifically linked to a certain project, your money will be spent wherever the need is greatest in our 23 country programmes in Africa and Asia, or in our offices in the UK, US, Australia and Sweden from where we carry out vital research, advocacy, communications and support functions.

WaterAid in Australia manages two programmes in Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Region, that are entirely funded by donations to WaterAid Australia, and plans to expand into other countries in the region. WaterAid in America is investigating expansion into Nicaragua, using funding from donations to WaterAid in America. 

11. How can £2 a month or a one-off gift of £15 make a difference?

Because our projects use technologies that are appropriate and affordable for people living in some of the world's poorest countries a small amount really can make a difference to our work. For example, just £15 is enough to help one person gain access to safe water and sanitation and improve their hygiene practices.

£2 a month seems like a small amount, but over many months and with lots of people giving similar amounts, the combined effect can be very large and have a substantial impact. If you are able to Gift Aid your donation, this adds 25% at no extra cost to you. Find out more.

We depend upon lots of people giving small amounts of money, which together can enable whole communities to gain access to these basic needs, help to build the capacities of local organisations to carry out this work or influence governments on their water and sanitation policies.

12. How many paid staff do you have? Do people volunteer for you?

Charities have a serious obligation and need to have professional, paid staff to fulfil this. At the same time, volunteers are crucial to our work.

We need both professional staff and committed volunteers
In 2009/10 we employed 629 staff: 427 internationally and 202 in the UK.
We also have a large number of volunteers working for us in all of our teams. Our volunteers are a valued part of the organisation, with many having worked with us for years.

In the countries where we work staff roles vary from managing our country programmes to project staff working on community projects. In addition they work with many partner organisations which carry out the day to day project work on the ground.

We see this as an important long-term investment to strengthen water and sanitation organisations that, in turn, will develop their country's policies and infrastructure to help realise our vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.

Read more about our organisation and how we are managed.

13. Why do you have reserves?

We have reserves to provide long-term security for projects and to allow us to commit to others in the short-term. You can read more about our reserves in our annual report, which is published as part of our financial reporting obligations.

Financial reserves provide working capital and maintaining them helps us avoid the necessity of releasing fixed assets. They also provide funds which can be designated to specific projects to enable them to be undertaken at short notice, for example to assist in an emergency situation.