Frequently asked questions: leaving a gift in your will

We work in two key ways – firstly, delivering water, sanitation and hygiene services and secondly, influencing others with the power to reach more people.

With our local partners, who are experts in their local environment and infrastructure, we work with communities to build solutions that meet their needs. Turning on the taps for the first time is always an incredibly exciting moment – but keeping the water flowing is even more important. So, we make sure that the services we provide last for the long term by using materials that can be locally sourced and by training community members so that they can manage and maintain their own clean water services. This means that if any repairs are needed, the facilities can be easily and quickly fixed. 

The scale of the water crisis is such that it cannot be solved by WaterAid, or any other NGO, alone. Because only governments can work on the scale required, we use our policy, research and proven programme work to show governments how they can get better at providing water and sanitation services and keeping them going. And through our advocacy and campaigning work, we put private and public pressure on them to make the financial commitments needed to achieve this.

Governments need to be responsible for delivering water and sanitation services in their own countries because this is the only way that these services will be truly sustainable. We work across government departments to ensure that clean water and decent toilets are part of the plans for schools and hospitals.

771 million people don't have clean water close to home – every single one of those people matters, so every single gift matters too. The challenge might sound daunting, but it's not to us – we've seen the progress that can be made with the help of gifts like yours and people like you. Since we started in 1981, WaterAid has directly reached 28.1 million people with clean water. Together with the efforts of other charities, INGOs and governments, 9 in 10 people now have clean water. 

Legacy gifts make up 10% of our income, so they are absolutely essential to our work and have been a fundamental part of the progress we've made so far. We have one vision and we’ll stick to it until clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are a normal part of everyday life for everyone, everywhere. We'd love you to be a part of it, because with your support we can get there sooner.

We’re here for the long haul. We will always focus on lasting solutions, not short-term fixes. That means we won’t necessarily choose the cheapest option and we’ll always invest time in making the right decisions with, not for, a community. We’ll tackle the cause as well as the effects of dirty water, so that the impact of your support is felt far and wide beyond the project work it funds.

We know that every community faces different, individual challenges. For this reason, all our projects are designed in collaboration with local partners and communities themselves.

By starting with people’s needs, we can develop solutions most likely to succeed in the long term. We train people to maintain and manage their community’s services, and use locally sourced parts to ensure everything can be repaired and replaced easily in the future.

We also conduct studies that track the progress of services later down the line. These help us continually work to improve the sustainability of the services we and our partners deliver. Visit our annual reports page to read the results.

Imagine, just for a moment, what your life would be if you didn't have clean water to drink, didn't have anywhere safe or private to to go the toilet and didn't have any way of keeping yourself or your home clean. Life-changing? Absolutely.

We visit communities after our projects are completed, sometimes months and even years later, to see the change. Our teams see with their own eyes the impact that clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene have on individuals and communities around the world, every day. What they see is that fewer children are getting sick from dirty water, more children – especially girls – are able to get an education, families are able to grow crops to feed their children, and generate incomes to support them. Gifts from people like you mean that health centres can deliver effective care, and small businesses can grow. All over the world, people are transforming their lives right now, often in ways that they had never even imagined – thanks to clean water.

Because nothing could be more important to us. If you choose to add WaterAid to your will, we promise to use your future gift carefully, so it achieves the greatest impact for the families and communities we work with.

Our passionate team of water and sanitation experts around the world work tirelessly with communities to ensure that projects are completed in the most efficient and effective way possible.

Our experienced team will work hard to honour your wishes, and we'll always respect your family and executors when administering your estate.

Since we started in 1981, we’ve worked across 28 countries, reaching 28 million people with clean water, 29 million people with decent toilets and 26 million people with good hygiene.

Take a look at our history and annual reports to see what we have achieved.

In the last year alone, we've reached millions of people with clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. And so many more with our influencing and strengthening work. 

We love to work with others – it's the only way we can make the progress needed at the scale required. We readily share information and resources and we actively share best practice and what is working well with others, including governments and other INGOs. As specialists in the field, and a leader in the sector, WaterAid’s successful working practices are often cited by other organisations in their own work.

We regularly participate in partnerships, coalitions and networks that bring together and oversee many charities for specific projects. Collaborating in this way helps to eliminate overlap and duplication of effort in areas, and creates opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge and ideas – meaning each organisation can play to its own strengths.

Merging these thousands of groups and working as one organisation would, however, pose many challenges in logistics and practices, risking inefficiency.

In our mission to reach everyone, everywhere, we have to tackle various challenges. These include a changing climate that affects the availability and sustainability of clean water, and addressing cultural attitudes to ensure that clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are embedded in the communities where we work.

Your legacy gift is vital in helping us deliver solutions that can withstand drought and floods, so that people can rely on a having a clean water no matter what the weather brings. And by allowing us to train community members to maintain their water supplies, and raise awareness of good hygiene, your legacy gift will help make a difference for generations to come.

We want to see clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene as a normal part of everyday life for everyone, everywhere.

Since we started in 1981, we’ve remained resolutely focused on tackling these three essentials that enable people to transform their lives. We want to see people breaking free from poverty, following their dreams and passions. We want to see children growing up healthy and strong. We want to see girls and boys getting a full education. We want to see things that are normal for some of us, becoming normal for everyone. That's our vision for the future.

We won’t give up until we see that day and we can celebrate being out of business. And we're getting there. With gifts like yours, millions of people have already taken control of their lives and built better futures for themselves, their families, their communities, their countries.

Last year, we spent 74p in every pound on delivering services and making change happen at a bigger scale by influencing others. We spent 26p in every pound on fundraising and governance – by investing in fundraising, we can be confident of our income in the future and our commitment to our programmes, and we ensure that your donation is still changing lives tomorrow – and by prioritising governance we can be confident that your donation is spent well. 

Our internal audit team also conduct regular assessments of our systems and practices, helping us understand how we can continue to improve on our value for money. You can find a full breakdown of our income and expenditure in our annual reports.

We really, really appreciate your decision. If you would like to leave a gift in your will to WaterAid, all you need is our charity address and charity number:

WaterAid, 6th Floor, 20 Canada Square, London, E14 5NN

Charity registration numbers: 288701 (England and Wales) and SC039479 (Scotland)

If you have any questions about adding WaterAid to your will, please call Dominique Abranson on 020 7793 4594, or email [email protected].