International Water and Health Alliances
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
To reduce waterborne disease among the 2 billion people in low-income countries who suffer from 6.5 million cases of severe diarrhea each day, mainly from contaminated drinking water.
- Income
- $149,905
- Spending
- $140,567
- Reserves
- 2.1 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
We do not score finances when yearly spending is very small or the return has too little detail. The ratios stop meaning much at that size.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $122,205 spent. The Friends of the Old (FOTO) office is in the town of Katito in Lower Nyakach, Kenya. The biggest city nearby, an hour by matatu, is Kisumu, where FOTO has its post office box. The FOTO staff has 28 women, two each in the 13 locations who deliver FOTO projects and act as social workers for the elderly, Project Director Dinah Chienjo and Office Assistant Lydia Treeza Ouma and three men (Project Coordinator Joseph Abende, Computer Instructor Michael Chienjo, and Security Officer Fredrick Orondo). IWHA pays their monthly salary, social security, and national health insurance fees.FOTOs main project is implementing a replicable strategy to eliminate waterborne disease for the 70,000 citizens of Lower Nyakach who have only unimproved, contaminated drinking water sources. The strategy involves FOTO staff conducting microbial testing at the community level using the 10 ml Colilert test and the 1.0 ml quantitative E. coli Petrifilm test to demonstrate to citizens that drinking water sources pose a very high disease risk. IWHA monthly provides FOTO with funds for distribution of 9,300 150 ml bottles of Aquaguard chlorine to households and schools to disinfect contaminated water sources. Colilert and Petrifilm testing before and after treating water with Aquaguard provide striking visual evidence that treating water with Aquaguard kills bacteria and makes water safe to drink.The FOTO project in Lower Nyakach is the one place in the world where a community-based organization has implemented a strategy to eliminate waterborne disease. The FOTO strategy could be replicated in villages worldwide where two billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. As in previous years since 2011, IWHA funded monthly distribution of ~200 reading glasses to the elderly in one of the 13 locations, to restore the dignity and usefulness of reading and doing close work, as there are no inexpensive reading glasses in Kenya. Knowing that hunger is widespread in Lower Nyakach, at each distribution, IWHA provided $100 extra so that the FOTO staff could provide glasses recipients with a filling meal of rice and beans in addition to mandazis (donut-like pastries) and Kenya tea (with milk and spices). There is much joy at the distributions, as old friends see each other again, they have a good meal, and they receive a quality pair of reading glasses. To address the problem of hunger and food insecurity, IWHA once again provided FOTO with funds to purchase and distribute 2600 2kg packages of certified Serado sorghum seed to 200 impoverished elderly households in each of the 13 locations. Households were selected by consultation with chiefs and village elders. With sufficient rain, there was a good harvest in June & July providing 2-3 90kg bags of sorghum to be the main source of household food for much of the year. As in previous years, FOTO provided useful items to the community. In December 2025, 3,000 monthly 2026 pocket calendars & pens were given to teachers, chiefs, village elders, government officials, and thousands of citizens. In December 2025, IWHA paid for FOTO to purchase and distribute 8,000 16x23 FOTO 2026 wall calendars, three pages each with 4 months. The main photo on the first page, January-April, is of the FOTO staff with new shirts in front of the FOTO office. The second main photo shows women recipients of 2 kg bags of certified Serado seed. The third page main photo is of Mary Otieno, VAF, Rangul Location, teaching hand washing at Kanyalwal Primary School. The top of each page has FOTOs and IWHAs logos and the statement The Goal is Zero (waterborne disease). The bottom of each page has the Kenya 2010 constitution statement that Every person has the right to clean and safe water in adequate quantities. In 2025, 21 USA IWHA donors sponsored 53 secondary school girls in forms 2-4, paying all school fees and supplies. As Kenya increased primary school from 8 to 9 years in 2025, there was no Form 1 class in secondary school in 2025. A unique aspect of this girl sponsorship is that Dinah Chienjo arranges special activities for the girls during term breaks in April and August and during the long November-December break at the end of the academic year. During the term breaks, the emphasis was on reviewing subjects covered in the previous term. Dinah hired two excellent teachers from Paw Tenge Secondary School to conduct the review of subjects, mainly math, biology, and chemistry. The girls, teachers, and FOTO staff have Kenya tea and mandazies as a mid-morning snack and a good lunch. The girls also have time with computers for internet use. In November, master tailor Esther worked with the Form 2 and 3 students to make their school uniform for 2026. These students learned tailoring skills after completing Form 1 and they refreshed their skills to make a new school uniform for 2026. 24 IWHA sponsored Form Four girls graduated from secondary school in November. 2025. They enjoyed two days at the FOTO office in December celebrating, evaluating their experiences, receiving new shoes, pens, monthly planners, sanitary pads and ibuprofen tablets, and the last monthly 1,000 Kenya Schillings for the girls and their guardians. IWHA also supports Faustine Odaba, Mama Solar, in Nairobi, to promote water testing with the PML, solar water pasteurization and solar cooking using a Cookit. Faustine is the worlds leading solar cook, first introducing the Cookit to refugees in the Kakuma Refugee camp in 1995 and being the main trainer for Solar Cookers Internationals East Africa office through 2009 when SCI closed its Kenya office. Faustine also assisted Bob Metcalf on water testing workshops and set up solar cooking demonstrations all over Kenya from 2002-2013. In January 2025, IWHA made an 87 second YouTube video as one requirement for an Open Call grant offered by Action for Womens Health that IWHA applied for. IWHA requested funding for FOTO to increase water testing in Kenya and to greatly expand solar cooking with
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since April 2011.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
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