FAQ

Water of Mercy Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Please consult your tax advisor for guidance applicable to your specific situation. Our tax identification number (EIN) is 39-2413812.

At checkout you will be prompted to add an email address. When the transaction is complete we will email a receipt to you. This is your donation receipt for your records. Please retain this receipt, as it may be required to substantiate your charitable contribution for tax purposes, subject to applicable law.

Please do not contact us for copies of donation receipts. We provide a self-service model. If you lost your donation receipt you can find a copy of it in the account page. When prompted, you will need to enter the email you used for your donation.

Water of Mercy Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Please consult your tax advisor for guidance applicable to your specific situation. Our tax identification number (EIN) is 39-2413812.

Simply select a village to help fund, add your donation to that village, and check out. You can even fund more than one village as each donation is added to your cart icon at the top of the page. During checkout you can pay the total amount for all donations in a single transaction.

Individual donations for each village are pooled together by Water of Mercy. When the total funding goal for a village is reached, we release the funds to begin the well drilling project for that village. Donors can then follow construction and completion of the well drilling and pump installation in our news page.

Water of Mercy Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization, so at the end of each year any additional funds not used for operational expenses are applied toward funding additional well drilling projects.

The cost to fund, drill, and construct a complete freshwater well is typically about $5,000 but can vary depending on accessibility and material costs. This includes all materials, labor, drilling equipment, and construction costs. With proper maintenance, each well is estimated to last 75 years and serves an entire community, providing decades of clean water access.

We add approximately $500 to each well project to cover three essential categories of operational costs:

Transaction Costs ($250/well): Credit card processing fees that we pay to accept your donations securely online. Our primary payment provider is Shopify.

Professional Services and Compliance ($200/well): IRS filing fees, state registration fees, attorney services, and accounting/bookkeeping services required to maintain our 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and ensure regulatory compliance.

Technology & Hosting ($50/well): Website hosting and infrastructure to maintain our secure donation platform and transparency reporting.

At just ~7.7% operational overhead, Water of Mercy Inc. operates with exceptional efficiency compared to most nonprofits that typically have 15-25% overhead costs.

All Water of Mercy Inc. team members, including the co-founders and board members, serve as unpaid volunteers. Water of Mercy Inc. has no paid employees, ensuring that ~92.3% of every dollar goes directly to well construction.

As a a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization, we maintain strict financial oversight. Any funds not used for direct well construction or essential operational expenses are applied toward funding additional well drilling projects at the end of each fiscal year.

Yes! Any village project you donate to is automatically added to your cart icon in the upper right corner. During checkout you can pay the total amount for all donations in a single transaction.

Yes, but it can take anywhere from 10 seconds to several minutes for our system to synchronize with the payment gateway. Also, our website pages do not automatically refresh, so you might need to manually refresh your browser.

Yes! We welcome churches, schools, universities, companies, and other organizations to sponsor village well projects. When your organization sponsors a well project, we provide special branded recognition and promotional opportunities to help you engage your members or community in the co-funding of your sponsored well project.

Sponsorship Requirements:

To receive branded sponsorship recognition on a village page, your organization must: (1) make an initial donation of at least $1,000 to your chosen village well project, and (2) promote the custom project URL to your members, community and/or affiliates. This demonstrates your organization's commitment and helps ensure meaningful progress toward the village's funding goal.

What We Provide for Sponsoring Organizations:

Branded Village Page: Your organization's logo and URL will be prominently displayed on the village donation page, showing your commitment to providing clean water access.

Example of sponsored village page branding positioned prominently just under the village project name:

Note: The University of Notre Dame is not a sponsor and this is for example purposes only.

Unique Promotional URL: We'll create a custom URL that your organization can share with members, employees, students, or supporters, making it easy for your community to contribute to your sponsored village project.

Public Recognition: Your sponsored village page will be publicly accessible, allowing supporters beyond your organization to contribute while showcasing your commitment to humanitarian efforts and community service.

Progress Tracking: Watch as your organization's fundraising efforts bring the village closer to their clean water goal, with real-time updates on the funding progress.

Documentation & Updates: Receive updates and documentation of your well's construction process, including photos and videos that you can share with your organization's community.

Tax Benefits: As a 501(c)(3) organization, contributions are tax-deductible to the extent of the law. Donors should consult their tax advisor for guidance applicable to their specific situation.

This sponsorship model is perfect for faith communities, corporate social responsibility initiatives, university service projects, or any group looking to make a lasting impact together. To learn more about sponsoring a village well project or to get started, please contact us through our Contact Page and we'll work with you to set up your organization's sponsored village project.

Water of Mercy operates on a straightforward principle: every donation goes directly toward well projects that provide clean, safe drinking water to entire communities. What sets us apart from other water charities is how we connect you personally with the communities you're helping and our efficient use of donations.

Choose Your Village: Unlike other water charities that simply ask for donations, we provide you with detailed profiles of specific villages in need—complete with images, population details, current water conditions, and the people who will benefit from your donation. You choose which village resonates most with you, creating a personal connection to your impact.

Watch Your Well Come to Life: While other charities might send you GPS coordinates on a map months later, we document every step of your well's construction through images and videos on each village's dedicated page. You'll see the well construction and the completed pump installation which will serve the community for decades.

Maximum Impact for Your Dollar: At typically just $5,500 per complete well, your donation goes twice as far as many other water charities that require $8,000-$10,000+ for similar projects. This efficiency means more wells, more communities served, and more lives transformed with every dollar you contribute.

Focus on Malawi's Greatest Need: We concentrate our efforts exclusively in Malawi, which ranks among the world's least developed countries with most of the population engaged in subsistence farming or small-scale trade. Malawi's climate is subtropical and harsh, often suffering from both droughts and flooding and other natural disasters. With a per capita income of only $567.00 (USD), there is very little access to fresh water for many rural villages, making our targeted approach highly effective.

100% Volunteer-Driven: All Water of Mercy team members, including co-founders and board members, serve as unpaid volunteers. We have no paid employees, and our minimal operational expenses for nonprofit compliance and stewardship are already included in the well cost—ensuring maximum transparency and impact for every donation.

This approach creates a connection between donors and communities, demonstrates the tangible results of contributions, and builds trust through transparent documentation of exactly how and where each dollar is invested.

Follow the village page that you made your payment through. When a village is fully funded, a news page for the village is created and images and videos of the well construction and completion are added there.

Yes, you can go to our news page and see images and videos of all our completed projects.

The conditions in the villages that we seek to construct wells in are typically dire. Most villages must walk kilometers for water from sources such as small rivers that are often low or seasonal with minimal flow and occasionally contaminated. Other villages must rely on shallow, unsafe holes dug in dry riverbeds or other contaminated sources, often requiring dangerous manual extraction of muddy, polluted water that can cause serious illness.

This can vary from village to village, but we typically target villages of 500 or more people.

The process can typically be completed in about 4 weeks, but may take 2-3 months during adverse weather conditions or due to well drilling company scheduling, material, or fuel constraints.

Our local representative in Malawi, Father Petros, identifies villages with the greatest need based on factors such as distance to existing water sources, water contamination issues, and population size. Father Petros is responsible for 50 "prayer centers" and over 40,000 parishioners across a large area of central Malawi. As a result, he is able to prioritize communities where residents must walk kilometers to access water that is often seasonal or unsafe. Father Petros's intimate knowledge of community needs allows Water of Mercy Inc. to operate with minimal overhead while maximizing the impact of every donation we receive.

The well drilling company will drill at least three test holes at a depth 60 meters to determine the optimal spot for the well near or within the village.

When we complete a well project, the village residents typically form a committee to manage well maintenance. This community-based approach ensures local ownership and ongoing care of the well.

Water of Mercy Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization whose faith-based mission is to provide rural Malawians with access to safe, clean drinking water through the installation of sustainable borehole water wells.

Water of Mercy's primary focus is on small to medium size communities whose populations have limited access to clean drinking water. In most cases the residents of these communities must walk kilometers to water sources that are often contaminated and/or seasonal. You can read more about our organization in the About Us page.

Water of Mercy™ and the Water of Mercy logo are trademarks of Water of Mercy Inc. They may not be used independently or for unrelated purposes without prior written permission. All rights reserved.

No. All Water of Mercy Inc. team members, including the co-founders and board members, serve as unpaid volunteers to ensure that every donation directly supports well construction and essential operational expenses.

You may use or republish content, images, or videos from this website for the purpose of supporting or promoting Water of Mercy's mission, provided that you meet these three requirements:

1. Proper Attribution: Include attribution such as "Image courtesy of Water of Mercy™".

2. No Misleading Modifications: Content must not be modified in a misleading or harmful way.

3. No Implied Endorsement: Use must not imply endorsement by Water of Mercy without prior written consent.

Water of Mercy™ and the Water of Mercy logo are trademarks of Water of Mercy Inc. They may not be used independently or for unrelated purposes without prior written permission. All rights reserved.

If you have any questions about the use or republishing content, images, or videos from this website, please contact us directly.

Water of Mercy grew out of our friendship with Father Petros, a Catholic priest in rural Malawi who was responsible for 50 "prayer centers" (churches without a full-time priest) and 40,000 parishioners across a vast area of central Malawi. When we asked how we could help most, his answer was clear: fresh water. We started with a single well in Yotamu village as an experiment, and the results exceeded our expectations - it was operational in just two weeks. You can read more in the About Us page under Our History.