Water For Life Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 421203881
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Kalona, IA, USA
- Phone
- 3196565433
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Development
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,483,290
- Expenses
- $1,840,326
- Assets
- $4,585,640
- Liabilities
- $71,909
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Leon L Miller (Chief Executive Officer)
Highest reported compensation
- Leon L Miller (Chief Executive Officer): $72,976 total reported compensation
- Raphael Edy Gehy (At large): $58,735 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Water For Life, Inc. is a non-profit organization that endeavors to demonstrate Gods love to the people of Haiti through: providing well services including drilling, pump maintenance, and water testing, building irrigation systemes, social assistance and other projects.
What it reported doing in 2024
Well Services - WFL believes providing clean water is a wonderful way to show the love God to Haitians, and has drilled and maintained over 2,500 wells in southern Haiti since 1983. These wells allow for the basic needs of the Haitian people and healthy communities. Each well provides water for approximately 350 people. During the current year, WFL drilled approximately 73 new wells and provided maintenance for 607 wells.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 79% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 74
- Accountability: 71
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 84.9%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $10 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 95.5%; rating input score 96; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -24.1%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.49; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $1.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $73K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and foreign activity
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 8/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.