Water of Mercy Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 392413812
- IRS 990-EZ coverage
- 2025–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990-EZ 2025
- Location
- Gurnee, IL, USA
- Phone
- 8473234843
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- International Relief
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $51,635
- Expenses
- $42,025
- Assets
- $9,610
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
3 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- John Cerwin (President)
People named in this filing
- John Cerwin (President)
- Lori Cerwin (Secretary)
- Jacque Montgomery (Board Member)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990-EZ. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To drill wells in villages for Malawians, providing clean drinking water to communities that previously had no reliable access. The organization works through established partnerships with a local Catholic priest to identify the villages most in need. Each well is blessed upon completion in a community ceremony.
What it reported doing in 2025
Funded 10 wells and completed construction on 9 wells, bringingclean water to approximately 5,478 people across 9 rural Malawi villages. A 10th well was fully funded in 2025 & under construction.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 100
- Sustainability: 45
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 77.5%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 95.2%; rating input score 95
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 18.6%; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.23; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- Where the money goes: 77.5% of revenue deployed · 95.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: Filed governance answers
- Accomplishments: 1 filed program accomplishment · $40K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 3 people listed
- Consistency: 6 of 6 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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 — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 20/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.