Agua Fund
OVERVIEW: The Agua Fund’s grantmaking focuses on the environment (particularly water quality and conservation), social services, elderly care, disaster relief, Indigenous health, civic engagement and voting rights. This funder supports national and international organizations to a limited extent, but most of its programs focus on the Shenandoah River Valley, the six-state watershed of the Chesapeake Bay, the Washington, D.C. area, and Florida. Environmental causes account for more than half of its grantmaking.
IP TAKE: Agua Fund is a small funder that hones its grantmaking on specific causes. It’s best known for its conservation and water quality funding, and it can be a great ally for nonprofits working in this space, particularly in Virginia and communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. However, this funder does not accept unsolicited proposals. Grantees who have made the cut describe working with this foundation as “productive” and its staff as knowledgeable and “responsive.” This funder is not particularly accessible, but it’s transparent about its grantee partners, providing a detailed grantees list in its 990 filings. While opportunities appear to be limited for new grant seekers, this is a great foundation to know about for nonprofits working within its issue areas.
PROFILE: The Agua Fund, established in 2002, is a private foundation based in Washington, D.C. The fund aims to “improve quality of life through support of work to protect the natural environment and to help the poor, disadvantaged and underserved.” This funder maintains a low profile, and little is publicly known about its financial origins or the individuals behind it.
That said, Agua is active in its issue areas and is a member of several national and regional grantmaking associations, including: the Association of Black Foundation Executives; the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network; Funders Committee on Civic Participation; and Grantmakers in Aging. The Fund awards grants totaling about $2.5 million each year.
Grants for Environmental Conservation, Freshwater Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture
Environmental funding is Agua’s largest area of grantmaking, accounting for just over 50% of its annual giving. This program operates at both the national and local levels.
The Agua Fund’s national program supports research, advocacy and action in the areas of water conservation, sustainable farming and the protection of natural resources from mining and fracking. Past grantees in the environmental space include the Clean Water for All Campaign, the National Coalition for Sustainable Farming and the National Resources Defense Council. It supports “communities […] engaged in the fight to defend themselves from the risk of unconventional oil and gas development.” In the area of sustainability, the fund has supported a clean water distribution program at Haiti’s Hôpital Albert Schweitzer and Solar Cookers International, which works to reduce communities’ needs for wood and fossil fuels for cooking.
Agua’s local environmental program prioritizes Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, greater Washington, D.C., and the states of Colorado and Utah. In all three geographic areas, the fund focuses on land and water conservation, but it has also funded projects in the areas of wildlife preservation, education, advocacy and agriculture.
Past grantees include the Mesa Land Trust, which works with landowners to protect more than 58,000 acres in Colorado and Utah, and the Western Colorado Congress, which works in the areas of land management, sustainable agriculture and protecting lands from oil, gas and uranium mining projects. In Virginia and greater Washington, D.C., the fund has worked extensively to protect and rehabilitate the Anacostia, Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Other past grantees include the Virginia Conservation Network, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Grants for Disaster Relief
Agua gives grants for disaster relief through its national and international service program, which essentially supports social service funding. One supports national and international organizations and the other works locally in specific geographic areas of the U.S.
The national and international service program works in the fields of disaster relief, women’s rights, sustainability and veteran’s causes. In the area of disaster relief, the fund has given to Doctors Without Borders, Télécoms Sans Frontières, which provides emergency communication services in regions beset by crisis, and Farm Aid, which helps small farms recover from disasters with small grants, training and assistance.
Grants for Women and Girls
The Agua Fund supports women’s and girls’ rights through its national and international service program, which invests in an array of focus areas.
Related grants benefitting women’s and girls’ rights prioritize education and economic stability for women who are underserved, at-risk or living in politically unstable situations.
Past women-related grantees include Women for Women International, the Global Fund for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation, which has worked in Afghanistan to provide education, job training and basic healthcare to women and girls.
Grants for Military and Veterans, and Food
Agua has also funded former military and veterans organizations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Rebuilding Together, through its wide-ranging national and international service.
Agua’s local social services funding works in Hawai’i, the Shenandoah Valley and Washington, D.C. This latter program mainly works with organizations that support the elderly and hunger alleviation.
In Hawai’i, Agua supports Hale Lulu Mamo, which works to meet the “social, creative, cultural and physical needs” of seniors at adult day care centers.
Elder service grantees in Virginia and Washington, D.C., include the Medical House Call Program, Emmaus Services for the Aging and Legal Counsel for the Elderly.
Past grantees in hunger alleviation include the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and Bread for the City of Washington, D.C.
Grants for Civic Engagement and Racial Justice
Agua’s civic engagement grants work “to increase the participation in public life of underrepresented groups and to protect voting rights.”
One area of focus is the rights of Native American groups. In this area, the fund has supported the Native American Rights Fund and Native Vote, a project of the National Congress of American Indians.
Other past civic engagement grantees include Virginia Organizing, the Voter Participation Center and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which works to secure equity for “African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities.”
Grants for Arts, Culture and Education
Arts, culture and education make up Agua’s smallest giving area, accounting for only about 1% of its total annual grantmaking.
Past education grantees focus on Native American equity, including the American Indian College Fund and Adopt-A-Native-Elder, which provides basic needs to elders living in remote areas of the Navajo Nation.
Arts and culture grants are minimal, but tend to address established arts organizations, such as the D.C. Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, in the fund’s geographic priority areas.
Grants for Native Americans and Agriculture
Agua Fund funds Native American and Indigenous causes through its related giving area, Native Americans and Health, as well as through its culture and education program.
Much of the grantmaking related to Native American equity is conducted through an agricultural sustainability lens that overlaps with some of the fund’s grants for the environment; however, other grants benefitting the Native American community also consider Native American economic development, education, housing and human services.
Past grantees in this space include the Model Food and Agriculture Code, which is a project of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Others grantees include Adopt-A-Native-Elder, American Indian College Fund and First Nations Development Institute.
Important Grant Details:
The Agua Fund’s grants range from a few thousand dollars to about $100,000, with an average grant size of about $20,000.
This funder supports some large international and national organizations, but gives to many smaller, grassroots organizations, as well.
The environment and Native American causes constitute a sizable portion of its grantmaking.
Call the foundation at (202) 342-2482 or email it at info@aguafund.org.
The Agua Fund does not accept unsolicited proposals. Bios of its staff members, however, are available at the foundation’s website, as is a list of philanthropic organizations with which it regularly collaborates.
PEOPLE:
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