Annual report
Our Impact & Progress 2026
What our volunteers and local partners achieved this year, project by project, with photos, milestones and our goals for 2027. Every number says where it comes from.
Our Story
About Us
Clean Water Help is a 100% volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 99-0765687), incorporated in North Carolina in 2024. Volunteer scientists and engineers, about 25 of them PhDs, design low-cost drinking water solutions with local partners in DR Congo, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Ghana and Guatemala. Our founders pay every operating cost, so 100% of donations go to the projects donors choose.
Our Vision
A world where water is clean, safe, accessible, and affordable for EVERYONE.
Our Mission
To connect communities in need of clean water with water resource experts and cost-effective, life-changing solutions.
01
Diagnose
Our PhD scientists analyze contaminants, chemistry, and community needs to find what makes the water unsafe.
02
Design
We design a matched solution for the specific problem: the right filter, the right treatment process, the right remediation protocol.
03
Deploy
Working through trusted local NGO partners, we deploy solutions with community buy-in for lasting adoption and knowledge transfer.
04
Document
Every project is documented with measurable outcomes, so donors see exactly where their money went and what it achieved.
How We Work
The partner model
We come in early to help a local partner prove a solution works, then step back while the partner runs it for the long term.
Every project on this site is anchored by a local NGO, university, or government agency. They know the community, the politics, and the dialect we don’t. Our PhDs and engineers contribute what they don’t have: the science, the diagnostics, and the design.
Our role shrinks as theirs grows, by design. When a project no longer needs us, that’s the success metric.
Global Team, Local Roots
How we’re organized
Home Base · Philippines
A task force where we live
Our executive director lives in the Philippines and works with a team of Filipino volunteers on three projects: safe drinking water in Mariveles, a drinking water app for typhoons and earthquakes, and cyanide-free gold extraction near Baguio.
Local Partners · 5 Countries
Strong local partners
In DR Congo, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Ghana and Guatemala, a trusted local partner leads each project. They know the community; we bring the diagnostics, engineering and funding support.
Worldwide · 25+ PhDs & PEs
A global technical bench
Our advisors live around the world. Limnologists, geochemists, treatment engineers, and microbiologists are on call for any project that needs deep expertise.
Partners & Solution Providers
We make local heroes succeed
Our partners are the ones changing lives on the ground. Solution providers donate the technology, software, and funding that make it possible. We give them all better science.
Values
Our Guiding Principles
Human Health First
We prioritize projects with direct, measurable impact on human health, from safe drinking water to mitigating the long-term effects of toxins on child brain development.
Practical Solutions
Sound science finds the simplest, most effective and most sustainable solution for each community.
Prioritize Collaboration
Complex water challenges require diverse teams. We forge partnerships between communities, universities, governments, and nonprofits to multiply our impact.
Financial Stewardship
We eliminate waste and maximize the return on every donation, so the communities we serve get the greatest possible benefit with zero overhead.
What We Do
Three areas of expertise
Clean Drinking Water
Filtration, disinfection, and predictive emergency water deployment. Safe drinking water is among the most cost-effective interventions in global health.
See the projects →Detoxifying Communities
Mercury, heavy metals, and cyanide from mining, reduced at the source with geochemistry.
See the projects →Investing in the Future
University scholarships with a living stipend, and from 2027 a volunteer mentor, for students who will run water systems in their own communities.
See the scholarships →Our Team
Leadership & Advisors
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Leadership & Field Team
Stephen McCord
PE, PhD
Founder & President
Deena Hannoun
PhD
Founder, VP & Secretary
Nigel Traill
Founder & Treasurer
Byran Fuhrmann
MBA, PhD
Founder & Executive Director
Greg Page
Lead Project Manager
George Kajjumba
MBA, PE, PhD
Lead Operations Engineer
Gaitan Géhin
PhD
Heavy Metals & Bioremediation
Philip Wayaki Bongi
Executive Director, PNG Safe Water
Danielle Wain
PhD
Water Resource Engineering
Jonathan Martin
Hydrology & Water Resource Planning
Ken Wagner
PhD
Strategic Advisor
Diro Khepri
Global Engagement Leader
Louis Amegbletor
PhD
Water Ambassador, Africa
Naivy Rodal-Morales
PhD
Water Ambassador, Latin America
Eunice Ledres
Data Scientist
Shelby Defeo
PhD
Water Ambassador, Oceania
Daniel Gerrity
PE, PhD
Microbiology & Water Treatment
Ellen Preece
PhD
Water Quality & Fisheries
Jerry Sweeten
PhD
Fisheries & Ecosystems
Mark Seelos
PhD
Drinking Water Operations
Maia Singer
PhD
Habitat Restoration & Mercury
Genesis Saludares
PhD
Community Outreach
David Austin
PE
Natural Treatment Systems
Marc Beutel
PE, PhD
Civil Engineering & Mercury
Mason Haneline
PhD
Water & Arsenic Treatment
Said Yasseri
PhD
Lake & Ecosystem Restoration
Alexis Fischer
PhD
Water Quality & HABs
Greg Armel
PhD
Sustainable Agriculture
Aaron Palmateer
PhD
Irrigation Water Quality
Volunteer
Join our team of experts
We’re always looking for water scientists, environmental engineers, and public health experts to volunteer pro bono. All expertise levels welcome.
Financial Transparency
Where the money goes, and where it doesn’t
The zero-overhead model
Nobody at Clean Water Help is paid: not the founders, not the board, not one of our volunteer scientists. Our founders pay every operating cost personally, so waste would come out of our own pockets, never yours. 100% of donations fund solutions. These communities need the money more than we do.
Volunteer scientists & engineers
PhDs, PEs, and public-health experts donating expertise that projects would otherwise pay consultants for.
Funding raised for local NGO partners
Money that flows through us to the local organizations who run every system.
Countries where we work
All of it on a lifetime admin budget smaller than most charities’ ad spend.
Live from our books. These figures update automatically.
Our Form 990, bylaws, financial policies and conflict of interest policy are in the document library below, along with our 2026 Impact & Progress Report.
Questions about our finances? Contact us and we will answer them.
Documents
Document library
Everything a donor, funder or partner needs to check our work, in one place.
Governance & finance
- IRS Form 9902025 Form 990 (PDF) →
Our federal tax filing, posted each year it is filed.
- BylawsOur Bylaws (PDF) →
How our board, officers and finances are governed.
- Financial PoliciesFinancial Policies (PDF) →
How money is handled, approved and tracked.
- Conflict of InterestConflict of Interest Policy (PDF) →
Signed by every board member, every year.
For funders & sponsors
- Capacity StatementCapacity Statement (PDF) →
A two-page brief on what we can take on, our credentials and our portfolio. Useful for grants, RFPs and due diligence.
- Corporate SponsorshipSponsorship Package (PDF) →
Four ways a company can fund our work in 2026, what each costs, and what the sponsor receives.
- Two-page briefDR Congo: scholarships and filters (PDF) →
Our five university students and the shared filters in Goma, on two pages.
- Two-page briefPapua New Guinea: water and PNG Safe Water (PDF) →
The community pipeline, the filter pilot and the new local nonprofit, on two pages.
- Project Reports10 detailed project reports ↓
Background, technical choices, risks and next steps for every project, online or as PDFs.
- QuestionsAsk us anything →
We answer every question about our finances and our work.
Project reports
Background, technical choices, costs, risks and next steps for each of our 10 projects.
- DR CongoGravity filters for families (Goma)
- DR CongoScholarships for DR Congo students
- Papua New GuineaSafe water and PNG Safe Water
- PhilippinesCyanide-free gold
- PhilippinesWater after disasters app
- CambodiaSchool water program
- GhanaGalamsey and community filters
- PhilippinesSafe drinking water in Mariveles
- GuatemalaHospice water
- CambodiaBiosand filters