GiveWell has granted $5 million to the DIV Fund to identify and support promising water quality and access innovations. Our grant aims to build a pipeline of high-potential, cost-effective opportunities that GiveWell could consider for future funding. If you’re working on piloting or testing an early-stage water intervention, or know someone who is, please apply to the DIV Fund’s newly launched request for proposals (RFP) or share it with your network. Applications are now open and are being accepted on a rolling basis.

Why We’re Funding the Search for New Water Innovations

Unsafe water results in more than 750,000 deaths each year, most of them in Africa and Asia.¹Our World in Data, “Deaths by Risk Factor, World, 2023.” Though water is a newer cause area at GiveWell, we’ve directed more than $150 million to water quality interventions since 2022. As our research capacity continues to grow, so does our ability to explore new opportunities to prevent deaths through safe water access.

We encourage organizations with water quality and access projects to apply to the DIV Fund, which we hope will surface promising programs that we can evaluate for future funding. We are particularly interested in water quality programs, as we believe this is where donors’ contributions can save and improve lives the most.

GiveWell has historically focused its water funding on chlorination programs, and we remain confident that these are among the most cost-effective water interventions available. We also hope this support to the DIV Fund helps reveal a wider breadth of high-impact water opportunities where we can direct donations.

About the DIV Fund’s Request for Proposals

The DIV Fund is an evidence-driven innovation fund for global development that tests and scales cost-effective solutions. While the DIV Fund’s RFP is open to all sectors, GiveWell’s $5 million grant is specifically funding selected water innovations and will be allocated over three years. The DIV Fund will be making all final funding decisions.

The DIV Fund will review all applications based on three core principles.

1. Evidence of impact: Applicants must present a credible theory of change grounded in existing evidence, as well as a plan to gather evidence of impact as they request higher funding amounts.
2. Cost-effectiveness: Applicants should be clear about both the assumptions underlying their cost projections and the evidence behind their impact estimates.
3. Durable scale: Applicants should have the potential to generate impact at scale and a clear path to lasting financial sustainability.

The DIV Fund uses a tiered funding approach, providing smaller amounts to early-stage innovations and larger awards to innovations with strong evidence supporting them.

• Stage 1 grants are up to $200,000 and support real-world pilots of innovations that are early in their development. By the end of Stage 1, grantees should be able to clearly show whether the innovation works in practice, if people will use it, and if it shows enough promise to warrant deeper investment.
• Stage 2 grants are up to $500,000 and are designed to determine if an innovation with successful pilot testing measurably and meaningfully improves people’s lives and has a viable path toward scale. By the end of Stage 2, grantees should be able to demonstrate if the innovation significantly improves lives, is cost-effective, and has a clear model for scaling.
• Stage 3 grants are up to $1.5 million and support the transition of proven innovations from piloting and testing to widespread scale. By the end of Stage 3, the innovation should demonstrate that it can achieve sustained impact at scale.

Please read the RFP in full if you are interested in applying.

Following the success of our water chlorination RFI last year, we’re excited about the potential of this grant and collaboration with the DIV Fund to help us scale our search for highly cost-effective opportunities to help communities lacking access to safe water.