Well Beyond was born of necessity and inspired by insight in response to the significant inefficiency of the water charity sector. Without interrupting client NGO operations or donor messaging, Well Beyond offers services ranging from brief consultations to entire project oversight. The new model utilizes the knowledge and experience from Well Aware’s 100 percent success rate and redirects wasted
resources to more effective projects resulting in a greater impact to those in need. Well Beyond will conduct field evaluations in Haiti this August for four NGOs in need of support. The new company also has a waiting list for partnership review of additional NGOs in Kenya, Jordan and Cameroon.
“Aurora Global helps mitigate our sector’s inefficacy and redirect some of the billions of dollars spent on water efforts that are not fully effective,” Evans said. “Our goal is to advise organizations on how to best implement cost-effective water systems that last. We will strengthen NGO projects process to carry forward into their future work.”
During Evans’ work with Well Aware, she noticed the ineffectiveness of many water systems. Studies show that between 43-69 percent of water projects evaluated in Ethiopia last year were not functioning or producing clean water. The cumulative costs of failed water systems are approximately $1.2 billion. Evans discovered a significant percentage of resources being misappropriated are coming from the United States. For example, the top three U.S. water charities raised $171.3 million in 2013 alone, but millions of those dollars are estimated to likely be wasted. Additionally, water systems that break down leave people in the community with a greater burden than they originally carried prior to the charity’s intervention. Well Aware is not geographically focused. Requests are being accepted from partners in any location. About Sarah Evans
Sarah Evans is the founder and executive director of Well Aware, an Austin-based nonprofit that funds and implements clean water systems for impoverished communities in Africa. Well Aware is known for its sustainability model in building lasting water systems with high impact. Evans is also principal of Well Beyond, a world-wide for-profit business that advises NGOs on water efforts. Evans’ vision is to enable prosperity in impoverished communities by providing access to lasting clean water.
