Drop in the Bucket is a 501 C 3 non-profit organization that was formed in 2006 by a group of ordinary, everyday people. After learning about the deadly water crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, we set out to learn as much as possible about the situation and join in to help find solutions.

In the three years since we formed, we have aligned ourselves with the best and brightest engineers, innovators and experts on African culture and economics, in an effort to better understand the unique challenges associated with the developing world’s water crisis.

Currently, we have constructed close to 60 wells and a number of sanitation systems at locations in Tanzania, Mozambique, South Sudan, Chad and Uganda. We hand pick our local African contractors and work directly with them on the projects. DITB is involved in everything from targeting locations and mobilizing communities, to approving budgets, monitoring schedules, and tracking success rates.

We are also dedicated to contracting labor and purchasing materials from within the communities we are working. We feel that, along with our efforts to dispense humanitarian aid, it is also our responsibility help stimulate the local economy, whenever possible.

In most cases the water is literally under the feet of the villagers who so desperately need it. They just have no means of accessing it. DITB provides everything from hand-dug shallow wells, drilled borehole wells and rain water harvesting tanks, to an advanced sanitation system that includes the most environmentally sustainable, permanent septic system available in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently no one in the organization takes an annual salary and we operate as an all-volunteer group. A cornerstone of our approach is low overhead and minimal operating costs. We are dedicated to guaranteeing our donors that as much of their hard-earned money goes into the program as possible. Much of the funding for DITB projects comes from regular people (schools, families, individuals). If someone sponsors a water-well or funds a complete water and sanitation system, DITB will place a tile with the inscription of their choice on the project. This gives donors tangible proof of their humanitarian impact.