Transparency

This is a translation for convenience. The German version of this page is the binding one.

Anyone who asks for donations owes an account of what happens to them. Water for Kenya therefore publishes the ten disclosures required by the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft (Transparent Civil Society Initiative) of Transparency International Germany.

More about the initiative: transparency.de

1. Name, registered office, address and year of foundation

Wasser für Kenia e.V., Rembrandtstr. 4, 38442 Wolfsburg, Germany. The association was founded in 2013 by the Wolfsburg couple Almut and Dr Christoph Stein and entered in the register of associations on 10 June 2013 at Braunschweig Local Court under number VR 201102.

2. Statutes and objectives

The purpose of the association is help towards self-help in the Makueni region of south-eastern Kenya. We create access to water at schools and in their communities, reduce the effects of climate change, and enable children — above all girls, who are traditionally responsible for fetching water — to attend school regularly. In Germany we contribute to intercultural and development education at schools.

We will make the full statutes available for download here shortly. Until then we are happy to send them on request — write to us at info@wasser-fuer-kenia.de.

3. Tax-privileged status

Wasser für Kenia e.V. is recognised as a charitable organisation. The responsible tax office is Finanzamt Gifhorn, tax number 19/219/07514. The most recent exemption notice is dated 9 November 2023 and covers the assessment periods 2020 to 2022. For donations of 300 euros or more we issue a donation receipt automatically; below that amount the bank statement suffices for the tax office.

4. Names and functions of key decision-makers

The board under § 26 of the German Civil Code consists of three people: Merle Grupe (chair), Dr Christoph Stein (deputy chair) and Dr Christian Stein (Deputy Chair). Decisions on projects and the use of funds are taken by the board together with the general meeting. All board members work on a voluntary basis and receive no remuneration. No board member receives any expense allowance or volunteer flat rate either.

5. Activity report

Once a year we report on what became of the donations. Every donor whose address we have receives the report by post or email; the annual reports are available here for download:

Our travel reports additionally document what we found during our yearly visits to the project area. View travel reports

6. Staffing structure

In Germany the association has no paid staff — all of its work is done on a voluntary basis. It currently has 22 members, 12 of them active in project work. Members pay for their trips to the project area out of their own pockets. In Kenya a small number of local staff are paid from project funds: a school-garden instructor for agricultural lessons and ten young people trained as stove builders, who are paid for building fuel-efficient stoves.

7. Sources of funds

Our funds come from donations by private individuals, from fundraising events and sponsored runs at our partner schools, from membership fees, from public grants and from prize money. In 2026 and 2027 the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is funding the construction of another large sand dam and an irrigation project, and the BINGO Environment Foundation of Lower Saxony awarded us its volunteering prize of 3,000 euros.

In the 2024 financial year the association received a total of 143,426 euros. Donations accounted for 137,229 euros (95.7 per cent), including 115,501 euros from fundraising events and sponsored runs at our partner schools, 20,359 euros from private individuals and 1,039 euros from institutional donors. In addition there were 2,900 euros in grants (2.0 per cent), 2,570 euros in other income (1.8 per cent) and 728 euros in membership fees (0.5 per cent). These figures are taken from our 2024 annual report, which you can download above.

8. Use of funds

The vast majority of our funds goes directly into the projects in Kenya: sand dams, farm ponds, roof rainwater harvesting, school gardens, fuel-efficient stoves and training for smallholder families. The remainder covers public outreach and the few unavoidable administrative costs.

In the 2024 financial year the association spent a total of 60,328 euros. Of this, 59,688 euros — 98.9 per cent — went directly into project work: 27,692 euros for intercultural education, 17,018 euros for the water project with ADSE and 14,978 euros for school garden advisory work by ADSE. Administration accounted for 623 euros (1.0 per cent) covering bank charges, postage and petty cash, and advertising for 17 euros. These figures are taken from our 2024 annual report.

9. Corporate ties with third parties

Wasser für Kenia e.V. holds no stakes in companies or other organisations and is affiliated with neither a political party nor a church. The association is a member of Niedersachsen.Global, formerly VEN – Verband Entwicklungspolitik Niedersachsen e.V. Our projects in Kenya are carried out together with the Anglican Development Service Eastern (ADSE), which supervises the work on site. In Germany we cooperate with partner schools that support the projects through fundraising.

10. Donations exceeding ten per cent of the annual budget

In the 2024 financial year there was no natural or legal person whose payments amounted to more than ten per cent of the total annual budget. Our largest single income item is donations from partner schools, but these are not individual large gifts: at sponsored runs and fundraising events the schools collect contributions from many pupils and parents and pass them on to us as a lump sum.

Questions about our transparency?

If you would like to know more about any of these disclosures, write to info@wasser-fuer-kenia.de — we will answer.

Last updated: September 2026